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Research Data Management

 "The purpose of research data management is to maximise the academic value of research data by ensuring that such data is managed according to good practices for collection, curation, storage, management, retrieval, re-use, sharing, archiving, and access, appropriate for the data and discipline concerned, and thereby to ensure compliance with the requirements of funding agencies and other stakeholders."

See Research Data Management Policy at the University of Galway

Benefits of good research data management practice

  • Increases the impact and visibility of research e.g. data citation
  • Promotes innovation and potential new data uses
  • Leads to new collaborations between data users and creators
  • Maximizes transparency and accountability
  • Enables scrutiny of research findings
  • Encourages improvement and validation of research methods
  • Reduces cost of duplicating data collection
  • Provides important resources for education and training

Why do you need to manage your research data?

  • Maximizes the effective use and value of data and information assets
  • Increases research efficiency and saves money
  • Provides for data security
  • Streamlines the selection and release of data with appropriate licensing
  • Facilitates data sharing, data is more accessible/more discoverable
  • Facilitates continuity of research as staff/researchers change
  • Avoids duplication in research
  • Accommodates validation of research published
  • Funder requirements

Reference: CONUL Research Support Task and Finish Group (2014) Briefing Document & Recommendations

Register for forthcoming training sessions:

Title: Research Data Management: Getting started with your Data Management Plan

Content: This workshop will focus on writing a Data Management Plan (DMP) and content includes getting started, six headings for your Data Management Plan (DMP), examples and resources.

Venue: Library Training Room PC Suite

Details: 

Register at

The Library provides:

  • One-to-one consultations
  • Training e.g.Introduction to Research Data Management, Writing your Data Management Plan
  • Data Management Plans (DMPs) review service

For further information, advice and support please contact:

  • Trish Finnan, Digital Publishing and Data Management Librarian, Phone; 091-495961, Email: trish.finnan@universityofgalway.ie

The following video tutorials complement content in this library guide.

Open Scholarship Community at University of Galway

For further information and training related to open scholarship, open publishing, open tools please contact:

  • , Open Scholarship Librarian,  Phone; 091-493895, Email: 

See also 

Information Solutions and Services (ISS) provides a Security Awareness Training course on Blackboard for all staff and students of the university. ​For related information go to IT security training on the ISS website.

Coursera Research Data Management and Sharing delivered over repeating five weeks.

Essentials 4 Data Support an introductory course from Research Data Netherlands.

Data Management Expert Guide provided by CESSDA ERIC (the Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives European Infrastructure Consortium) guides early career social scientists from initial planning phase to the publication of the research data. Illustrations, examples, expert tips are provided as well insights into data management practices in different European countries. It addresses questions such as: How do I handle personal data? What is the best way of documenting my data? How do I store my data safely? Can I share my data with others?

MANTRA Research Data Management Training is free a online course from EDINA at the University of Edinburgh

Research Data Bootcamp from the University of Bristol 

Data Tree is a free online course on research data management. It is a self-paced course that takes 15-20 hours to complete in eight structured modules.The course is especially aimed at PhD students and early career researchers but is for anyone who wants to develop the right data habits now, including thinking of end-users of your data.

The Delivering Research Data Management Services MOOC offered by the Digital Curation Centre starts on the 05 October 2020. Participants will learn about common research support services, how to create data management plans, and how to develop your own research data management roadmap. The course lasts five weeks and it is now CPD certified. Further information and how to register is available on the Future Learn site. A blog on the DCC site also has more information for those interested.

Zenodo RDM collection bring together RDM training materials

CODATA-RDA School of Research Data Science offer a programme of short courses equipping young researchers globally with core data skills.

Data Carpentry develops and teaches workshops on the fundamental data skills needed to conduct research.

FOSTER Open science trainer’s corner

JISC Research Data Management toolkit (Skills and Training)

RDMkit was developed to help PhD candidates, research grant applicants, project managers and group leaders working in Life Sciences with creating DMPs. It addresses typical issues encountered such as sharing and processing of sensitive data, finding appropriate storage solutions, etc. It was developed by the ELIXIR project funded by the European Commission

OpenAIRE resources

  • OpenAIRE is an initiative funded and supported by the EU. It is an aggregator of publications and various other research outputs like datasets, that have been deposited to institutional and various other repositories, and intends to link them to research and project information, other research outputs and author information
  • OpenAIRE Guides a portfolio of continuously updated support material and factsheets on FAIR for research institutions and funders
  • OpenAIRE webinar 'Horizon Europe Open Science requirements in practice' presented in June 2022 includes information about OpenAIRE tools and services to support projects. Further information, key messages and links to OpenAIRE guides, recordings and presentations are available at https://www.openaire.eu/horizon-europe-os-requirements-in-practice-webinar-results-key-messages

CESSDA (Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives) Data Management Expert Guide designed by European experts to help social science researchers make their research data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Resusable (FAIR).

Research Data Management Adventure Game created by Bath University and Stellenbosch University is designed for postgraduate students. Players take the role of a researcher in a university department and are guided through the lifecycle of a research project, from funding applications, through data collection, data description, and to the publication of findings. It takes on hour to play.  an hour to play.

Open Science: Sharing Your Research with the World is a MOOC created by TU Delft. Week 2 covers Research Data Management. It provides an introduction to effective and secure research data management, including:

  • Learning the disciplinary standards of FAIR data sharing
  • Evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of different data storage and backup options
  • Organizing, documenting, and adding metadata to research data to optimize the visibility of your data
  • Data archiving, access, sharing and re-use with the use of data repositories
  • Understanding the different copyright licenses designed to deal with open data
  • Dealing with confidential data, company restrictions, and third-party agreements through case studies
  • Evaluating a data management plan
  • Explaining how Open Data can be applied in your field of research

UK Data Service Training and Events

PARTHENOS provides training modules and resources in digital humanities including how to manage, improve and open up you research data.

Generalist Repository Ecosystem Initiative (GREI) Workshop https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7714262 

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) introducing open science principles in biomedicine and the life sciences

The Research Data Working Group was convened in December 2016 and was active until 2018. It was chaired by John Cox, University Librarian.

Membership

Peter Corrigan (Head of Digital Publishing and Innovation, Library)

John Cox (University Librarian, chair)

Professor Mathieu d'Aquin (Acting Director of the Insight Centre for Data Analytics)

Peter Feeney (Data Protection Officer)

Trish Finnan (Digital Publishing and Data Management Librarian, Library)

Dr. Aidan Kane (School of Business and Economics)

David Kelly (Digital Humanities Manager, Moore Institute)

Dr. Iain MacLaren (Director of Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching)

Sean O’Farrell (Director of Information Solutions and Services)

Aengus Parsons (Director of Research)

Dr. Srinivas Raghavendra (School of Business and Economics)

Dr. Elaine Toomey (School of Psychology)

Goals

  • Build a community through regular communications
  • Engage University Management Team with research data as a reputational asset
  • Understand and develop supports to meet funder requirements
  • Ensure compliance with data protection policies and regulations
  • Develop policy, advisory services, resources and infrastructure

The Research Data Management Policy at University of Galway was developed by the working group in 2018.

Events to date

The Challenges of Research Data: an Open Forum, 25 October 2016

Open Research Data antd Critical Data Studies: the Building City Dashboards Project, presentation from Professor Rob Kitchin, author of The Data Revolution, 08 February 2018

Learning Analytics: understand learning and support the learner, 02 May 2018, presentation by Professor Mathieu D'Aquin, Actring Director of the Insight Centre for Data Analytics

Open Forum on Supports for Research Data at University of Galway, 26 October 2018

Open Science, Ireland and the Digital Repository of Ireland: where are we at and where are we going?, presentation by Dr. Natalie Harrower, Director of the Digital Repository of Ireland, 06 December 2018

Briefing papers

NUI Galway Research Data Working Group. (2017). The Changing Research Data Environment: a briefing paper. NUI Galway. 

Cox, John. (2019). Research Data Management and Open Scholarship: NUI Galway. 

Publications

"How open science creates better research"  article by John Cox, University Librarian at University of Galway and Dr. Elaine Toomey, School of Psychology, University of Galway which explains why "Science can only progress by building on the research of others and open science aims to make this work accessible to all". Read more on RTÉ Brainstorm at https://www.rte.ie/eile/brainstorm/2018/1021/1005713-how-open-science-creates-better-research/

Library

  • Trish Finnan, Digital Publishing and Data Management Librarian, Phone: 091-495961, Email: trish.finnan@universityofgalway.ie

Information Solutions and Services

Contact details for Information Solutions and Services at University of Galway are available on their website.

Data Protection

The University of Galway Data Protection Website explains how the University manages information in line with the Data Protection Acts and GDPR. For information about related training contact:

  • Peter Feeney, Data Protection Officer, Phone: 091 493673, Email: peter.feeney@universityofgalway.ie

Data protection queries

  • Email: dataprotection@universityofgalway.ie

Research Office

  • Contact details for Research Support Officers are available on the website of the Research Office 

Technology Transfer Office