The McLaughlin Library, home to the Branch Research Data Centre
By Gillian Beatson
Even research data not collected at the University of Guelph still needs protection on campus.
The Branch Research Data Centre (BRDC), located in the McLaughlin Library, is a secure data enclave that holds sensitive and specific data from surveys and administrative data mostly originating with Statistics Canada and other government departments. It is part of the Canadian Research Data Centre Network. For many researchers, this is a way to access data that is valuable but that requires a high degree of privacy and confidentiality.
“Access to this type of information can inform policy-makers and allow researchers to perform more detailed analysis on social, economic and health issues in Canada,” says Dr. Kris Inwood, director of the BRDC.
“This leads to the potential for impactful policy development and changes, all starting right here on campus.”
Researchers can find a wide variety of socio-economic, criminal justice, health and other data through the BRDC, including Statistics Canada surveys on topics such as tax, health or immigration information and an increasing variety of administrative data from government departments. Researchers obtain access by preparing a short application that allows the network to determine the scope and data requirements of the project.
Researchers also complete an RCMP security check and then commit to respecting the confidentiality of the data. The approval process can take up to six weeks.
At the present time, all work with the confidential data must be undertaken on machines within the BRDC that are isolated from internet and other communications. Plans are underway to ease this restriction.
The current academic director of the University of Guelph BRDC is Dr. Kris Inwood, Department of Economics and Finance.