---
title: "Personal data management"
source: The Turing Way
source_url: https://github.com/the-turing-way/the-turing-way
licence: CC-BY-4.0
domain: data-and-analysis
subdomain: turing-way
date_added: 2026-04-25
---

(rr-rdm-personal)=
# Personal data management

For a more practical overview on tools and practises that facilitate reproducibility, please see the [](#pd-sdp) on [managing](#pd-sdpm) and [working on](#pd-sdpw) sensitive data under [](#pd).

```{figure} ../../../figures/data-ecosystem.*
---
name: data-ecosystem-2
alt: In the illustration the private data is locked up under a well. However, if there is consent, some of the water in this private data well can be shared publicly. Sharing this private data publicly with consent is important for improving public knowledge and scientific progress, which is visualised as a field where people are working on the planting and managing of plants or data charts. The water from the well is used to water the field. The public data that grows thanks to the sharing of the data can then be 'harvested' and be of public benefit. 

---
The private data ecosystem. _The Turing Way_ project illustration by Scriberia. Zenodo. [http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3332807](http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3332807)
```

## Personal data

Personal data is information about **living people** who can be identified using the data that you are processing, either directly or indirectly (for example, a person's name, address or other unique identifier such as their Social Security number). 
Find out more about what personal data is and what policies apply to this type of data in the [personal data](#pd-sdp-personal) chapter.


(rr-rdm-informed-consent)=
## Informed consent

Informed, voluntary and fair consent to participate in a study is very important for any research project that involves human participants. 
You can find more information about this in the [Informed Consent section](#pd-sdpm-informed).


(rr-rdm-privacy)=
## Safeguard privacy
There are a number of strategies that you can adopt to **safeguard the privacy** of your research subjects, which are described in detail in [Data Privacy Strategies](#pd-sdpm-privacy). 
If you do plan to share or publish the data you should ensure that this can be done so safely: read [](#pd-sdpm-sharing).

## More resources 
Check out the resources listed in [](#pd-sdpm-resources) of [](#pd-sdpm).
