Data management planning in the Australian funding landscape

Sarah Olesen

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• Where are we now?• What might we expect in the future?

Setting the scene…

Strong policy positions by some discipline funders Reflects and gives greater weight to established principles

within Australian research codes1. Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research2. National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research

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• Major funders of publically-funded research are emphasising DM (planning and publication) in funding rules or public statements unlike they have previously

Image from: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/phidu

1. Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research (2007)

Joint statement from NHMRC/ARC/AVCC that guides Australian institutions and researchers in their research practices (and in resolving breaches)

Your institutional policies on Conduct of Research, Data Management, and others, will reflect or refer to this Code

3https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/research/responsible-conduct-research-0

1. Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research (2007)

On data managementSection 2: Management of Research Data and Primary Materials

‘The responsible conduct of research includes the proper management and retention of the research data...’Recommends institutions have policies on retention and secure storage of data, confidentiality, publication and sharing, collaborations

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Clearly describing principles of good data management

2. National Statement on Ethical Conductin Human Research (2007 – updated 2014)

Joint statement from NHMRC/ARC/AVCC for those who conduct or review research involving humans (i.e., HRECs) Data & tissue Major disciplines: Health, medical, social

sciences Reflects the additional or special

considerations of research with people, and the data generated during this research E.g., Consent, confidentiality and privacy,

potential for harm or discrimination

5https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/guidelines/publications/e72

2. National Statement on Ethical Conductin Human Research (2007 – updated 2014)

Directs institutions, researchers, data managers to consider How human data will be stored and maintainedWhether data needs to be modified and at what stage (e.g., confidentialised)Information for participants about data storage, use, publication, and re-useParticipant consent(All pending) HREC approval

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Describing principles of good data management

Australian Research Council

Changes to ARC Discovery Program Funding for 2015

http://www.arc.gov.au7

From Feb 2014, the ARC application forms for Discovery and Linkage Grants require applicants to provide an outline of their data management plan

Australian Research Council

Discovery Program Funding RulesA11.5.2 (Publication and Dissemination of Research Outputs)

‘Researchers and institutions have an obligation to care for and maintain research data in accordance with the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research (2007). The ARC considers data management planning an important part of the responsible conduct of research and strongly encourages the depositing of data arising from a Project in an appropriate publically accessible subject and/or institutional repository’

ARC Discovery Program Application Form 2015Part C: Project Description – Management of Data

‘Outline plans for the management of data produced as a result of the proposed research, including but not limited to storage, access and re-use arrangements’

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Australian Research Council

ARC Discovery Program Application Form 2015Part C: Project Description – Management of Data

‘Outline plans for the management of data produced as a result of the proposed research, including but not limited to storage, access and re-use arrangements’

Post award: ARC Discovery Program Funding Agreement 2015

‘The Final Report must outline how data arising from the Project have been made publically accessible where appropriate’

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NHMRC

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Do not yet make explicit requirements about DM

Signatory to the Wellcome Trust joint statement on ‘Sharing research data to improve public health’ (2011). Goals include: Data management standards support data sharing. Standards of data management are developed, promoted and

entrenched so that research data can be shared routinely, and re-used effectively.

NHMRC Data Reference Group (est. June 2014) is developing guidelines for accessing and [re-]using publicly-funded data for health research Final guidance document for to be released mid 2015)

http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/stellent/groups/corporatesite/@msh_peda/documents/web_document/wtvm049648.pdf

Discipline funders

Australian Antarctic program Data Policy (2013)

‘This Policy aims to help AAp [Australian Antarctic Program] researchers maximise the value of the data they collect by providing guidance on how to use the AAp's dedicated data management facilities to make all AAp data potentially re-usable and publicly accessible.’

‘The submission of a data management plan is a mandatory first milestone for all AAp projects’

https://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/about/data_policy.cfm

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Discipline funders

National Environmental Research Program (NERP) and Australian Climate Change Science Programme, now the National Environmental Science Programme (NESP)

NESP Guidelines for applicants states:

‘The Department expects that all outputs from the NESP will be made publicly and freely accessible and available on the internet and that researchers deposit research outputs in an appropriate subject and/or institutional repository’

http://www.environment.gov.au/science/nerp

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These funders’ positions on data management reflect, and now uphold, existing codes of research conduct

A DMP is a formalisation of code principles

Extra resources:http://ands.org.au/resource/code.htmlhttp://ands.org.au/datamanagement/funding.html

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What does the future hold?

Steadily increasing focus on encouraging and mandating DM, simultaneous focus on publication and sharing

Clear links between DM and data sharing (DM precursor to sharing), and the benefits of this for research community

Reflecting international focus on data sharing? (e.g., Wellcome Trust, NIH)

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Themes

‘The collaborative response to global challenges isn’t possible unless we get [research infrastructure] fundamentals right first, and one of the fundamentals is sharing high quality research data’

‘We’ve got to put aside the historical way we went about doing things – locking it [data] up…’

http://www.ands.org.au/newsletters/newsletter-2014-07.pdf

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Australia’s Chief Scientist, Prof Ian Chubb at his keynote speech at RDA Third Plenary, on food security

Many of us are in the position of ‘my funders encourage it, but don’t mandate it’, so…

Some reasons to consider DM planning, and why many institutions include lib guides/other resources on DM

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1. Facilitate integrity and ethical conduct in research, as per Code of Conduct and institutional policies

2. Journal publication Highly cited publishers such as PLOS, BMC and others now mandate

data publication alongside articles. Difficult without good DM Articles with accompanying data may lead to increased citation*

3. Future opportunities Data that are managed and plan for publication and sharing enable

collaborations, local and international

4. Pre-empt future funding changes

*Piwowar et al., PLOS ONE. s007;2(3):e30818

Where to?

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