Funders’ data policies and costs

Sarah JonesDCC, University of Glasgowsarah.jones@glasgow.ac.uk

Twitter: sjDCC

Funded by:

Research funders’ policies

www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/policy-and-legal/overview-funders-data-policies

Summary page for each funder

http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/policy-and-legal/research-funding-policies/ahrc

Key differences in policies

• EPSRC does not want DMPs in grant applications

• Preservation periods range from 3 years to in perpetuity – most funders ask for 10+ years

• ESRC and NERC support designated data centres

• ESRC and NERC may withhold the final grant payment if data aren’t offered for deposit

• Cancer Research UK states explicitly that it will NOT provide additional funds for RDM

Ultimately funders expect:

• timely release of data- once patents are filed or on (acceptance for) publication

• open data sharing- minimal or no restrictions if possible

• preservation of data - typically 10+ years for data of ‘long-term value’

See the RCUK Common Principles on data policy:

www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/Pages/DataPolicy.aspx

RCUK Common Principles in brief1. Make data openly available where possible

2. Have policies & plans. Preserve data of long-term value

3. Metadata for discovery / reuse. Link to data from publications

4. Be mindful of legal, ethical and commercial constraints

5. Allow limited embargoes to protect the effort of creators

6. Acknowledge sources to recognise IP and abide by T&Cs

7. Ensure cost-effective use of public funds for RDM

http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/Pages/DataPolicy.aspx

Eligible costs

The RCUK Common Principles state that:

“It is appropriate to use public funds to support the management and sharing of publicly-funded

research data.”

However, it is unclear exactly what costs can be included in grant applications and how. The DCC held an RDMF event with funders to discuss this.

RDMF: funding RDM25th April 2013 at Aston University

www.dcc.ac.uk/events/research-data-management-forum-rdmf/rdmf-special-event-funding-research-data-management

Included a panel with representatives from BBSRC, EPSRC, NERC, MRC, STFC and the Wellcome Trust to answer 30 questions submitted by audience

Blog reports:• A conversation with the funders:

http://www.dcc.ac.uk/blog/conversation-funders• Funding RDM:

https://research-computing.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/2013/05/01/funding-rdm • For which RDM activities will UK research funders pay?

http://mrdevidence.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2013/05/01/for-which-rdm-activities-will-uk-research-funders-pay

What RDM cost can be included?Need to distinguish between the costs that are incurred during a project and those that arise afterwards.

• In-project (direct) costs:– covers hardware, staff, expenses, costs of preparing data & metadata...

• Post project (largely indirect) costs:– existing services should be used where possible– where an institution is going to provide a data repository, costs should

be met through FEC– outsourcing to a third-party is also an option

Owing to its charity status, the Wellcome Trust in general only pays directly incurred costs.

How should costs be included?

• In-project costs should be included in the direct costs for a project

• Post-project costs could be direct (e.g. charges levied by data centres) but typically fall into indirects as universities should provide infrastructure to support RDM

• The Justifications of Resources should, where possible, separate out the following RDM cost elements: – cost of collecting data – the cost of curating data – the cost of analysing data – the cost of preservation and sharing

Key messages• Research data management is but one aspect of an institution’s research

governance and should not be regarded as an optional addition or something peripheral to it.

• DMPs should make clear what is provided and what activities are being charged against a grant - funders do not expect to pay for something twice.

• There is no rule of thumb to be used to measure the proportion of a grant that may acceptably be spent on research data management. The cost of RDM is project-specific and entirely depends on the type of work.

• It may be possible to set up small research facilities to recover the cost of RDM (e.g. similar to provision of HPC), possibly as a cross-institutional service. However, clear added value needs to be shown to the funders and research community. A small research facility needs to be very close to the research. It is about creating highly specialised services.

Thanks – any questions?

DCC guidance, tools and case studies:www.dcc.ac.uk/resources

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