Data management planning in the Australian funding landscape by Sarah Olesen

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 codes
1. Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research
2. 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
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https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/research/responsible-conduct-research-0

1. Australian Code for the Responsible
Conduct of Research (2007)
On data management
Section 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 Conduct
in 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
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https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/guidelines/publications/e72

2. National Statement on Ethical Conduct
in Human Research (2007 – updated 2014)
Directs institutions, researchers, data managers to consider
 How human data will be stored and maintained
 Whether data needs to be modified and at what stage (e.g.,
confidentialised)
 Information for participants about data storage, use,
publication, and re-use
 Participant 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.au
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From Feb 2014, the ARC
application forms for Discovery and
Linkage Grants require applicants
to provide an outline of their data
management plan

Discovery Program Funding Rules
A11.5.2 (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’
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ARC Discovery Program Application Form 2015
Part 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_d
ocument/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.html
 http://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
Australia’s Chief Scientist, Prof
Ian Chubb at his keynote
speech at RDA Third Plenary,
on food security
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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):e308
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Where to?

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All ANDS resources are released under a CC BY license
with the exception of the coat of arms and logos.
ANDS is supported by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research
Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) and the Super Science Initiative.

Data management planning in the Australian funding landscape by Sarah Olesen

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