Frequently Asked Questions
About ARCHIMEDES
ARCHIMEDES (Advanced Research Collaboration for Health Integration, Medical Exploration, and Data Synthesis) is a bilingual national digital health data platform that enables researchers to collect, manage, share, and perform analysis, including biostatistical analyses, predictive modelling, data visualization and artificial intelligence. ARCHIMEDES is equipped to collect or ingest multimodal brain, heart, and mind data (e.g., behavioural data, imaging data, biobank materials data, and administrative data).
ARCHIMEDES is a joint scientific effort of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI), the University of Ottawa (uOttawa) and McGill University (McGill). Ottawa Heart Institute Research Corporation (OHIRC), the research and contracts arm of the UOHI, acts as the data steward for ARCHIMEDES data and implements and oversees ARCHIMEDES’s data governance practices.
Our vision is to transform the Canadian health data landscape by building a bilingual national platform for the curation, federation and reuse of multi-modal health data. ARCHIMEDES empowers users with secure, flexible access to high fidelity health data to foster collaboration, discovery and innovation for the health of Canadians.
Types of Data and Access
ARCHIMEDES hosts multimodal curated health data, including, but not limited to, research data, behavioural data, imaging data, biomaterials data, and administrative data. This includes both data derived from human research participants, and data not derived from human research participants (i.e., Pre-Clinical Data).
- Controlled Access
Data released in Controlled Access is exclusively made available to Principal Investigators, and their Research Team, for an approved research purpose. Prospective Data Users must submit a request to access Coded data for a specific Research Project, obtain approval from the ARCHIMEDES Data Access Committee (DAC), and have their host organization conclude an I-DAA (Institutional Data Access Agreement) or DAA (Data Access Agreement) with OHIRC before being able to access data.
- Open Access
Data released in Open Access is made openly available through ARCHIMEDES, on a public website that anyone can access. To use Open Access data, Open Access Users must first agree to a Terms of Use that requires them to use data exclusively for research purposes, to respect the applicable ethical and legal restrictions on data use, and to adhere to other applicable governance commitments.
- Registered Access
Data released in Registered Access will be available for ARCHIMEDES users in the next phase of the platform’s development.
Open Access Data
Data released in Open Access is made openly available through ARCHIMEDES, on a public website that anyone can access. To use Open Access data, Open Access Users must first agree to a Terms of Use that requires them to use data exclusively for research purposes, to respect the applicable ethical and legal restrictions on data use, and to adhere to other applicable governance commitments.
Controlled Access Data
Step 1: Identify Applicant PI
A Principal Investigator (PI) must be identified at the organization requesting access. The PI must:
- Be affiliated with an eligible organization
- Assume responsibility for the Data Access Request and compliance with all ARCHIMEDES governance requirements
- Ensure their organization is willing to enter into a Data Access Agreement (DAA) or Institutional Data Access Agreement (I-DAA), if not already in place
Step 2: Create and Verify Your ARCHIMEDES Account
- Users must first agree to Terms of Use that require them to use data exclusively for research purposes, to respect the applicable ethical and legal restrictions on data use, and to adhere to other applicable governance commitments.
Step 3: Complete Data Access Request (DAR)
The PI must submit a purpose-specific Data Access Request (DAR) through ARCHIMEDES describing the datasets requested, explaining the proposed research, and naming the authorized users at their organization.
Step 4: Compile Supporting Materials
Supporting documentation must be provided, including ethics approvals and a description of the proposed research, for ARCHIMEDES Data Access Compliance Office (DACO) and ARCHIMEDES Data Access Committee (DAC) review.
Step 5: Obtain Approval from the ARCHIMEDES DAC
The ARCHIMEDES DACO and DAC will review your data access request and will send you an e-mail with any outstanding questions or queries. You must respond to these queries and obtain the approval from the DAC before being able to access data.
Step 6: Enter into Data Access Agreement
The PI’s organization must complete an Institutional Data Access Agreement (I-DAA) or Data Access Agreement (DAA) with Ottawa Heart Institute Research Corporation (OHIRC) prior to accessing Controlled Access data.
Registered Access Data
Registered Data Access will be included in the next phase of implementation.
Data Contribution
All categories of research organizations, including universities, hospitals, nonprofits, and for-profit companies in Canada may contribute data after signing a Data Contribution Agreement (DCA).
Generally, participants must provide informed consent for their data to be shared through ARCHIMEDES. Research participant informed consent is the primary ethical and legal authorization to contribute, use, and disclose data through ARCHIMEDES.
The consent must address each of the ARCHIMEDES Core Permissions, available here.
Participants’ consent is not required if one of the following alternative authorizations applies:
- A Research Ethics Board grants a waiver of the informed consent requirement, which is consistent with the ARCHIMEDES Core Permissions.
- The data are contributed as De-identified Data, meaning that identifiers have been removed, and re-identification risk is very low, and an ethics approval authorizes its contribution.
- The data are Pre-clinical Data that never involved human participants (e.g. animal model data).
Data Contributors remain accountable for ensuring that data is subject to an appropriate authorization, undergoes sufficient coding or de-identification, and that is contribution and release complies with applicable laws and bioethics requirements.
To contribute data, researchers and organizations must complete the following steps. This helps to ensure that contributed data respects ARCHIMEDES policies and technical requirements.
Step 1: Establish Institutional Authorization (Data Contribution Agreement)
- This agreement defines responsibilities, permissions, and governance requirements.
- Your organization must enter into a Data Contribution Agreement (DCA) before you can contribute data to ARCHIMEDES. If your organization does not yet have a DCA, the ARCHIMEDES team will work with you to establish one.
- No account creation or data submission can occur before the DCA is agreed to.
Step 2: Create and Verify Your ARCHIMEDES Account
Once your organization has a DCA:
- Authorized Principal Investigators (PIs) are approved by your institution.
- ARCHIMEDES creates or activates PI accounts.
- Users must first agree to Terms of Use, confirming that contributed data will be managed and released in accordance with ethical approvals, legal requirements, and ARCHIMEDES governance policies.
- PIs can assign contributor team members to specific Collections.
Step 3: Submit a Data Contribution Form (DCF)
For each collection (i.e., a group of datasets derived from one research protocol or related protocols), the PI submits a Data Contribution Form.
This form describes:
- the collection
- ethical and legal authorizations (i.e., consent or other)
- data types
- intended access tier (open, controlled, or registered)
The ARCHIMEDES DACO reviews the form and supporting documentation before approving data contribution.
Step 4: Authorizations
Informed consent forms (ICFs), or other authorizations, must allow for data sharing compatible with ARCHIMEDES Core Permissions. These are found here. The ARCHIMEDES Open and Controlled Access Consent Form Templates can be adapted to any organizational ICF templates. and are found here.
Step 5: Data De-identification/Coding
ARCHIMEDES policies require all direct identifiers to be removed by the data contributor prior to contribution. Technical personnel perform limited automated and manual verification that select direct and indirect identifiers have been removed.
Step 6: Upload Data to the Private Workspace (Sandbox Environment)
Once approved:
- Data is uploaded into a secure Private Environment (sandbox).
- The PI and authorized team members can:
- curate and organize data
- validate and verify quality
- prepare datasets for release
This stage allows internal preparation before release through the chosen access tier (open, controlled, or registered).
Step 7: Select Access Tier and Request Release
After preparation, the PI formally requests release of the dataset into the chosen access tier:
- Open Access
- Controlled Access
- Registered Access (Coming soon)
Step 8: Data is Released
Once approved:
- Data becomes available through the chosen access tier.
- ARCHIMEDES users from other organizations can access the data.
- Access controls, monitoring measures, and reporting requirements are applied according to the associated access tier.
Data Access
For Researchers
You must:
- Create an ARCHIMEDES account
- Submit a Data Access Request (DAR)
- Obtain ARCHIMEDES Data Access Committee (DAC) approval
- Ensure your institution signs an I-DAA or a DAA.
Approvals are valid for up to three years, after which renewal is required.
Yes, approved users may download data for local analysis or use ARCHIMEDES for high-performance computing resources to analyze data.
Yes, both Controlled and Open Access, and in the next phase of development, Registered Access, core permissions allow commercial and non-commercial research use of ARCHIMEDES data. This means that both the commercialization of downstream research outputs and research by private sector bodies are permitted. The sale of ARCHIMEDES data is prohibited.
For Researcher Participants
Participants may request withdrawal through the original Data Contributor (i.e., the original study team). Withdrawal of study data is not always possible if it is already used or published.
ARCHIMEDES does not return individual research results or material incidental findings. The original Data Contributor remains responsible for any required return of research results, or that of material incidental findings.
Privacy and Ethics
All direct identifiers must be removed prior to uploading data to ARCHIMEDES. Data must be coded and/or de-identified prior to release.
Coded means that direct identifiers are removed from the data and replaced with a code. It may be possible to re-identify specific participants (i.e., the Principal Investigator retains a list that links the research participants’ code with their actual names so data can be re-linked if necessary). ARCHIMEDES treats coded data like personal information, to which data protection laws continue to apply.
De-identified means information that identifies an individual as well as information that could be used, either alone or with other information, to identify an individual based on what is reasonably foreseeable in the circumstances is removed. In practice, de-identification is the process of transforming identifiers in a dataset so that the risk of re-identification is very low.
All ARCHIMEDES Data, whether coded or de-identified, are protected by technical and administrative safeguards. All ARCHIMEDES data are treated like personal information, to ensure sufficient oversight.
Security and Reliability
McGill University (McGill) provides the technical infrastructure that enables ARCHIMEDES to store, analyze, and share data. Data are hosted on secure McGill servers, with encrypted transfers and controlled access. Backups and disaster recovery systems are in place.
Any suspected or confirmed data breach affecting ARCHIMEDES must be reported immediately to the UOHI Privacy Office. The Privacy Office coordinates the required notifications to regulatory authorities, affected individuals, and Data Contributors, as required by law.
The original Data Contributor remains responsible for communicating with affected research participants and ensuring compliance with applicable privacy laws. Ottawa Heart Institute Research Corporation (OHIRC) and McGill University (McGill) will work with the affected institutions to investigate the incident and take necessary steps to reduce harm and prevent future breaches.
Open Science and Intellectual Property
ARCHIMEDES does not claim ownership of contributed data. Intellectual property rights in the contributed data remain with the Data Contributors. Data Contributors and Data Users may claim IP rights in downstream discoveries. No party may claim IPRs in a manner that would prevent others from openly accessing and using ARCHIMEDES and the data it holds.
Help and Support
Yes, you may contact the ARCHIMEDES Ethics Helpdesk for guidance on governance and contribution processes, please contact [email protected]
If you require support with ARCHIMEDES accounts, data access or contribution or have any issues please contact [email protected].
Our Partners and Funders
ARCHIMEDES collaborates with leading institutions to advance health research. Our partners provide expertise, data, and tools to drive innovation and accelerate scientific discovery.
This platform is funded by Canada First Research Excellence Fund for the Brain-Heart Interconnectome (CFREF-2022-00007).
