HIC trusted research environment - Safe Haven

A Safe Haven environment

HIC has implemented a remote-access "Safe Haven" environment to protect data confidentiality, satisfy public concerns about data loss and reassure Data Controllers about HIC’s secure management and processing of their data.

Data is not released externally to data users for analysis on their own computers but placed on a server at HIC, within a restricted, secure IT environment, where the data user is given secure remote access to carry out their analysis.

How to do this can be found in our latest Safe Haven user guide.

The process for setting up a project and beginning to work within the Safe Haven is detailed on our data linkage service pages.

All individuals requiring access to the Safe Haven must sign the current version of the HIC Safe Haven data user declaration and complete the MRC E-course 'Research Data and Confidentiality'.

Once both have been completed and signed and project governance approvals are in place, the HIC System Administrator will contact each person to set up project-specific access to the HIC Safe Haven by providing an initial password (to be changed at first login) and instructions on setting up access. User desktops come preloaded with many standard data-analysis application portfolio including: R, STATA, SPSS, SAS, Matlab, MSOffice.

HIC will then make the data available, within the shared project folder in the Safe Haven, to the project team.