Research Data Management

For short research projects

Stavrina Dimosthenous

Henry Royce Institute, University of Manchester

2024-10-22

Overview

• Why we need research data management (RDM) practices
• Your MSc research project
• RDM practices

Why we need research data management (RDM) practices

The research data lifecycle

Why do we need data in Materials?

• Inform decision making in research
• Confirm experiments/models
• Inform experimental design
• Fit materials simulation models
• Build ML models
• Avoid repetition
• Retain knowledge

Where does research data end up?

• On a hard drive somewhere
• In the cloud
• On a networked directory
• In a research data archive
• A repository (if openly published)

Are those locations so bad?

Not necessarily

But!

• Where can I find the data?
  • Where will my supervisor and colleagues be able to find it?
• Some of these locations are better than others depending on the project needs

If I can’t find it

I can’t use it

What happens next?

Using the data

• Can we understand it?
  • Will the colleagues that will continue the work be able to understand it?
  • Will my supervisor be able to understand it?

What we need

1. We need to make data FINADABLE
   • By informing our research group or supervisor of where it is
2. We want to enable USE and REUSE
   • By documenting what the data is and leaving a description

How?

We know what we want to do

How can we achieve this?

Your MSc research project

Timeframe

3 - 18 months

RDM practices

RDM practices for everyone

• One size does not fit all
• The best RDM practice is
  • One that addresses the needs of the (research) group
  • One that can be implemented for the (research) group

RDM practices for MSc in materials

• Catalogue your samples
• Use a digital file naming system that
  • is consistent
  • allows you to find data associated with each
  • Example: yyyy-mm-dd_sample_name_characterisation_technique_yourinitials_supervisorsinitials
• Use both a digital cataloguing system (spreadsheets are fine) and a laboratory notebook
• Document everything
  • A README style file that explains
    • The directory structure
    • The type of data stored in each directory

Consistency

Working with your research group

Some questions to ask your supervisor

• How should I store and label my samples?
• Where should I store my data?
  • Shared storage areas, e.g. OneDrive, Research data storage, Dropbox (UoM)?
• Do you have a naming convention you want for the data?
• What directory structure do you want me to use?
• What instructions do I need to leave for the person continuing this work?

What happens next?

• You do not own the the data
  • The University of Manchester does
  • Delete the data from any personal devices
• Is there scope to publish this research?
  • Export controls approval (supervisor)

Thank you

Questions?

Resources

How to write a RMDP for Materials