At the beginning of your PhD, the amount of data produced through your research is likely to be small enough to be stored on your own computer, or a shared area provided by your Department or research group. However, things could change as you progress through your doctoral studies and start producing, handling and storing more data. If you do end up needing more disc space, or have special requirements for data storage, the University Information Services (UIS) can help you. 

To begin with, you might wonder how much storage space PhD students are entitled to. The answer is simple. When you arrive in Cambridge, the University will provide you with a Desktop Services account. This account allows you access to 3.5GB of storage space. 

In addition, the UIS also offers three third-party cloud-based data storage services that you can associate with your @cam email address. These are:

• OneDrive for Business – Microsoft's cloud-based file hosting service, which is available to people who are eligible for a University Microsoft account. It offers 5TB of storage space.
• Google Drive – Google's cloud-based file hosting service gives each member of the University 20GB of free file storage.
• Dropbox Business – Dropbox's paid-for cloud-based file hosting service, which is available to Cambridge students and staff at a heavily-discounted rate through the University.

If for any reason you haven't received your DS account, or have any other queries regarding the cloud-based storage services, please contact the UIS Service Desk.

Data champions are local advocates for good research and data management practices withing the University and provide tailored advice on data storage, organisation and sharing.

Any member of the University can become a Data champion. These volunteers often include PhD students and researchers but also IT professionals, librarians and data scientists wishing to make a contribution towards improved research data management (RDM). You can find out more about Data champions’ activities and resources on the Data Champions webpage.

With an ever-increasing emphasis on data in every field of study, managing and sharing data has become of paramount importance to successfully complete a research project. Many academic journals now require that research data is publicly available upon publication, meaning that data planning, storage and management is a critical requirement in research.

Importantly and contrary to widespread beliefs, these requirements are not limited to digital data. All types of digital and non-digital information (e.g. visual data) produced and used during the course of research require some degree of data management.

By promoting good RDM practices, Data champions can support your research project in many different ways. These include:

• One to one mentoring sessions;
• Workshops on data management at your own institution;
• Support on creating Electronic Research Notebooks

For more information on the profiles and contact details of current Data champions you can visit the Data champions webpage. If you wish to ask any question in relation to their role and how they can help your research, you can email champions@data.cam.ac.uk

Image credits

CC0 by Markus Spiske via Unspalsh