Yoda features

Yoda is a data management system designed at Utrecht University. Yoda provides a user-friendly environment for your data in all stages of your research. You can manage, share, archive, and publish research data in a secure and reliable way.

Key features of Yoda

  • Data storage and sharing: Yoda offers secure storage for all types of research data, allowing you to easily upload and organise your data packages. Sharing features enable collaboration with internal and external partners in a controlled way. 
  • Data archiving: Yoda allows you to archive your data packages for the long-term in a way that adheres to discipline-specific standards and institutional policies. 
  • Data publication: Yoda allows the publication of archived data packages under open, restricted, or closed access, enabling compliance with the FAIR principles and contributing to open science practices. 
  • Data Security: Yoda stores data as encrypted replicas in two physically separate data centres, with procedures ensuring new data is fully duplicated, and it complies with Utrecht University's Information Security policy for public, internal, and sensitive data. The number of physical replicas may differ depending on your own institution. 
  • Compliance and best practices: Yoda helps to align your data management practices with the FAIR principles, national and international standards. It is also suitable for sensitive data, enabling compliance with privacy and security regulations. 
  • Training and support: The Yoda team and their partners provide resources, including tutorials and workshops, to help you effectively use Yoda and manage your data.

Advantages for researchers

  • Improved research visibility: publishing your data package in Yoda can increase the visibility of your work, which may lead to more impact of your research and more opportunities for collaboration.
  • Enhanced collaboration: Yoda allows sharing data with both internal and external partners, thereby facilitating collaboration across institutes anywhere in the world.
  • Privacy and security: Yoda is suitable for sensitive data and complies to most data privacy and security standards of the institutes that use Yoda.
  • Local support: with support for Yoda nearby, you will be able to quickly get started with Yoda and be helped personally with any issues you experience.
  • Different ways of using Yoda: Yoda caters to a wide range of disciplines and research types and is accessible via a multiplicity of ways, making it suitable for many different use cases.

Technical implementation

Yoda is an iRODS based data management system enhanced with graphical user interfaces. You can read more about the technical implementation of Yoda on the documentation on GitHub.