Office of Research > UC Davis InnovationAccess > for UC Davis Community > Activity Center > Transfer Material from/to campus

Restricted-Access Data

When a Principal Investigator (PI) wishes to use restricted-access (confidential) data in a confidential dataset in research, two units of the Office of Research (OR) are generally involved:

• Technology Transfer Services (TTS), within UC Davis InnovationAccess, which has authority to negotiate and execute data transfer agreement(s) (“Agreement”) between the data provider and UC Davis;
• The Institutional Review Board (IRB), which reviews the research plan developed for the research and the security protocol developed to govern the use of the restricted-access data.

The diagram and description below provide information about the steps in the process of obtaining the right to use a confidential dataset. For further information, contact Pakou Vang, Intellectual Property Analyst at Technology Transfer Services at pkvang@ucdavis.edu or 530-757-3491.

In the Preparation Period, the PI:

• Identifies the research project and/or grant opportunity s/he wants to pursue.
• Identifies the necessary dataset(s) and data provider and requests the Agreement from the provider.
• Develops the security protocols for the data and develops the research plan for the project.
• Submits the Material Transfer Request Form (MRTF), the Agreement, and any other documents (as applicable) to TTS.
• Submits the research plan and security protocol to IRB Administration for IRB review. In most of these cases, the IRB will issue an IRB exemption letter. The PI should email a copy of the IRB approval or exemption (if needed) to TTS, once s/he receives it.

In the Agreement Review Period, TTS:

• Receives the MTRF, Agreement and any other documents from the PI, and opens a file on the request, which initiates TTS’ work process.
• Reviews and negotiates the Agreement with the data provider so that the terms and conditions are consistent with UC’s eight core "Principles Regarding Rights to Future Research Results in University Agreements with External Parties" available at http://www.ucop.edu/ott/genresources/principles.html.
• Finalizes the Agreement with the data provider.

In the Agreement Execution Period (or To Execute the Agreement):

• The PI emails a copy of the IRB approval or exemption (if needed) to TTS if s/he has not yet done so. The Agreement cannot be executed without the IRB approval or exemption (if applicable).
• TTS emails the PI the finalized Agreement and other documents (if applicable).
• The PI signs the Agreement and other documents (if applicable), and returns them to TTS.
• The TTS Associate Director (AD) signs the Agreement and TTS sends the Agreement and other documents (if applicable) to the data provider.
• TTS receives fully executed Agreement and other documents (if applicable) from the data provider.
• TTS emails the PI the fully executed Agreement and other documents (if applicable).