ARC research data management plans

The ARC has recently announced a requirement for future grant applications to include a statement as regards research data management.

ANDS recently organised a webinar with ARC participation on the changes.

My notes of the webinar are online as a pdf but the executive summary of the changes would seem to be

• there is no mandate for open data – but researchers should consider how data could be made available
• there is an understanding that ethical, commercial and intellectual property considerations my restrict the publication of data, and this should be explained in any data management statement
• it is expected that the plan will reflect current best practice within the researcher’s discipline
• the data management statement should only consist of a paragraph or two and should focus on publication and availability rather than on technological or infrastructure issues
• it is expected that the statement will be more than a simple statement indicating compliance with institutional requirements
• assessment of the data management component is part of the overall assessment process, and not a separate criterion

• there is no requirement to use institutional data repositories as the ARC recognises differences in capability between institutions, and differences in the volume and nature of the data produced by different projects

As always, this assessment reflects my understanding at time of writing and does not constitute formal advice.