Research Data Management: Support

The Research data Management team run regular sessions on data management planning, introduction to sensitive data and thesis data deposit. Please see PGR Development Hub and Staffbook for our upcoming courses.

In addition, we have recordings of courses which you can access at any time:

• Data Management Plans for Doctoral Students
  Mandatory course on for all new doctoral students. Log into Blackboard using your university username and password.

• Data Management Plan: Why Plan? 
  Recording of a 45-minute briefing. 

• PhD Data Management Plans: Introductory video for Supervisors
  4-minute briefing. 

• We are also happy to run bespoke sessions for modules, research groups and departments.
  Please contact us on researchdata@soton.ac.uk if you are interested.

• ReproducabiliTEA Seminars
  Run by a friendly group of researchers and PhD students from across the University of Southampton, the group meets informally to discuss robust research practice, reproducibility, replication, and open science. During these sessions, they discuss a paper relating to one of these themes. They also have guest speakers and seminar sessions.

• Love Data Week
  The University of Southampton Library Research Data Team holds Love Data Week events annually as a part of the International Love Data Week in February.

• Viewpoints on Data Publishing
  This event was held in the Hartley Library. There were three presentations from three different viewpoints in data publishing: authors, repositories and publishers.
  There is a recording of the session available to all members of the University of Southampton. Please note that the sound levels at the start are very low - you will need to turn up the volume.

Need a quick overview? We are creating a suite of short guides introducing you to some of the key concepts that may be new to you. Please email us if there are any topics you would like us to cover.

• Creative Commons (CC) Licences (an introduction)

  A single page guide explaining the basics of Creative Commons licences
• Data Sharing

  Much data - from or about people - can be shared ethically and legally post-project. Exactly what data can be shared and how requires thought from the beginning of your project
• Doctoral Data Management Plan: Guidance for supervisors

  This document provides guidance for Supervisors on what they should be looking for in the DMPs submitted at Progressions Reviews.
• File formats for data

  A guide to formatting data to make it accessible and reuseable.
• Files - Zipping and Unzipping

  How to compress files by zipping.
• Data Deposit Workflow

  3 steps for data directly supports publications.

Videos for how to deposit datasets on PURE.

• Depositing open and embargoed data – the basics
  • Depositing open and embargoed data – the basics (script)

• Depositing confidential data
  • Depositing confidential data (script)

• Depositing large open data
  • Depositing large open data (script)

• Depositing a Research Dataset (Conversation)

  This is video explaining how to add and improve your dataset record, how to obtain a DOI as well as licences and FAIR principles. It is 11 minutes long. You will need a VPN connection to watch these.
  • Depositing a Research Dataset (Conversation script)

• Depositing a PhD Dataset (Conversation)

  This is a video explaining how to add and improve the dataset record that you need for our PhD submission. It explains licences, DOIs as well as the permission to deposit form. It is 12 minutes long. You will need a VPN connection to watch these.
  • Depositing a PhD Dataset (Conversation script)

There are excellent RDM training resources freely available on the web. This is just a selection.

• General introductions
• Arts & Humanities
• Science, Medicine and Engineering
• Social Sciences
• Technical Seminars

General Introductions

• Research Data MANTRA 
  Covers all disciplines. Written by the data experts at EDINA, University of Edinburgh.
• Curation Reference Manual This link opens in a new window Contains advice, in-depth information and criticism on current digital curation techniques and best practice.
  The Manual is an on-going, community-driven project, which involves members of the DCC community suggesting topics, authoring manual instalments and conducting peer reviews.
• Software Sustainability Institute This link opens in a new window
  This resource is freely available Software helps researchers to enhance their research, and improve the speed and accuracy of their results. The Software Sustainability Institute can help you introduce software into your research or improve the software you already use. They can help you gain the skills you need through their guides and other resources, or through training and collaboration. They can evaluate software based on your requirements, or you can review the software yourself with the help of our online tools.

Arts & Humanities

Science, Medicine & Engineering

• Physical Sciences Data Infrastructure Interactive
  Self-paced courses RDM, Python, Data Visualisation, Version Control, Databases, Referencing, Ethical Considerations from the UKRI-funded PSDI Network.
• ELiXIR: Data Management Planning in bioscience research
  A suite of resources to help researchers create practical, machine-actionable Data Management Plans (DMPs) – including ready-to-use templates and real-world, citable examples from UK-based projects.
• EMBL-EBI Training

  EMBL-EBI train scientists at all levels to get the most out of publicly available biological data.
• Datatree - Data Training

  A free online course, aimed at PhD and early career researchers, with all you need to know for research data management, along with ways to engage and share data with business, policymakers, media and the wider public.
• Good Research Practice (MRC)

  An overview of the principles of good research practice that applies to all those in receipt of MRC funding. Includes a section on 'Recording the Data'

• Relu Knowledge Portal - Data Sharing This link opens in a new window

  • 

  Rural Economy and Land Use (Relu) programme takes a proactive approach to data management and sharing through: a programme level strategy, well-established data sharing infrastructures, and data support for researchers to optimise the availability of data to the research community.

Social Sciences

In addition to the online resources below, the UK Data Service regularly run free introductory level online workshops every spring and autumn to introduce different aspects of the UK Data Service. You can find up-to-date details on their training events page.

Technical seminars

• Improve your workflow for reproducible science
  Organised by ReproducibiliTea (UCL), RIOTS Club, Crick Institute
  The recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA-vLsN-sic&feature=youtu.be
  The materials: https://mine-cetinkaya-rundel.github.io/improve-repro-workflow-reproducibilitea-2020/
• Improving your statistical inferences by TU Eindoven
  Also referred to in the session as the 'Lakens' MOOC.
• Reproducible Research by John Hopkins University
  Covers R and 'markdown'

University GDPR guidance

The University has guidance and resources for staff to help them understand their and the University's responsibilities under GDPR.

• University of Southampton Information Governance and Data Protection (SharePoint)
• Introduction to GDPR short training course
• General GDPR FAQs (SharePoint)
• Cyber Security (SharePoint)

UKRI has published guidance for researchers:

• GDPR and Research – An Overview for Researchers (PDF, 222KB)

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has guidance on how GDPR is being interpreted in the UK:

• ICO Guide to the GDPR

Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs)

The University has a process to deal with DPIAs for both research and administrative work within the University. Templates for the DPIA and further information can be found the the Information Governance intranet site. Please direct any DPIA queries to DPIA@soton.ac.uk

1. Depositing your research data

▶ 1. Where can I deposit my research data?

▶ 2. If I have to deposit in a discipline data repository do I also need to deposit with the University?

▶ 3. What help is available to assist with decisions about the "significance" of research data?

▶ 4. Does the University research data management policy only apply to funded research?

▶ 5. Does the University research data management policy only apply to electronic or computer- readable data?

▶ 6. What happens if my funder only wants me to keep the data for 3-5 years, but the University policy says 10 years?

▶ 7. Does my data have to be made openly available?

▶ 8. In PURE do I deposit my data on the same record as my publication?

2. Research Data Management Plans

▶ 1. Have you got any draft text about institutional support for research data management that I can put in my bid?

▶ 2. How do I find out if I need to submit a data management plan with a project proposal?

▶ 3. Do I need a data management plan if my funder hasn't asked for one?

3. Sharing your research data

▶ 1. Do I need to share my research data?

▶ 2. I have code rather than data - do I need to share this?

▶ 3. How can I promote the availability of my data?

▶ 4. Are there any examples on what I should include in my acknowledgement/data availability statement?

In 2016 HEFCE, RCUK, Wellcome and Universities UK launched their
Concordat on Open Research Data [pdf].

The Sorbonne Declaration on Research Data Rights was issued following the meeting of global research-intensive university groups at the Sorbonne in Paris: Russell Group (UK), LERU (League of European Universities), Association of American Universities, Group of 8 (Australia) , ARUA (African Research Universities Alliance), German U15, U15 (Canadian Research Universities), RU11 (Japan), CURIF (France).