New Research Data Management (RDM) Policy: What does it mean for researchers?

The University has released a new Research Data Management (RDM) Policy and supporting resources.

The Policy outlines a comprehensive set of expected practices for data management throughout the research data lifecycle. The purpose of this initiative is to meet compliance requirements and improve the impact and transparency of research conducted at Macquarie.

The RDM Policy aligns with Management of Data and Information in Research, released jointly in 2019 by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the Australian Research Council (ARC) and Universities Australia, which established data management as a shared responsibility between researchers and institutions. The Policy supports the principles of responsible conduct of research, outlined in the Macquarie University Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research. It provides a foundation for research data integrity and consistency, essential to the success of the Research Strategy 2025.

To assist researchers in implementing responsible and effective management of research data, Macquarie has developed an online portal for Data Management Planning (DMP) and established new infrastructure, including a Research Data Repository (RDR), to complement existing platforms for research data.

Online training and resources accompany the Policy release. Pilot Data Management Planning workshops will be scheduled in November and December. From 2022, regular training workshops on various aspects of research data management will be offered to staff and students.

What does it mean for researchers?

The new RDM framework helps researchers to:

  • Keep research data safe and secure
  • Meet legal, ethical, funder, and publisher requirements
  • Transition to best practice, and
  • Accelerate research and increase impact.

More and more funders, including the ARC and NHMRC, require researchers to complete data management plans and share their data to the greatest extent possible. Macquarie’s new online DMP portal in FoRA (Forms for Research Applications) helps researchers meet funder requirements by encouraging them early in their projects to consider:

    • Data sensitivity
    • Storage locations
    • Data sharing and access
    • Metadata, data archiving and publication, and
    • Strategies for data dissemination and long-term data preservation.

How will the Policy be implemented?

The Digitally Enabled Research team and Research Ethics & Integrity team in the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) have collaborated with other key stakeholders since 2019 to develop Macquarie’s RDM Policy. Given that these are major changes to research data practice at Macquarie, the Policy’s requirements will be prospectively (not retrospectively) applied and implemented progressively by researcher cohort.

In August, a pilot group of ARC grant recipients completed their data management plans using the new DMP portal. Their feedback has been valuable in improving the process and supporting documentation. The next cohort scheduled to use the online DMP system will be researchers applying for approval to a Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC). This cohort will be contacted with instructions over the coming months. Early next year, HDR students will be required to complete an online training module (RDMOnline) and submit a DMP during their first year of candidature. After that, other researchers will be transitioned to the new process.

All researchers and research support staff are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the new RDM Policy, safeguard their research data accordingly, and take advantage of the training and support resources provided by Macquarie’s new RDM framework.

References

The Research Data Management Policy suite consists of:

Visit the RDM Framework page for more details and links to supporting online resources including the Data Management Planning portal.

Need more information?

For general queries about the RDM Policy release and implementation, contact the Digitally Enabled Research team by sending an email to: eresearch-comms@mq.edu.au.

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