Research Data Management

All research involves the creation or use of data in some way in order to support or validate its claims to knowledge. Good research data management plays an important role in the integrity of a research project and needs to be present throughout its lifecycle, from the early planning stages, to data collection, analysis, and sharing and archiving at the end of the project. More and more funders, such as the UK Research Councils, require the projects they fund to consider how they will manage their data, including how they will share the data and make it accessible to the public.

 

 

 

Why is research data management important?

Effective management of research data improves efficiency, reduces the risk of loss of data, and enables data to be re-used and shared, thus providing best value for money.

Sharing your research data has a number of benefits:

  • Enables research results to be independently validated
  • Provides opportunities for collaborative work and partnerships
  • Increases the impact of research, by improving visibility and increasing citations
  • Enables datasets to be used in new ways

The University of Wolverhampton recognises the importance of sharing research data to both research excellence and the research community: the Research Data Management Policy highlights the university’s commitment to the effective management of research data.

The Digital Curation Centre provides useful summaries of UK funders’ data policies including the UK Research Councils, the European Commission (Horizon 2020) and the Wellcome Trust.  See below for individual data management plan/policy requirements:

Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

Economic and Social Research Council

Medical Research Council

Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)

Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC)

Horizon 2020

Wellcome Trust

Jisc Research Data Management Toolkit Provides guidance on data management planning, policy compliance, storing and backing up active data, data preservation and protecting personally identifiable information.

UK Data Service guidance for managing data Information on data management planning, legal and ethical issues, documenting and formatting data, tools and templates.

MANTRA Free online course provided by the University of Edinburgh.

CESSDA Guide created by European experts, aimed at social science researchers but with accessible to researchers from a variety of disciplines.

Coursera Free comprehensive course covering a range of topics including data management planning, archiving and using metadata.

Further information

The pages below provide guidance on managing your data during both the active phase of your research and once your research project has ended. 

For more information and support with managing your research data, please contact the Scholarly Communications Team: WIRE@wlv.ac.uk

 

Images used on this page

Research data lifecycle by JISC under a CC licence 

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash

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Photo by andrew welch on Unsplash