Understanding our Research Data as an Asset
David S.R. Jung1, Ai-Lin Soo1,2, Rhys Francis2, Frankie Stevens3, Kwun Lun Cho1, Luc Betbeder-Matibet1 1UNSW Sydney, Sydney Australia2RDCC, Melbourne Australia3eResearch Services, Tweed Heads Australia
Abstract
Morning focus: Characterising the Properties of our Data
Modern institutions routinely support digital research activities through an ever-increasing number of instrument capabilities, and data and compute services. This has greatly contributed to the amount of digital research content being generated and sustained, but little is known about its characteristics. The RDM Business Intelligence and Reporting project (commenced March 2023) aims to develop a taxonomy and reporting format for research data that satisfies local institutional needs while enabling sector-wide aggregation of data for benchmarking. This workshop will be the last of the three project workshops and will provide an opportunity for feedback on the developed taxonomy, reporting schema and updated estimates for Australia’s retained data, and discuss strategies around its adoption and sustainability.
Afternoon Focus – Retiring and Retaining Data
Australian research institutions face a significant challenge arising from the uncontrolled expansion and indefinite retention of uncurated digital content associated with research activities. It is reasonable to think that only a portion of the digital content is research data and only some of that will meet the requirements for permanent retention. The Retention and Disposal of Research Data project (commenced March 2023) aims to develop a set of agreed best practices for the retention and disposal of research data, at various points through the research project lifecycle. This workshop will be the last of the three project workshops and aims for a broader review and adoption, and long-term sustainability of the agreed best practices recommendations developed throughout the project.
Biography
David Jung is a project manager at UNSW and has provided technical, policy, and strategic advice on research data management to researchers and administrators alike in a number of previous roles. He currently leads two parallel projects that aim to develop a taxonomy for institutional research data reporting and aligned best practice guidelines for safe and effective research data retention and disposal. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1611-7644
Ai-Lin Soo is a Project Officer at the UNSW ResTech Services Team as well as the Operations Manager for the Ai for Law Enforcement and Community Safety (AiLECS) Lab at Monash University. She applies her project management skills to support a diverse range of activities in areas such as research data management and operational governance. Ai-Lin is also heavily involved in the Research Data Culture Conversation (www.researchdataculture.org) as the RDCC coordinator and product manager of the Macro View.
(Jacky) Kwun Lun, Cho is a program manager (research infrastructure) at UNSW and has been involved in the design, implementation and review of RDM policy, practice and support services at UNSW across several previous roles. He is currently involved in the implementation of instrument data storage service and the development of UNSW’s next strategic uplift in enterprise research data storage.
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7591-100X
Rhys was an academic researcher in parallel and distributed computing through the 1980s. Then, from 1990 through to 2005 his roles extended into strategic leadership in information and communication technologies for the CSIRO. From 2006 Rhys facilitated the development of a national investment plan in eResearch infrastructure for the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy that shaped the foundations of the national e-infrastructure landscape visible in Australia. Today Rhys is part of the team developing the Australian BioCommons that is accelerating the adoption of digital technology in Australian life science research and also facilitates the Research Data Culture Conversation (researchdataculture.org).
Dr Frankie Stevens is a consultant in Digital Research services, specialising in the application of advanced information and communication technologies to the practice of Research. Frankie’s activities have centred on enhancing research through the use of advanced expertise in both Scientific and Information & Communication technologies. Her leadership role in developing strong relationships between research communities, local, state and national eResearch infrastructure initiatives has involved broad awareness raising and promotion of expert capabilities for the Australian Research Sector. She is on the Technical Advisory Board for the Global Research Data Alliance, and the Executive Council of the Australian EResearch Organisations (AeRO). orcid.org/0000-0002-2556-473X
Luc Betbeder-Matibet is a nationally recognised subject matter expert in eResearch, University Research Data Management and shared computational infrastructure services for researchers. He has held director-level roles for 15 years in ICT and eResearch. Luc is the Director Research Technology Services at UNSW, a shared services function that he established which is responsible Research Computing and Research Data. He is an Adjunct in UNSW Faculty of Medicine Centre for Big Data and has been a Visiting Scientist with the Visual Analytics Team in CSIRO Data61. Recently Luc has been working with colleagues to count how much Research Data there actually is in Australia. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4065-5784