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Show me the money the long path to a sustainable
RDM Facility
Dr Marta TeperekOffice of Scholarly CommunicationUniversity of [email protected]@admin.cam.ac.uk
Research Data Network Meeting, 18 May 2016
Plan for today:• Data services in Cambridge• How much does it cost?• Quest for finding the best cost recovery
model• Advocating for the benefits• The end result
• Questions – please ask as we go
• Q&A
• All images used are under CC0 (Pixabay)
• Information
• Consultancy on data management
• Data management plan support service
• Training
• Data repository (free up to 1GB)
• Policy development, discussions with funders
• Advocacy and outreach
Data services in Cambridge
How much does it cost?
• And what do we want to recover centrally?
OptionalTo be budgeted in grant applications
How to pay for RDM costs?Three main types of RDM costs
Research Data Management Facility:-Online information-Guidance on data management plans
-Training events/education-Data repository for up to 1GB-Policy development, discussions with funders
-Advocacy and outreach materials
-Consultancy on data management
Long-term preservation of data:-Cambridge University repository (£4/GB for data above 1GB)
-General purpose repositories (Zenodo, figshare)
-Subject-based repository
-Self-built repository
Data management dedicated to the project: -Extra staff member to:
- Manage the data and make it intelligible to others
- Prepare data for sharing via repository
-Allocation of extra time for members of the research group to ensure that data I being properly managed
Baseline costShould be somehow recovered from most grants
OptionalTo be budgeted in grant applications
But how much does it cost?
Item Costs
Personnel costs:- RDM Facility Manager- Research Data Adviser- 0.5 FTE Repository Manager- 0.5 FTE Outreach and Engagement Coordinator
£126,000
Systems establishment (purchase of initial infrastructure) and hardware
£6,640
Maintenance of hardware, licenses and other costs (organisation of events/attendance to events)
£32,600
Total cost per annum £165,240
Quest for finding the best cost recovery model
Transparency important: RDM Facility as a small research facility
Guidance from discussions with RCUK published by DCC:• http://blogs.rcuk.ac.uk/files/2013/07/RCUK-Responses-to-DCC-
RDMF-Funder-Questions-.pdf
• Working closely with the Finance Division (TRAC team)
Possible models to recover the costs:
Ideal solution:• Costs proportionate to the use of the Facility can be estimated directly
based on the data management plan (DMP).
Problems:• Not all funders require DMPs• Even if all of them required DMPs, DMPs would estimate the amount of
data (GB) generated, not the required assistance from the Facility• How much extra resources would be needed to estimate these costs?
Suggested solution:• Make an assumption, monitor the costs, and revisit yearly
Possible models to recover the costs:
Single flat charge:- Minimal admin burden
- Substantial expense on small
grants
- … but if small grant generate
data – why not?
Charge proportional to grant size:- Substantial admin burden (possible?)
- Proportional spread of costs for grants
- Big grants will bear the costs
- …there is no evidence that bigger
grants require more assistance
No charge on grants which do not generate/process any research data (which do not require Facility’s assistance)
Single flat charge
Multiple flat charges Charge per FTE % of each
grant
Advocating for the benefits
Advocating for the benefits
2 different messages for 2 different audiences:
Talk about the benefits
Easy!
Talk about the compliance,risks…
and benefits
Why do we need a Facility?
• Help researchers to comply with funders’ policies
• Ensure University’s compliance with funders’
requirement for RDM
• Ensure University’s leadership in RDM good
practice
• But it has to be cost-efficient and sustainable
Why do we need a Facility?
Meantime…
... we have created the RDM Facility
https://unlockingresearch.blog.lib.cam.ac.uk/?p=221
Data submissions:
Feedback from RDM training:
Anonymous feedback:
“I thought this was the best workshop I've attended so far. Very professional delivery, good balance of participant interaction.”
“Course should be mandatory and done at the beginning of the year. It was excellent - thank you. I wish I did it at the beginning.”
Spontaneous feedback on other services:“I must admit I feel greatly re-assured that there is a service and a specialist team for this [data management plan support]. “
Senior LecturerDepartment of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics University of Cambridge
“…thank you for the presentation today -- it was clear, full of information, and to the point. (…) the EPSRC (…) could have learned a lot from your presentation skills.”
Principal InvestigatorDepartment of Engineering
Spontaneous feedback on other services:
“I really enjoyed participating, you guys did a wonderful job and it was truly an excellent event, I am very happy I could be useful and part of it.
(…) I really think it’s very important what you are doing, it is the future and you are proactively embracing it + helping shape it in this community which badly needs it, we are very grateful as a community for what you are doing.”
Group LeaderDepartment of Genetics
Advocating for the benefits:
• Should these services continue to be centrally provided at the University?
• If so, we need to pay for them…
• We need cash!
Getting there…
• Approval from: Open Access Project Board, Research
Policy Committee and Resource Management Committee
• Proposal: add a small Facility charge as direct cost on
grants
• Discussions with funders
• Mechanisms and workflows in place
• 1 year, 18 versions of the business case
Getting internal approvals in place
We needed the final say from the funders
Final say from the funders:
• RCUK: “RDM costs should be added to indirect and estates costs”
• Problem: charities don’t pay overheads
So what are we going to do?
• What is likely going to happen:
• RCUK grants – costs recovered from overheads
• Charities (and perhaps EC) – training charge per FTE?
This was a good chance…• Direct costs = transparency
• Charging grants directly = bigger advocacy and
education role for the Facility
• Researchers aware that they need to consider
research data management seriously:
• This involves both time and money
• This is an integral part of a grant proposal
Read more:
• https://unlockingresearch.blog.lib.cam.ac.uk/
Thank you
Questions?
@CamOpenData
