Data management plan secures data for the future
Professor Lise Lotte Sørensen thinks that the requirement for a data management plan in a Horizon Europe project is a good thing. It ensures that data continues to be accessible. And, according to her, it is not as difficult as some might think.
Lise Lotte Sørensen thinks it is perfectly logical that you must draw up a data management plan in a Horizon Europe application. Nevertheless, she found it difficult because there was so little time in the application phase. “You keep putting it off because your focus is elsewhere, and you only have limited time with your application partners. Our focus was on making a great and consistent application. In other words, our main focus at that time was to sell the project. So we wrote the data management plan in slightly fluffy terms," she says. But since it is a document that is worked on continuously, she spent time improving the plan after receiving her grant.
Make it easy – use DeiC as inspiration
Lise Lotte Sørensen thought drawing up the plan was fairly easy. She recommends using the template from the Danish e-infrastructure Consortium (DeiC) in the process. The template follows EU structures and the requirements set by Horizon Europe for a data management plan.
According to her, the template is a useful tool that asks relevant questions and guides the process, and it provides an overview, clarification and a common starting point. You are also confronted with the fact that the data collected by researchers must be usable for other researchers. Otherwise, it is a waste of taxpayers’ money.
And then you just take it step by step, as she puts it. The questions are clear and specific. “I found drawing up the plan very interesting. It clarifies the project, and parts of the process were actually a bit of an eye-opener. And it also provides a common basis for the further work of the entire consortium," she says. Since the tool is online, she gave all work package managers access to write in the plan. But in reality, she herself drew up the whole plan, while the others approved it.
Important that others can use data
Lise Lotte Sørensen has a long career as a researcher behind her. And she has collected large amounts of data. Much of that data is stored on hard drives and is not accessible to everyone – yet. “I believe we have an obligation to share data. After all, we produce a lot of data costing many millions of kroner, so of course this should be accessible to others, otherwise it’s a waste of knowledge, time and money," she says.
And a lot of unused data is lying around, because it used to be much harder to make it accessible. Today, it is easier to store and share data, and researchers must support this, says Lise Lotte Sørensen. Therefore, her own research group at AU will now also have a data management plan, and this will form the basis for all their research, concludes the professor.
Different tools available to create a DMP
Various auxiliary tools have been developed to design a data management plan.
Horizon Europe has prepared a DMP template which includes a number of guiding questions that you can decide on during the preparation of the document. The HE DMP template is recommended, but not mandatory. However, make sure to comply with Article 17 (Communication, Dissemination and Visibility) if you do not use it. The template can be downloaded here.
DeiC (Danish e-infrastructure Consortium) has, in collaboration with the Royal Library developed a national tool for preparing data management plans. This tool covers the same themes as the template from the EU commission, but contains a number of in-depth guiding questions that help to support the process along the way. Read more about the DMP template from DeiC here.
Read more about data management on the AU website here.