‘How to Use...’ seminar series

Informed by success stories across the University, researchers and research professionals share their knowledge and experience of the tasks and processes required to accessing, managing, and sharing a range of scholarly assets and outputs.

This series particularly highlights existing University resources that support best practices in open research and open education. Users are often unaware of what exists and how to utilise them. Led by the Library as an outcome of a Data Stewards Network workshop, this series will feature experts within the University and beyond who will provide practical insights and guidance on how to make effective use of these resources.

See our sister seminar series, ‘How to Share...’ for short, bitesize seminars that look at how best to share different research data types to help you make your research outputs more FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) and open.

How to Use... the SafePod

Tuesday 2nd June 2026, 13:00-14:00 (online)

In this session, Holly Ranger, Head of Open Research and the SafePod Service Senior Responsible Person at the University of Sheffield Library, will provide an overview of the SafePod Secure Data Access Services. The SafePod, housed in Western Bank Library, is a small prefabricated standardised room that provides the security and controls that are necessary for remote access to sensitive data held by different Data Centres for public benefit research. Current connected Data Centres include the UK Data Service and the Office for National Statistics, among many other. Holly will provide an overview of the objectives of the SafePod Network, explain the purpose and use of a SafePod, and showcase the SafePod Services available to internal and external researchers via Sheffield’s SafePod.

How to Use... Open Educational Resources (OERs)

8th April 2026

Recording available here: https://doi.org/10.15131/shef.data.32077419