Statements on research data management in funding proposals

• Take the RDM chapter or the DMP seriously and do not postpone the draft until submission deadline is approaching! The importance of the RDM topic is increasing constantly and hence, its impact on the reviewers` verdict is growing as well.

• Stay on topic. It is ONLY about the handling of DATA. Information on your planned journal articles and attended conferences or your opinion on the significance of open science in general is rather out of place here.

• Try to be as concrete as possible and avoid general phrases. Example: Instead of “We regularly backup our data” a statement like “The data is backed up daily on servers of the IT department of LUH via the service Backup & Restore” is preferable.

• Use short sentences (or just key points) carrying a clear message.

• Be realistic. Only promise what you can actually put into practice. If you mention concrete services, infrastructure and so on, check beforehand whether these in fact meet your requirements.

• Carefully read the proposal guidelines, the DMP template or the funding tender to find out what kind of information the funder expects exactly. Check if your text actually covers every point mentioned there!

Practically all funders expecting RDM statements demand that you comply with the so-called FAIR principles. Thus, your data should be findable, accessible, interoperable (with other data and technical systems) and re-usable.

In your proposal or in an accompanying data management plan you set out, how exactly you are going to ensure compliance with the FAIR principles. The background for this requirement is that data generated with public funding should be processed and analysed as thoroughly as possible, even beyond the original project context. Furthermore, research results based on FAIR data are easier to understand and verify.

At LUH, a wide range of support services for data and information management is available. The Guidelines for Handling Research Data at Leibniz Universität Hannover offer basic recommendations for action. The website on research data management provides detailed information, materials and tools. The Team Research Data Management offers project-accompanying advice and organises introductory and in-depth courses on research data management, which can also be adapted to specific disciplines. In addition, exchange on RDM topics takes place in regular networking events.

The IT centre at LUH  (LUIS) provides infrastructure services, central hosting of RDM-relevant software and technical support. It also hosts an institutional research data repository, in which LUH members may publish their research data and generate a corresponding DOI.

TIB offers discipline-specific research data repositories and RDM consulting services in the scope of the disciplinary information services "Mobility and Transport" and "BAUdigital". The DOI service functions as a point of contact for institutions that wish to generate DOIs for research data archived and published in their (institutional) data centres. In addition, TIB is currently developing a service enabling the publication of research data related to dissertations and supporting researchers in the process.

When writing the application you have to address the planned data management on no more than one page under point 1.2 (Methodology, p. 9) in section B (Project proposal -Technical description) of the Standard Application Form (HE RIA, IA). In particular, you are required to indicate the types of data you work with, how you intend to comply with the FAIR principles and which resources (personnel and funds) you budget for data processing and long-term archiving.

If your application is accepted, you also need to submit a data management plan within then first six month of the funding period. You are expected to update and complement this document regularly in the course of the project, at least towards the middle and the end of the funding period. Data underlying research results must be published open access "as early as possible", which generally means before the end of the funding period.

You can find additional information in the Annotated Grant Model Agreement in Annex 5 (HE Communication, Dissemination, Open Science and Visibility)on pages 367-369 and in the commentaries under point 7 „Open science: Research data management“on pages 375-378. The Horizon Europe Programme Guide also addresses in some detail the requirements regarding research data management and data management plans in the Open Science chapter (pp. 45-53).

The information given in the application form may comprise up to one page. There is no such limit for the data management plan generated during the project, however. Its extend conforms to the requirements  of your project. In case of interdisciplinary and multi-institutional joint projects you should calculate with no less then three pages, since you need to consider diverging local circumstances  and disciplinary data management requirements. However, about ten pages are common.

TIP: Keep the DMP for the project as a whole rather short and general, but give further details in partner- and discipline-specific sub-DMP. This approach helps maintaining clarity and enables a better description of local conditions (e.g. locally available IT infrastructure).

The application form specifies rather clearly the expected contents under point 1.3 (Methodology, p. 9). We recommend that you stick to the proposed structure and start with a description of data types. Next, you should outline, how you intend to ensure that data are findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR principles). Finally, name the resources budgeted for data management and archiving. Although the order is not compulsory, make sure that you address every one of these aspects adequately.

There is a MS-Word template for data management plans in Horizon Europe projects containing a chapter structure and guiding questions to help drafting the contents.

If you do not want to use this template, we still recommend that you adopt its chapter structure. At some points, however, you may notice that certain information pertain to several chapters. In these cases, you do not have to repeat yourself but simply reference the respective passages in which you already addressed a certain issue ("see...").

There also are, or soon will be, templates for most online tools for the generation of data management plans, such as RDMO, Argos and DMPonline.

Your statements in the grant agreement form part of the funding contract and are therefore legally binding. A DMP is a deliverable, and a first version has to be submitted within the first six month of the funding period. Keep it up to date and include the current version in your periodical reports and in the final report.

Completeness and quality of the RDM chapter and the DMP will be considered during the evaluation of midterm reports and final reports. To our knowledge, there are even special reviewers who check whether a DMP is adequately concrete and complete and then report their verdict back to the respective project officer. In case of critical assessments, it is up to this officer if and how he or she requests improvements.

We currently do not believe that the practical implementation of the measures described in the plan is regularly verified on site. However, you should expect a closer examination on samples of everything that can be checked online (e.g. data publication in compliance with the FAIR principles). An extraordinary audit may also take place in case of complaints.