The University has secured a year's licence to trial Globus, a leading research data management platform that addresses many of the large-scale data transfer challenges our research community faces.

Globus provides a robust, cloud-based solution for moving, sharing, and managing scientific datasets securely between institutions. This represents a significant opportunity to enhance our research support capabilities.

Please consider using our trial when you encounter difficulties with large dataset transfers. The access process is user-friendly:

• Visit https://nuservice.ncl.ac.uk/ and select Request Something
• Search research data and choose Research-Specific Server – Data and Database Advice/Guidance
• In the description box, please include the following:
  • That you’d like to be part of the Globus trial
  • Names of all individuals who need access
  • The RDW Network Share (e.g. \\campus\rdw\UnitName) and the specific subfolders involved
  • Who you’ll be sharing data with (and whether you’ll be sending, receiving, or both)
  • An estimate of how often data will be transferred, and typical file sizes

If they are planning to share data with an external party, they'll need their own Globus identity. If they already have a Globus account, sharing is straightforward. If they haven't used Globus before, it's also very easy for them to set up a personal account.

To do this, they need to:

• Go to https://www.globus.org/
• Click Log In at the top right
• From the login options, they can choose to sign in using GitHub, Google, ORCID iD, or (my preferred option) Globus ID—which is a small link at the bottom.
• Creating a Globus ID will give them a personal account that can easily select when setting up access to data or storage locations.

Our licence runs until 15th August 2026, providing ample time for a comprehensive evaluation. Strong usage data will be essential for assessing whether to incorporate Globus into our standard site licence.