Can data from student projects be shared through the Swedish National Data Service (SND)?

In short
Datasets that are deposited with the Swedish National Data Service (SND) for sharing in the researchdata.se portal must have a research principal ("forskningshuvudman"). This means that data from student projects can be shared in SND if they have been collected or generated as part of a research project at SLU, or, if the student first donates the data to SLU.

Sharing student data through SND
Research data can be shared through SND by individuals representing SLU, the research principal. Typically, it is researchers or other data producers employed by SLU who initiate and manage the data submission as representatives of their institution. It is also often done by PhD students who are employed by SLU as well.

To share data from independent student projects without them being part of SLU research, the student would need to "donate" the dataset to a department at SLU, who would then become research principal for data and archive them. An employee at the department can then initiate a data submission to SND. The student can be named in SND as creator of the data, but cannot be responsible for the data submission as such. However, the student can be invited as co-editor of the data submission and contribute in the operational work with describing and uploading the data. 

Please note that there is no obligation for students to hand over data to SLU, to archive or to publish them, if they are not part of SLU research.

If and when student data are donated to SLU, this should be documented and registered formally. This can be done by the student writing a letter (or e-mail) to the head of department saying that the student gives the data to the SLU archive, and the head of department writing a letter of acceptance. This way the department will become accountable for the data and responsible for handling them according to Swedish legislation.

The letter should be registered in SLU's case management system Public 360, which is done by an administrator at the department who is responsible for archiving and registration routines ("RA-rollen"). A case ("ärende") about the donation ("Överlämnande av handlingar", 2.1.1-4) needs to be registered in the system so the letters can be archived. The donated dataset will be registered and archived by the department the same way as any other dataset. 

Contact DMS for more information and assistance.