Find and reuse research data
Understand how to find and reuse data from third-party sources in your research.
When planning and designing your research project, you should also consider if data from third-party sources could be used in your project. Third-party data sources include information that has already been collected and made available by government agencies, research organisations, industry and other researchers.
Using existing data can help you:
- reduce the time and cost of data collection
- build on insights from existing evidence to enhance your research
- support new research questions and perspectives
- improve the quality and reliability of your findings.
We're here to help you find relevant datasets, understand access and licensing requirements, assess data quality and cite data correctly.
Many organisations make data available for reuse through repositories, archives and data portals. The following sources are a good starting point for finding datasets for your research.
Reusable data sources
The Australian Bureau of Statistics collects and makes available Australian statistics and microdata across key social, economic and environmental topics.
You can use Table Builder to build your own data tables. Register for a free account using your federation.edu.au email address and include a Statement of Support (PDF 676 KB).
New to TableBuilder? Check out the getting started help guides.
The Australian Data Archive contains social science, humanities and interdisciplinary research data. You can search by study type or by topic.
The CSIRO Data Access Portal contains scientific and environmental datasets from CSIRO research.
New to searching the CSIRO Data Access Portal? Check out the user guide for tips on finding data by browsing or searching.
figshare is a multidisciplinary repository for research data and outputs.
Browse Nature's list of recommended repositories to find discipline specific data repositories.
ARDC Research Data Australia helps you discover, access and re-use research data from Australian universities, government agencies and cultural institutions. You can explore datasets from the sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities freely online.
Use Trove to explore Australian collections from libraries, universities, museums, galleries and archives. The Research and Reports category filter helps you find datasets from research publications.
Need help searching Trove? Check out searching help to begin your research.
UNdata provides a platform for finding, accessing and exploring global statistical datasets from United Nations agencies.
Not sure where to begin? Check out the getting started section for help searching UNdata.
Still can’t find the data you need? These discovery tools can help you identify repositories and datasets across a wide range of disciplines.
Data discovery tools
Google Dataset Search is a search engine for discovering datasets published across the web.
OpenDOAR is a directory of open access repositories, including some that contain datasets.
re3data.org is a global registry of research data repositories.
Need help?
Go to the Research Data Management guide to learn how to collect, store, process and share your data at every stage of the research lifecycle.
If you have questions or need personalised support, book an appointment or check the Research Training and Development calendar for upcoming events.