Institutional Research Data Management Strategy
The overarching purpose of the University of Alberta’s Institutional Research Data Management (RDM) Strategy is twofold:
- To develop and nurture a culture that recognizes RDM as being an essential component of the research processes and academic lifecycles;
- To identify, develop, and evolve cross-institution supports and services that can be leveraged by researchers in implementing responsible and effective RDM practices into their research activities.
Background
In March 2021, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) - collectively referred to as the Tri-Agency - released the Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy. The policy was developed to support research excellence and open science in Canada, and highlights the importance of implementing effective research data management (RDM) practices across the research lifecycle, including with respect to data management planning, metadata and documentation, collection and storage of data, Indigenous data sovereignty, and long-term data stewardship.
The Tri-Agency RDM policy consists of three main pillars, with the first requiring all post-secondary institutions and research hospitals in Canada eligible to administer Tri-Agency funds to both develop and release a publicly available institutional research data management (RDM) strategy. The second and third pillars respectively focus on data management planning and data deposit, with both increasingly becoming requirements of funding opportunities moving forward.
The University of Alberta recognizes that data are central to research and has a rich history in both leading and supporting RDM initiatives and activities locally, regionally, and nationally. As one of the world’s top research universities, U of A supports the Tri-Agency RDM Policy, and is committed to promoting and supporting research excellence and open science.
In Fall 2019, a core Institutional RDM Strategy Working Group was established, consisting of representatives from the Vice President (Research & Innovation) office and including research ethics and administrative services, U of A Library (UAL), and Information Services & Technology (IST). Co-sponsored by the VPRI office and UAL, the Institutional RDM Strategy Working Group has focused on the incremental drafting of U of A’s institutional RDM strategy and associated activities while allowing for the critical and strategic evolution of the Canadian RDM landscape to occur.
A Strategic Roadmap to Advance Research Data Management
U of A’s Institutional RDM Strategy is not a policy, but rather a strategic roadmap to assist with advancing RDM-related activities across the institution. It will be used by a range of stakeholders in helping to guide the development, delivery, and use of RDM supports, services, and policies. As it is anticipated that over the course of its implementation, the strategy will evolve, updated iterations should be expected.
Informed by Key Guiding Principles
The Institutional RDM Strategy is informed by a number of key guiding principles: the FAIR Principles which highlight the importance of making research data findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable; the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance, which highlight considerations regarding collective benefit, authority to control, responsibility, and ethics; and the First Nations Principles of OCAP® which recognizes and establishes the importance of ownership, control, access, and possession with respect to First Nations information and data.
Submit Your Feedback
Should you wish to submit feedback or questions regarding U of A’s Institutional RDM Strategy, you can do so using this form.