Researchers in the lab The loss or corruption of critical programs and data could have a significant adverse effect on research projects, so it is essential that all data is backed up appropriately. Additionally, research funders require that a data management plan shows how effective data curation will be provided throughout the lifecycle of the project and that it be implemented professionally.

Research Data Store

Research Data Store (RDS) is a central service for storing large volumes of research data. 

Key features include:

  • Ease of use – accessible as a fast network drive across the college network, and directly on the RCS's compute systems.
  • Cost-effective – generous standard allocations for research projects, with metered rates for additional storage. 
  • Secure – will become an ISO-certified system for secure data storage

Learn more by visiting the Research Data Store web page.

Research Data environments

The College offers four key environments for storing research data. They are:

Learn more by visiting the Research data environments web page.  

Github - Manage your Software Code

Imperial College has an enterprise licence with Github, an online and on-premise software version control repository that allows researchers and software developers to version-control and collaborate on code, both publicly and privately. Follow the link for more details on what College users are entitled to.

Github for code management

Research group space

Group space on the Imperial College London secure central network can be set up for individual research groups.

Digital respository for publically funded research data

The Research Council UK (RCUK), associated research councils and the European Union require that, wherever possible, documents generated through publicly funded research should be placed in a public repository so that they can be shared. The preferred repository is your own discipline-specific repository or the College digital repository, Spiral. Spiral is our open access repository. When you self-archive a document in Spiral it becomes free for everyone to read.

Research data and outputs other than documents can be stored in external repositories. View respositories recommended by the Research Office: Deposit and retention.

Contact the Research Data Management team: [email protected].

Data archive

There are various reasons why you would wish to archive your data:

  • To conduct further research.
  • So that you can refer to your data should your results be challenged.
  • To share your data with others after the embargo period has ended.

To enquire about the archive service that we offer, contact the Data Centre team via the ICT Service Desk.

Server backup

College central servers are backed-up daily. We offer an at cost service to automatically back up files from Microsoft Windows and Linux servers. Once the server is registered for backup and the Legator Networker Software is installed, files are copied to our backup service everyday, normally between 08.00 and 20.00. Should you need to restore files, contact the ICT Service Desk.

Requests for this service should be made to the ICT Service Desk.

Virtual servers for research groups (Private Cloud)

Private Cloud is available for research groups to set up their own virtual servers.