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Data Management Planning
Angus Whyte
Digital Curation Centre
a.whyte@ed.ac.uk
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What is a DMP?
Why are they important?
What do funders require?
What are risks of not doing it?
What is good practice?
Wkat kinds of support?
The
Digital
Curation
Centre
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 Consortium
of 3 units in Universities of Bath (UKOLN),
Edinburgh (DCC Centre) and Glasgow (HATII)
 Funded
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by JISC, plus HEFCE funding from 2011
challenges in digital curation
across institutions or disciplines
support to JISC e.g. MRD
targeted institutional development
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Including Loughborough University
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•
•
DCC
Mission
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“Helping to build capacity,
capability and skills in data
management and curation
across the UK’s higher
education research
community”
DCC Phase 3
Business Plan
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5
What is Research Data Management?
Caring for, facilitating access
Preserving and Adding value
to research data throughout its
lifecycle.
Organisation, Resources and
Technology required to support
and sustain.
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What is a Data Management Plan?
A brief plan written at the start of a project to define:
 What
data will be collected or created
 How
the data will be documented and described
 How
legal and ethical requirements will be addressed
 Where
the data will be stored, its security and backup
 Which
data will be shared and/or preserved
 How
the data will be shared and with whom
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Why do it?
University wants it to happen
Funders want you to do it!
“Institutional and project
specific data management
policies and plans should be
in accordance with relevant
standards and community
best practice…”
RCUK Data Policy http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/Pages/DataPolicy.aspx
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And..?
The Government want you to share data !
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“i. To the greatest extent and with the fewest
constraints possible publicly funded scientific
research data should be open, while at the same time
respecting concerns in relation to privacy, safety,
security and commercial interests, whilst acknowledging
the legitimate concerns of private partners.
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ii. Open scientific research data should be easily
discoverable, accessible, assessable, intelligible,
useable, and wherever possible interoperable to
specific quality standards”
G8 Science Ministers Statement- June 2013
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And..?
Learned societies want you to!
“The modern data-rich environment
for research and learning and the
open culture that is needed to exploit
it presents new challenges for
Universities…
1
creating a setting that will
encourage researchers to adapt their
ways of working and developing,
and
2
implementing strategies to
manage the knowledge that they
create.”
Science as an open enterprise - The Royal Society 2012 p.71
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But what use is it?
Planning is useful whether or not the DMP needs submitted
with a grant application, as it can help you to…
1
Make informed decisions to anticipate and avoid
problems
2
Avoid duplication, data loss and security breaches
3
Develop procedures early on for consistency
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Ensure data are accurate, complete, reliable and
secure
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Save time and effort to make your life easier!
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Which funders require a DMP?
n.b. EPSRC does not require DMPs submitted but expects them to be done
www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/policy-and-legal/ overview-funders-data-policies
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What do research funders want?
A
brief plan submitted in grant applications, and in the
case of NERC, a more detailed plan once funded
 1-3
sides of A4 as attachment or a section in Je-S form
 Typically
 An
a prose statement covering suggested themes
outline of data management and sharing plans,
justifying decisions and any limitations
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What are the risks of not doing it?

Bids with technical ambitions that can’t be
delivered on

Legal non-compliance DPA, FOI…etc.

Inability to scrutinise –> damage to
research integrity, reputation, retractions
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Loss of data or (re)usability
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Research outputs lack visibility
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Public communication diminished
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Potential loss of research income
Loss- of reputation, research record, value and ££
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Guidance, tools & examples
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Follow guidance from funders e.g.
MRC audio clip on what to include in plans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukVHHKp6sck
Wellcome Trust FAQ
http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/About-us/Policy/Spotlightissues/Data-sharing/Guidance-for-researchers/index.htm
ESRC guidance for peer-reviewers
http://www.esrc.ac.uk/_images/Data-Management-PlanGuidance-for-peer-reviewers_tcm8-15569.pdf
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Six common themes to address
1.
Description of data to be collected / created
(i.e. content, type, format, volume, standards...)
2.
Documentation and metadata
(what, how, why… )
3.
Ethics and legal compliance
(e.g. consent, privacy, confidential data, copyright and IPR)
4.
Storage and backup
(how & when, security mgmt)
5.
Selection and preservation
(what retained and how preserved)
6.
Data sharing
(how, when, limits)
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A useful framework to get started
Brief explanations
of questions
Sample
statements
www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/content/datamanagement/dmp/framework.html
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Help from the DCC
https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk
www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/
how-guides/develop-data-plan
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DMPonline – Creating a plan
Select your
funder (if any)
Select
relevant uni
for DMP
questions and
guidance
Select other
sources of
guidance
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DMPonline – Questions and guidance
Easy-format text
boxes to answer
Can pre-populate
boxes with
example /
suggested
answers
Guidance appears
in right-hand
panel
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Example plans
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Technical appendix submitted to AHRC by Bristol Uni
http://data.bris.ac.uk/files/2013/02/data.bris-AHRC-Technical-Plan-v21.pdf
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Rural Economy & Land Use (RELU) programme examples
http://relu.data-archive.ac.uk/data-sharing/planning/examples
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UCSD example DMPs (20+ scientific plans for NSF)
http://rci.ucsd.edu/dmp/examples.html
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U.Michigan Engineering example and tutorial
https://sites.google.com/a/umn.edu/data-management-workshop-series2013/module7
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My DMP – a satire (what not to write!)
http://ivory.idyll.org/blog/data-management.html
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Restrictions on sharing
 The
data will be deposited with [repository] but not
disseminated for one year to give the investigators
time to publish their findings. [1]

Any design notes on the data analysis are in our
private e-mail, and we will fight to the death - up to
and including ignoring FOI requests - to prevent you
from obtaining them. [2]
[1] ICPSR Framework for Creating a Data Management Plan
[2] My DMP – a satire, by C. Titus Brown
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Basic tips
Keep
it simple, short and specific
Seek
advice - consult and collaborate
Base
plans on available skills and support
Make
sure implementation is feasible
Justify
any resources or restrictions needed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OJtiA53-Fk
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What policy changes expected?
 EU
Horizon2020
 Research
Sector Transparency Board considering
policy action re Open Data
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Horizon2020
“All project proposals submitted to "Research and Innovation
actions" as well as "Innovation actions" include a section on
research data management which is evaluated under the
criterion 'Impact'. Where relevant, applicants must provide a
short, general outline of their policy for data management,
including the following issues:
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What types of data will the project generate/collect?
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What standards will be used?
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How will this data be exploited and/or shared/made accessible
for verification and re-use? If data cannot be made available,
explain why.
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How will this data be curated and preserved?
Guidelines on Data Management in Horizon 2020
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Research Sector Transparency
Board
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Research Sector Transparency
Board
Huge amounts of government data becoming available for
research
Adding to the need for planning and support
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http://www.adls.ac.uk/
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Thanks – any questions?
DCC guidance, tools and case studies:
www.dcc.ac.uk/resources
Follow us on twitter:
@digitalcuration and #ukdcc