Research Data Management services:
supporting creators, curators & users
of information
Myriam Fellous-Sigrist
Library Services
m.fellous-sigrist@ucl.ac.uk
www.ucl.ac.uk/research-data-management
1. Research Data Management (RDM) coordination
 My role & my teams
 Main challenges so far
2. Overview of UCL RDM services
 Evolution & current situation
 Case study of RDM support
3. Current work & future directions
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Consent forms
Metadata, DOIs and visibility of data
Networks of data management experts
Analysing actual RDM needs and practices
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Definitions
What are Research Data?
- A definition: Sources (digital or not) created and collated for a
research project.
- UCL’s definition (in UCL Research Data Policy): Data “may be raw,
abstracted or analysed, experimental or observational.”; e.g..: fieldwork
notebooks, questionnaires, audiotapes, photographs, maps, manuscripts,
etc.
- Research funders may have their own definition.
What is Research Data Management?
- Research Data Management covers all of the decisions made during
the research lifecycle to handle data,
- from the planning stage of your project up to the long-term
preservation of your data.
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1. Research Data Management (RDM) coordination
 My role & my teams
Coordination
- Library services & Information Services Division (ISD)
- New post; a driver: EPSRC Research Data Policy (May 2015)
Advocacy
- RDM good practices and services
- RDM website www.ucl.ac.uk/research-data-management:
Funders and UCL‘s policies on research data;
Data Management Plans;
How-to guides (on preservation, copyright, formats, personal data…);
Resources (slides, checklists…) to share information.
Support
Enquiries; 1-to-1 support, e.g. Data Management Plans
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Data Management Plans
 Help you to identify the decisions to make regarding your data,
throughout your project.
 Required as part of the grant application by: ESRC, AHRC (“Technical
Plans”), Wellcome Trust, MRC, NERC, STFC.
 Recommended by: EPSRC, EC-Horizon 2020, RCUK.
Content: a 1 to 2-page summary explaining:
1. what type of data you will collect;
2. how you will store them;
3. how they could be accessed at the end of the project.
Help to write your Plans
 Check our how-to guide (examples of Plans, checklist…)
 Ask for review and advice: m.fellous-sigrist@ucl.ac.uk
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 Main challenges so far
Diversity
- Disciplines
- Funders
- Awareness
- Data created
- Research units
- Enquiries
Having everyone in mind
- Supporting creators, curators and users of data
- Helping with data management now and in the future
- Towards a scalable service
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2. Overview of UCL RDM services
 Evolution and current situation
Governance
- Research Data Services Executive Group
- Research Information & IT Services Group
- Information Services Governance Committee
See LERU Roadmap for Research Data to
understand international context of RDM
evolution.
Infrastructure
- Data storing
- Archiving and giving access to data
UCL Research IT Governance Structures
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Options to store data (while working on them)
1/ UCL Research Data Storage: safe storage for all volumes of data; 5TB
available free of charge. Guidance is available.
2/ UCL Data Safe Haven: when handling personal and sensitive data as
part of the project. Guidance is available.
Options to archive & give access to data (project closed)
1/ UCL Discovery: for publications & small-scale datasets. Guidance is
available.
2/ Digital Collections: for most data. Email: Digital Curator
3/ Funders’ repositories, e.g.: the ESRC recommends the use of
ReShare, the UK Data Service repository
4/ External repositories (re3data.org)
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Support & advocacy
- Research IT Services (ISD): http://www.ucl.ac.uk/isd/services/research-it
Support for research computing, research software development and
research equipment; Research IT training (Unix Shell, Python, SPSS…)
- Ethical approval and advice:
UCL Research Ethics Committee
Guide to handle sensitive and/or personal data
- Research integrity (OVPR): http://www.ucl.ac.uk/research/integrity
(information on ethics, research collaboration and more)
- Data Protection Team: www.ucl.ac.uk/finance/legal/dp-foi-overview
- Information security (ISD): https://www.ucl.ac.uk/informationsecurity
- Copyright information: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/copyright
- Open Access (Library Services): http://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/open-access
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 Case study: helping to archive and share a research centre’s data
- The collections
- Making sense of the funder’s requirements
- Gathering information to archive and choosing levels of access
- Depositing and creating tools for curation of future collections
Another example of collections archived by UCL Library Services: the BSL corpus video database
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3. Current work and future directions
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Consent forms
Legal and ethical dimensions
Legacy projects
Future projects
Giving sustainable but flexible guidance
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Metadata, DOIs and visibility of data
Creating common standards and guidance for 3 repositories
Making data discoverable
If appropriate, making data accessible
Different levels of access: open/embargoed/restricted/close
Respect legislation, participants’ choices and funder’s requirements;
see our blog post on legislation & personal/sensitive data)
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Building up networks of data management experts
Subject librarians network
Local data managers network
Towards local expertise and workflow / central support for general
questions, infrastructure and policies
 Understanding actual data management needs and practices
- Surveying RDM practices, needs and
awareness: help us!
- To inform development of current services
and future training
- Report in spring
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Conclusion
Future skills in information studies?
m.fellous-sigrist@ucl.ac.uk
www.ucl.ac.uk/research-data-management
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