Being a DMP advisor Dragana Petrovic ULB European
Being a DMP advisor Dragana Petrovic ULB European Liaison Office, Research Department Open Access Week Belgium, 20 October 2020 Jørgen Stamp: www. digitalbevaring. dk
RDM support team @ ULB Research Department: European Liaison Office Rachel Leproult Dragana Petrovic Department of Libraries and Scientific Information Françoise Vandooren Anthony Leroy
Outline Ø DMP and requirements from funding agencies Ø Why researchers are afraid of DMPs Ø Common misunderstandings regarding DMPs Ø How to motivate researchers to write a good DMP Ø Feedback
Data Management Plan formal document describing the plan to manage the data - a key element of good data management -
Requirements from funding agencies Ø European, international and national research funders are increasingly adopting policies on RDM Ø Data management is becoming a key element for obtaining research funding § European Commission • H 2020: Open Research Data Pilot (ORDP) • Horizon Europe: DMP mandatory § Belspo, FWO, FNRS § National Science Foundation (US) Ø Different requirements: proposal phase DMP, periodic reporting, templates, focus Ø International initiatives/efforts for harmonization & DMP quality improvement § Research Data Alliance: Active Data Management initiative § Science Europe: Towards European Guidelines on RDM procedures
However … researchers are still afraid of DMP! Why? Ø Complicated and time consuming – NOT TRUE ⁻ Majority of researchers still have not been in the situation to write a DMP ⁻ They think DMP is only for big, collaborative projects Ø Making DMP is making data OPEN – NOT TRUE OPEN DATA
However … researchers are still afraid of DMP! Why? Ø Complicated and time consuming – NOT TRUE ⁻ Majority of researchers still have not been in the situation to write a DMP ⁻ They think DMP is only for big, collaborative projects Ø Making DMP is making data OPEN – NOT TRUE ⁻ even TTO officers share that fear Ø Pure administrative requirement - NOT TRUE
Common misunderstandings Ø I have no data! § A research project always involves data Ø These are my data! § Data belong to the institution Ø Focus on publications § DMP concerns data! Not the publications Ø DMP is not only about ethics
EU projects: advise researchers to participate in Open Research Data Pilot Ø Personalized approach to each application Ø Explaining that DMP is § Simple & relatively short document § Useful § It is going to be mandatory soon § They will not be alone: tools & personalized advice and help
Writing a good DMP to motivate: ask following questions If a researcher has access to your data, would he/she be able to reuse them? Are you able to retrieve the data 5, 10, … years after your research project ends? If a member of your laboratory leaves, are you able to locate and use the data of his/her research project ?
Writing a good DMP to motivate: explain things Ø DMP doesn’t need to be long - be as concrete as possible Ø flexible tool and living document § DMP can/needs to be updated during a research project Ø Institutional solutions and recommendations § e. g. storage/archiving possibilities, encrypting software, legal and ethical aspects
Writing a good DMP to motivate: provide various support Ø Tools § DMP templates with implemented guidance § DMPonline - online tool to create DMP – implement institutional guidance Ø Personalized support § Individual meetings: help and personalized advice on preparing DMP § Proofreading of DMP and providing detailed feedback § Examples of DMPs Ø General support § Webpages dedicated to RDM & downloadable guide § Training sessions: RDM basics, DMP workshop, Train the Trainer
Writing a good DMP to motivate: use convincing arguments
From our experience … Ø Collaborative projects § DMP is recommended and always useful Ø Individual projects § Experienced researchers: DMP not necessary General feedback: waste of time § Young researchers: DMP is very useful General feedback: painful, but I have learned a lot
Feedback from a young researcher Email from the ULB young post-doc, several weeks after the DMP has been approved: “ (. . . ) I have recently made extensive use of Mathematica for a project and now I have plenty of codes, and I am sure that in a year I will completely forget all I have done in the codes except if I make a clear metadata for them. So now I am starting to understand the philosophy behind DMP! (…) “
Thank you for your attention Questions
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