Open access & research data management: Horizon 2020 and beyond (UCC, 14th-15th April 2015)

Cork

This two-day training event was held in UCC in April, and was jointly hosted by UCC LibraryUCC Research Support Services, Teagasc and the Repository Network of Ireland (RNI). The first of its kind to be held in Ireland, the event introduced attendees to the concepts of open research and research data management within the context of Horizon 2020. With speakers from the U.K. and Ireland sharing best practice, the event was an invaluable learning experience, and timely in the context of Horizon 2020’s Open Data Pilot.

Maura FlynnBreeda Herlihy and Ronan Madden (all UCC Library) have written an elaborate blogpost about the event, which you can read in full on the Libfocus blog.

(Picture by Richard Bradfield)

The two day event took place in April 2015, and focused on ‘Open research in H2020' and on ‘Research data management'.

The organizers list the following takeaways from the event: 

1. Challenging: developing RDM services can be challenging due to the complexity and variety of research data. However, it is possible to learn from established services at other institutions. All speakers were very open to sharing their own experiences, tools and resources for late adopters of RDM services. All highlighted the well-established services available in the UK e.g.Digital Curation Centre as well as various online tools and resources which can be reused. 
2. Planning: it is essential to plan out a roadmap after first establishing an understanding of the needs of the stakeholders. Stuart McDonald discussed the Data Audit Framework used at Edinburgh to identify research data assets and their management before developing an RDM policy and service. Dermot Frost mentioned that a ‘repository needs data to justify its existence’ and so the DRI has a stakeholder advisory group to ensure that depositors were involved from the planning stages. 
3. Cross campus collaboration required: due to the complexity of RDM, the different types of stakeholders involved and emerging funder requirements, coordination across the institution is essential for an effective approach to service development.
4. Planning at the research project level: the importance of DMPs in the early stages of projects was emphasised by all Day 1 speakers. They ensure good data management practice at each stage of the research process.

 

Read the full blogpost here.