Institutional data management blueprint final report

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Description/Abstract

This Blueprint combines two approaches. A bottom up approach based on researchers’ needs, designed to enable them to adopt good practice, and a top-down approach, intended to provide the institutional policies and infrastructure to be effective. The project used a research-led approach derived from an in-depth survey of the needs of researchers in representative disciplines the use of the AIDA audit tool and focused work with exemplar disciplines, particularly Archaeology. This showed that despite much good practice shared locally though local networks, institutionally there was no overall strategy for defining roles or for supporting researchers. In response to this the project has defined a draft data management policy which will form part of wider work on a set of information management principles. It has set out an investment strategy with detailed business plan for advanced data storage, and a core metadata structure for data deposit. Responding to researchers’ concerns with the overhead and complexity of managing data deposit, the project has initiated a research data repository on Eprints, offering the opportunity to integrate data management with research outputs and publication in line with the University’s commitment to open data and open access. Initial work was also done on assessing the potential to Sharepoint to take forward the repository role in due course. The audits reiterated that researchers are best incentivised to take up new practices and processes by having a clear policy and service support. The Blueprint defines a multifunctional team approach which can bring together the knowledge and expertise of both researchers and professionals within an institutional policy and technical framework for managing their data.The Blueprint, and the ten year roadmap aim to meet the needs of a multi-disciplinary, research-intensive University, and is designed to be both practical and iterative