Dear colleagues - please find below a statement on the release of our Strategy and Strategic Plan 2012-2015.
If you have any question about, or feedback on, the document, please
contact the authors on [log in to unmask]. The document is released
under a CC-BY licence and we would love to hear from you if you find it
useful in your institution.
Regards
Sam
Sam Searle
Data Management Coordinator
Monash University Library
[log in to unmask]
www.researchdata.monash.edu
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Monash University releases Research Data Management Strategy 2012-2015
Monash
University is the first university in Australia, and possibly the
world, to have released a strategy for managing the data generated by
and used for research.
The Monash University Research Data Management Strategy and Strategic Plan 2012-2015 is now available at:
https://confluence-vre.its.monash.edu.au/display/rdmstrategy/Research+Data+Management+Strategy+and+Strategic+Plan+2012-2015
The
University Librarian, Cathrine Harboe-Ree said that the strategy would
enable Monash University to build on its successful track record in
developing infrastructure and services that help researchers store,
organise and disseminate their research data more effectively.
“Research
data management is an essential part of effective and responsible
research. Over the past five years, Monash University has invested
substantial effort in developing policy frameworks, technical solutions,
training programs and advisory services that make it easier for our
research staff and higher degree by research students to manage their
data well. The strategy suggests areas in which action is now required
for Monash to move to the next stage of managing research data more
effectively.”
The strategy was jointly developed by the
University Library, the Monash e-Research Centre and the university’s
enterprise IT group, eSolutions. Ms Harboe-Ree said that the distributed
responsibility for research data management at Monash University had
worked well. “Researchers need technical infrastructure to support their
data, as well as data capture and workflow tools to allow them to work
with their data. They also need a good understanding of policy
requirements and the skills to deal with complex data-related issues,
such as intellectual property and ethics. The strategy also suggests
that the active dissemination of research data should be seen as a way
to increase the impact of Monash research.”
The strategy outlines
a number of goals and initiatives, which will be prioritised and scoped
in consultation with internal and external stakeholders. Many smaller
initiatives are already underway, while larger and more complex areas of
work would require more detailed plans and costings.
Ms
Harboe-Ree emphasised the availability of the strategy to other
organisations, which could be interested a and use it as a basis for
their own strategies.
“We are committed to improving research
data management at our own institution, and also across the research
sector as a whole. Most research is now undertaken collaboratively, and
Australia is leading the world in terms of developing a national
approach through the Australian National Data Service. We hope that the
public release of the Monash University strategy under an open licence
will prompt other organisations to develop holistic and sustainable
institutional approaches to research data management. We also look
forward to working with other organisations to address collaboratively
many of the broader national and international issues such as research
data skills development and emerging requirements for measuring the
social and economic value of data re-use."