Research Data Management (RDM) includes the following activities within the project or research lifecycle: data acquisition, organization and storage, as well as long-term preservation, security, quality assurance, metadata in accordance with disciplinary requirements, licensing, and data sharing policies and procedures. RDM includes the management of research data during the lifetime of the research project and how the data will be stored and shared after the end of the project, e.g. storing the data in a repository for long-term archiving and access. It is a continuous activity throughout the data lifecycle of any project that creates, collects or reuses data. The management of research data is outlined in the DMP data management plan. The RDM should be developed in accordance with the project management strategy, which may be based on different methodologies.
Examples of project management methodologies
The research data lifecycle is clearly described, for example, in the ELIXIR RDMkit. By clicking on the diagram, the user selects the topic and gets information according to the phases of the research data lifecycle: main aspects for each phase, links to training materials, links to related data management activities step-by-step instructions to make your data FAIR.
ELIXIR Research Data Management Kit (RDMkit)
The website HowToFair contains e-learning videos on research data management: an introduction, FAIR principles and the data management plan (DMP), (Holmstrand, K.F., den Boer, S.P.A., Vlachos, E., Martínez-Lavanchy, P.M., Hansen, K.K. (Eds.) (2019). Research Data Management, (e-Learning course). doi:10.11581/dtu:00000047).
For a detailed description of research data management in Horizon Europe projects, see, for example, the “Guides for Researchers” section of the OpenAIRE website. The methodology includes rules for creating a data management plan, working with metadata, selecting an appropriate data repository, guidance on how to cost research data management and links to training materials.
Related sites
Funding and tender opportunities portal, reference documents