Research in Education

How to host, maintain and hand over a research project

A practical guide for researchers, departmental administrators and research IT managers: choose the right environment, prepare a hosting brief, agree who looks after what and plan for the day the grant ends.

Use the hosting brief checklist See hosted research examples

What does this guide cover?

Research websites, databases and applications often outlive the grant and the people who built them. Plan hosting around four questions: what environment the project needs, what the hosting brief must say, who maintains each part, and what happens when staff or funding change.

Use it before you contact your IT team or a hosting provider. Most of the questions apply whoever hosts the project, including your own institution.

Which hosting environment does a research project need?

Match the environment to what the project runs, not to its budget line. A public website needs web hosting, a database-backed application needs a supported web stack, and specialist software usually needs its own server or virtual machine.

Matching a research project to a hosting environment
If the project is…	It usually needs…	Check before choosing
A public project website or blog	A web hosting account, often with WordPress	Who updates content and plugins, and the domain name the project will use long term
A database-backed website or data collection form	A hosting account with a database, or a managed server if the stack is unusual	What personal data it collects, where it is stored and how it is backed up
A custom application, API or dashboard	A managed server or virtual machine with the right runtimes	The software versions it needs, any services that run all the time, and who deploys code changes
Specialist research software	Its own server or virtual machine, sized for the software	Licensing, operating-system requirements and whether full control of the server (root access) is needed
Heavy computing, specialist graphics processors (GPUs) or long-term data preservation	Separate assessment: research computing services or a data repository	Your institution's research computing and research data management teams

One department may need several of these at once. That is the point at which a departmental arrangement can be simpler than buying hosting project by project.

What should a research hosting brief include?

A good brief names the project owner, funding dates, software and who needs access. It also covers how the data is classified, how much storage it needs and how quickly it must be restored after a problem. It should never include the research data itself.

Hosting brief checklist

Project owner: A named owner, plus a departmental contact who stays if the owner leaves
Funding dates: Start date, grant end date and who pays for hosting after the grant
Software: Application, runtime and database versions, plugins and any licences
Access needs: Who administers it, who edits content and whether external collaborators need access
Data classification: Data categories and sensitivity, using your institution's classification, without sending the data
Storage: Current size, expected growth and any large files or media
Recovery requirements: What must be backed up, how much data loss is acceptable and how quickly the service must return
End of project: Whether it stays online, is handed over, exported or deposited in a repository

Flag anything you do not know yet. A provider can help size an environment, but only if the brief says where the uncertainty is.

Who handles updates, maintenance, backups and restores?

Write down who does each job before launch. The hosting provider usually maintains servers and infrastructure; the research team usually maintains the application. Backups, restores and operating-system updates are the jobs most often left unassigned.

Application updates

Usually the research team or its developer: application code, frameworks, plugins and content. If nobody will be available after the grant, plan for that now.

Server maintenance

Usually the hosting provider: infrastructure, hardware and the hosting platform. On a virtual machine, agree who applies operating-system updates and security patches.

Backups

Agree what is backed up (files, databases, configuration), how often, how long copies are kept and whether a copy is held separately.

Restores

Agree who can request a restore, how to request one and how long it is expected to take. Test a restore once, before you need it.

What happens when a researcher leaves or the grant ends?

Decide the project's future before the grant ends, while the people who built it are still available. The usual options are continued hosting, handover to a new owner, export, deposit in a repository, or a planned shutdown.

1
Continued hosting
Confirm who pays after the grant, who the new contact is and who keeps the application updated.
2
Handover
Transfer administrative access, documentation and the domain to a named person or department. Remove access for people who have left.
3
Export
Take a complete export of files, databases and configuration in formats someone else could reuse, and check it opens.
4
Repository deposit
Deposit research data and outputs in an institutional or subject repository. A live website is not a preservation plan.
5
Planned shutdown
Agree a date, tell users, keep any required records and confirm when hosted data is deleted.

Check your funder's data management requirements and your institution's research data management guidance; they may decide some of these choices for you. UKRI STFC: planning data management and preservation

What research and project work does Education Host host?

Three examples show the kind of project work Education Host hosts: a research application that had to outlive its grant, a multi-country research project's public website and learning resources, and a funded heritage learning project with its own website and game server.

Anonymous university research team

Managed research hosting for an academic geospatial application

What the project needed: Managed Linux hosting, API support and simple annual pricing for a custom environmental web application intended to remain live beyond the funded project period.
What Education Host hosted: A managed Linux server with server-level access, Node.js and Java Spring Boot support, configured API connectivity and network ports, and deployment support.
Documented outcome: When a deployment issue arose, Education Host helped the team redeploy in around four hours. The application remained available to its community stakeholders and public users.

Published anonymously at the customer's request.

Read the anonymous research case study

Erasmus+ research project

CRUSE: Cross Cultural Skills Europe

What the project needed: A public home for a project that researched the cross-cultural skills employers need from graduates and developed teaching and training materials. The project is coordinated by the University of Worcester with partner universities in the UK, Belgium, Sweden and Turkey.
What Education Host hosted: The project's public website, including its training manual and case-study learning resources for download. The project's skills report is held separately in the University of Worcester's research repository.

Visit the CRUSE project website

Heritage learning project, Worcester

The Infirmary Museum

What the project needed: Reliable, configurable hosting for Virtually Rebuilding Worcestershire's Lost Buildings, a public heritage project backed by a £6,700 Heritage Lottery Fund grant.
What Education Host hosted: A custom package for the project: its WordPress website, a Minecraft server management control panel and a managed Minecraft server.
Documented outcome: Children re-created Worcester's buildings in detail during public sessions, with live progress shown on a large monitor.

Read The Infirmary Museum case study

Where Education Host can help

If you decide to use an external provider, Education Host offers two research hosting options. The guide above applies either way.

Research Hosting

A managed UK server for an individual research project's website, application, API or database.

Explore Research Hosting

Secure Research Cloud

Managed hosting accounts and virtual machines for a department's research projects, added to as research groups join.

Explore Secure Research Cloud

Research project hosting: common questions

Should a research project use university IT or an external host?

Start with your institution. Many universities have approved hosting, research computing or data services and a process for using external suppliers. An external host can suit projects with software, support or timescales that internal services cannot meet, subject to your institution's review.

Can a research website stay online after the grant ends?

Yes, if someone agrees to pay for the hosting, keep the software updated and act as the contact. Without all three, plan an export, a repository deposit or a planned shutdown instead.

Is hosting a research application the same as preserving research data?

No. Hosting keeps an application or website running. Preservation means depositing data with metadata in a repository that is designed to keep and share it. Most projects need both, planned separately.

What should not go in a hosting enquiry?

Research data, participant information, passwords or other credentials. Describe the data categories and sensitivity instead, so the environment and controls can be agreed before anything is transferred.

Who should be named as the contact for a research project?

The project owner plus a departmental contact who will still be there when the researcher moves on, such as a research manager, departmental administrator or research IT manager.

Ready to discuss a project or a department?

Send a short, non-sensitive brief. We will tell you which option fits, or if neither does.

Request a research hosting quote Request a departmental quote