Importance of Research Data + RDM

Research data management plans are important for ECU because they provide transparency and accountability in how research data is collected, stored and shared.

Why Research Data Management Matters

A research data management (RDM) plan ensures that data is stored securely, sustainably and responsibly and that it is accessible to the people who need it. For researchers, this provides confidence in long-term use and archiving. For participants, it upholds appropriate safeguards for data that may affect their privacy. With clear guidelines in place, ECU can be confident that research data is managed responsibly.

Benefits of a Data Management Plan

An RDM plan helps maintain the accuracy and integrity of research data over time, ensuring results remain accessible to other researchers. It also reduces the time and effort required to manage data, allowing researchers to focus on advancing their work rather than administrative tasks.

ECU’s Commitment to RDM

ECU recognizes data as an important research output and is committed to fostering excellence in RDM practices, including:

• Creating data management plans to describe how research data will be managed and documented
• Ensuring plans are executed or updated as projects evolve
• Storing data in secure, reliable networks with strong back-up and redundancy
• Documenting data so it can be understood beyond a given research team
• Meeting legal and ethical obligations related to private data, cultural data and intellectual property
• Establishing clear agreements on ownership and sharing of project data
• Publicly sharing data for reuse where possible
• Providing appropriate software tools and training for student and faculty researchers