Research Data Management

The purpose of this Research Data Management (RDM) Strategy is to ensure that research data is preserved, kept secure, and made accessible as appropriate, thereby increasing the value of research done by ECU researchers.

The creation of a strategy also fulfills the first requirement of the Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy and articulates ECU’s commitment to RDM and to data management best practices at the institutional level.

This Strategy is based on a study of best practices, surveys and conversations, and data collected over four stages with various inputs. It outlines the approach used to build a foundation for excellence in RDM that will guide our work in alignment with continued guidance from Tri-Council to assess the impact of our efforts and embed continuous improvements to the Strategy.

Scope

This strategy aims to support all Tri-Agency supported scholarship, research, and creative activity undertaken by faculty, staff, and students at ECU. It also provides guidance for ECU community on the associated systems, services and supports that can enable best practices in research data management to elevate the discovery of knowledge originating within the institution.

Context

The Tri-Agency policy on Research Data Management was released in 2021. This policy signaled to all Canadian universities, including ECU, the need to develop and institute supports for data management policies in three ways:

1) To create an institutional RDM Strategy in order to be compliant with the Tri-Agencies requirements.

Universities will notify the agencies when the strategy is complete as well as make it publicly available via their institutional website. The Agencies plan to implement their policy incrementally, beginning with institutional strategies required by March 2023.

2) Over time, researchers will be required to incorporate DMPs (Data Management Plan) into funding applications based on various requirements of funding programs.

ECU will be required to further develop supports and resources for faculty to ensure they remain competitive for Tri-Agency funding.

3) Finally, the Tri-Agencies will phase in a requirement for researchers to deposit their data in line with open access policies.

This requires researchers to be able to access systems and services to store, describe, and archive their data in a way that other researchers/students can access and use.

Looking Ahead

Currently, ECU is positioned to assist Tri-Agency-funded researchers with applications requiring DMPs on an ad-hoc basis. The strategy is a living document and the RDM committee will revisit the strategy semi-annually based on researcher response and Tri-Agency requirements.

Updates will be presented to the President’s Executive Committee on an annual basis or as required. Based on resourcing needs identified in future iterations of the strategy, staffing and/or infrastructure investments will be made to continue to advance RDM best practices.