STFC Annotated DMP Template

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), has a rich tradition of fostering public engagement and outreach, as part of its strategic aim to showcase and celebrate STFC science, technology, and staff, both within its National Laboratories and throughout the broader community. As part of its wider programme, STFC organised two large scale public engagement open weeks in 2023 and 2024. These events, held at the Sci-Tech Daresbury campus in the North of England and the Harwell Campus in the South of England, home to STFC's largest National Laboratories, collectively welcomed over 17,500 participants. These open weeks provided an unparalleled opportunity for the public to engage intimately with groundbreaking science and technology. Attendees were immersed in hands-on activities, demonstrations, and enlightening talks spanning various disciplines and catering to all age groups. They also had the unique opportunity to explore the state-of-the-art facilities on site, and talk with the people who work here. Scientific Computing (SC), a department within STFC, took a lead in orchestrating and delivering computing outreach initiatives during both open weeks. This paper details STFC's approach to organizing these open weeks, how the open weeks were structured, SC's planning process for contributing to the events, and delves into the specifics of SC's impactful contributions. By sharing these insights, this paper aims to offer valuable lessons for the effective execution of large-scale public engagement initiatives within the scientific community.

The Remote3 (“Remote Cubed”) project is a Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Public Engagement Leadership Fellowship funded activity, organised in collaboration between the University of Edinburgh (UoE), and STFC’s Public Engagement Team, Scientific Computing, and the Boulby Underground Laboratory – part of STFC Particle Physics. Remote3 works with school audiences to challenge teams of young people to design, build, and program their own LEGO Mindstorms [1] “Mars Rover”, which is then tested at the Boulby Underground Laboratory’s Mars Yard, 1.1 km underground. Teams, with the assistance of mentors from UoE and STFC, design their rover to complete various space-exploration themed challenges – ranging from taking a panoramic environment scan to navigating the Mars Yard landscape looking for LEGO brick samples. The project aims to engage with audiences that are underserved by public engagement opportunities, especially those that provide experience with cutting edge science, for example those from remote highland locations and those from areas of higher social depravation. We give them the opportunity to work hands on with engineering and computing, whilst learning from and interacting with real scientists and engineers. Since its inception in 2019, Remote3 has flourished in a wide variety of different environments and through multiple media, from entirely virtual during the lockdowns of 2020-21, to working closely with active scientists deep underground, to visits to schools by Remote3 members, communal group storytelling at libraries, and extensive displays and hands on activities in tents in fields at festivals. This year, Remote3 is building on the lessons learnt through this varied programme to deliver a series of engagement activities in conjunction with STFC’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Public Open Week, which had an audience of 15,000 people.

The University of Cape Town's institutional Research Data Management Policy, passed in March 2018, mandates that postgraduate students and researchers must complete Data Management Plans (DMPs) in which they describe their plans for gathering, storing, archiving and where appropriate publishing their research data. This presentation between the Health Sciences Library and the Digital Library Services unit was presented at a workshop for postgraduate students in the Faculty of Health Sciences, outlining the various support mechanisms and platforms provided by UCT Libraries to assist in complying with the policy. The presentation focuses on the use of three specific processes and their associated tools, namely:1) Data Management Planning, through the use of UCT's DMPonline tool based on the Digital Curation Centre's software2) Collaborative research, using UCT's institutional instance of the Centre for Open Science's Open Science Framework tool3) Open data publishing using ZivaHub, UCT's open data repositoryDLS provides research data management support through presentations, online resources, workshops and small group consultation sessions. UCT students and researchers looking for RDM support can contact DLS at dls@uct.ac.za.

Objectives/Goals: NIH requires researchers submit Data Management and Sharing (DMS) Plans with their grant applications. Librarians developed an assessment tool for the plans and completed a pilot assessment in order to leverage the plans and understand current institutional research data management and sharing. Methods/Study Population: The assessment tool includes questions related to evaluations of DMS Plans as well as questions related to the content of the plans. Evaluation questions were adapted from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology evaluation rubric developed for the DataWorks! Data Management Plan (DMP) Challenge. Fields were added to collect information on the content of DMS Plans, including data type, institutional resources, data repositories, data standards, and data dissemination timelines. The assessment tool was tested in a pilot implementation. Seven library workers were trained and completed paired review samples of 27 DMS Plans (54 evaluations total) in order to test for tool reliability. Results/Anticipated Results: Results include findings on the reliability of the tool as well as preliminary results from an assessment of DMS Plans. Findings on the reliability of the tool include assessments of the paired reviewers for each question included in the tool. Paired reviewers generally agreed, but tended to differ on specific questions, including questions pertaining to the data types generated or used in a research project. Questions with high levels of agreement included subjects of study and code sharing practices. Results on the content of the DMS Plans include information such as data repositories used, data oversight responsibilities, and data and metadata standards employed. Discussion/Significance of Impact: DMS Plans present an opportunity to better understand data management and sharing practices, and good data management supports high-quality, reproducible research. Developing and testing assessment tools for these plans is a key step toward understanding and improving current research data management practices.


 A three-phase Delphi study was used to investigate an emerging community for research data management in Norway and their understanding and application of data management plans (DMPs). The findings reveal visions of what the DMP should be as well as different practice approaches, yet the stakeholders present common goals. This paper discusses the different perspectives on the DMP by applying Star and Griesemer’s theory of boundary objects (Star & Griesemer, 1989). The debate on what the DMP is and the findings presented are relevant to all research communities currently implementing DMP procedures and requirements. The current discussions about DMPs tend to be distant from the active researchers and limited to the needs of funders and institutions rather than to the usefulness for researchers. By analysing the DMP as a boundary object, plastic and adaptable yet with a robust identity (Star & Griesemer, 1989), and by translating between worlds where collaboration on data sharing can take place we expand the perspectives and include all stakeholders. An understanding of the DMP as a boundary object can shift the focus from shaping a DMP which fulfils funders’ requirements to enabling collaboration on data management and sharing across domains using standardised forms.

BackgroundOpen Science Graphs (OSGs) are scientific knowledge graphs representing different entities of the research lifecycle (e.g. projects, people, research outcomes, institutions) and the relationships among them. They present a contextualized view of current research that supports discovery, re-use, reproducibility, monitoring, transparency and omni-comprehensive assessment. A Data Management Plan (DMP) contains information concerning both the research processes and the data collected, generated and/or re-used during a project’s lifetime. Automated solutions and workflows that connect DMPs with the actual data and other contextual information (e.g., publications, fundings) are missing from the landscape. DMPs being submitted as deliverables also limit their findability. In an open and FAIR-enabling research ecosystem information linking between research processes and research outputs is essential. ARGOS tool for FAIR data management contributes to the OpenAIRE Research Graph (RG) and utilises its underlying services and trusted sources to progressively automate validation and automations of Research Data Management (RDM) practices.ResultsA comparative analysis was conducted between the data models of ARGOS and OpenAIRE Research Graph against the DMP Common Standard. Following this, we extended ARGOS with export format converters and semantic tagging, and the OpenAIRE RG with a DMP entity and semantics between existing entities and relationships. This enabled the integration of ARGOS machine actionable DMPs (ma-DMPs) to the OpenAIRE OSG, enriching and exposing DMPs as FAIR outputs.ConclusionsThis paper, to our knowledge, is the first to introduce exposing ma-DMPs in OSGs and making the link between OSGs and DMPs, introducing the latter as entities in the research lifecycle. Further, it provides insight to ARGOS DMP service interoperability practices and integrations to populate the OpenAIRE Research Graph with DMP entities and relationships and strengthen both FAIRness of outputs as well as information exchange in a standard way.

The ELIXIR research infrastructure bundles not only the databases and tools of bioinformatics, but it also brings together life science data expertise. The assembled expertise can form a fantastic resource for researchers making a data management plan (DMP). Currently, this expertise is hard to discover and access. Several of the ELIXIR nodes are looking for ways to offer DMP services to their communities. The technical coordinators in these nodes are planning to build these services together with training coordinators. Current plans call for a data management planning (data stewardship planning) portal and trainings on many different data management (planning) topics. Authors on this poster are representatives from six ELIXIR nodes that are initially participating in this work, other people from these ELIXIR nodes have contributed to the plans.

Researchers of all disciplines produce, share, and reuse data as part of everyday research. Most funders require them to manage and document their data using data management plans (DMPs). DMPs are often static documents that researchers create by answering questions in predefined templates at the beginning of the research and, therefore, may become outdated and obsolete as the project progresses. It is essential to keep the DMP up to date at all stages of the research lifecycle, since numerous stakeholders and various services participate in data management that depend on information from them. In this article, we propose a conceptual service architecture that uses machine-actionable data management plans to automate the exchange and synchronization of information between different semi-automated research data management services acting on behalf of different stakeholders. To solve the stated problem, we analyze typical use cases in which the DMPs change and formulate requirements based on which we developed the conceptual architecture. We depict the designed architecture through a set of views, namely physical, development, logical, and process, using Unified Modeling Language and Business Process Models and Notation representation that describe the processes required to synchronize DMP information among multiple services. We instantiate it by implementing a service that connects a data repository and a DMP tool. Thus, we evaluate to what extent the defined processes help in keeping DMP contents up to date and which criteria must be fulfilled to keep them highly automated. The result of the article feeds into a larger discussion on streamlining interconnectivity and machine-actionability across planning, tracking, and assessing research phases. It also facilitates consensus building on enhancing the Research Data Alliance’s recommendation for machine-actionable DMPs.

A FAIRification roadmap for ELIXIR Software Management Plans

Funding bodies increasingly require researchers to produce Data Management Plans (DMPs). The Digital Curation Centre (DCC) has created DMP Online, a web-based tool which draws upon an analysis of funders’ requirements to enable researchers to create and export customisable DMPs, both at the grant application stage and during the project’s lifetime.

Discussion on developing a data management plan and its key factors in clinical study based on electronic data capture system

This Current Commentary was prompted by a recent talk given by Laura Holland, at Reading Skeptics in the Pub, about the Diamond Light Source, where she is the Outreach and Events Manager. Skeptics in the Pub (1) is a growing, informal network of (usually) monthly meetings, where the invited speaker presents a topic of interest in a pub, which is followed by a discussion. A broad range of subjects is aired, covering various aspects of science and technology, and such diverse matters as philosophy, homeopathy, the media, education, electric cars, GM crops, the paranormal, and depletion of the Earth's resources (which I have spoken about to various Skeptics groups). Skeptics in some respects resembles Cafe Scientifique, although the latter meetings (2) tend to be more particularly focussed on features of science and technology. Diamond (3) (Figure 1) is the UK's national synchrotron science facility, and is situated on the Harwell campus in Oxfordshire, which also houses the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. The campus is owned by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), the Science and Technology Facilities Council and the Health Protection Agency. It is managed by Harwell Oxford Developments Ltd. The Diamond synchrotron can produce intense beams of light, said (3) to be 10 billion times brighter than the sun. Here, the term does not only refer to the region of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to humans (namely wavelengths in the 400-700 nm range), since Diamond generates synchrotron light, which is a spectrum of electromagnetic radiation spanning X-rays to microwaves. The UK led the world with the first second-generation light source, the SRS at the Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire, which opened in 1981. The SRS proved how vital synchrotrons are to researchers from a wide range of disciplines and, when it had expanded as much as it could, scientists and engineers began designing a third generation synchrotron for the UK. Diamond is the largest scientific facility to be built in the UK, since the Nimrod proton synchrotron at the Rutherford Appleton laboratory (RAL) in 1964. Nimrod was converted into the (ISIS) neutron spallation source in 1977. ISIS is not an acronym, but is both the name by which the River Thames is known locally, and a goddess of Ancient Egypt who could restore life to the dead: this seemed appropriate since the ISIS facility was partially constructed from cannibalised equipment from the Nimrod and NINA accelerators. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] In contrast, DIAMOND is an acronym: Dipole And Multipole Output for the Nation at Daresbury, as derived by Mike Poole, who inaugurated the DIAMOND project. Since the facility is no longer at Daresbury, it is said that the name now reflects the fact that the synchrotron light is both 'hard' (as in the hard X-ray region of the electromagnetic spectrum) and bright, similar to those qualities of a diamond. The Diamond facility cost an initial 260 m [pounds sterling] to build, including the synchrotron building, the accelerators, the first seven beamlines and the adjacent office block, Diamond House. 86% of Diamond's funding comes from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and 14% from the Wellcome Trust. More than 3,000 research workers carry out experiments using synchrotron radiation at Diamond, and are assisted by some 500 permanent staff there. Features of synchrotron radiation 1. A wide energy-range of the electromagnetic spectrum, spanning X-rays to microwaves. 2. The very intense beam of photons means that crystals that scatter radiation only weakly may be studied, and experiments can be done rapidly. 3. Due to a small divergence and small size source (spatial coherence), a highly collimated beam is obtained. 4. A source stability is obtained at the sub-micron level. 5. Both linear and circular polarisation are possible. 6. …

<strong>Objective:</strong> To examine the effects of research data services (RDS) on the quality of data management plans (DMPs) required for a campus-level faculty grant competition, as well as to explore opportunities that the local DMP requirement presented for RDS outreach. <strong>Methods:</strong> Nine reviewers each scored a randomly assigned portion of DMPs from 82 competition proposals. Each DMP was scored by three reviewers, and the three scores were averaged together to obtain the final score. Interrater reliability was measured using intraclass correlation. Unpaired t-tests were used to compare mean DMP scores for faculty who utilized RDS services with those who did not. Unpaired t-tests were also used to compare mean DMP scores for proposals that were funded with proposals that were not funded. One-way ANOVA was used to compare mean DMP scores among proposals from six broad disciplinary categories. <strong>Results: </strong>Analyses showed that RDS consultations had a statistically significant effect on DMP scores. Differences between DMP scores for funded versus unfunded proposals and among disciplinary categories were not significant. The DMP requirement also provided a number of both expected and unexpected outreach opportunities for RDS services. <strong>Conclusions: </strong>Requiring DMPs for campus grant competitions can provide important assessment and outreach opportunities for research data services. While these results might not be generalizable to DMP review processes at federal funding agencies, they do suggest the importance, at any level, of developing a shared understanding of what constitutes a high quality DMP among grant applicants, grant reviewers, and RDS providers.

Background This study explores a library-led research data management (RDM) training program at a Canadian post-secondary institution that targeted students participating in summer research assistantships as well as their faculty supervisors. This paper describes the program in detail and shares findings from a student reflection assignment about practicing RDM for the first time. Methods The RDM training program included four requirements: attending an introductory RDM session; attending a data management plan (DMP) workshop; submitting a DMP for feedback; and completing a reflection assignment. Where consent was obtained (n=19), reflection assignments were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis approach. Results 35 faculty supervisors registered 53 students to participate. 62.2% (n=33) of students completed all components of the program. Perceived benefits of completing a DMP included improved project planning, supporting best practices, potential for data reuse, and team communication. Perceived challenges included the inflexibility of DMPs, difficulty populating DMPs, demands on researchers’ time, and lack of long-term utility. 73.6% of students (n=14/19) reported that building a DMP helped them with their summer projects. Conclusion Through instruction, practical engagement, and reflection within the context of real-world research, the program supported participants in learning about and practicing RDM, and provided insights for academic librarians who wish to refine or develop training in their local contexts as they continue to navigate emerging expectations from funders and publishers.

The UK's science minister Lord Dray son has announced a series of measures to prevent the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) from being dogged by further financial crises. They include a plan for the STFC's budget for large facilities, such as the Diamond synchrotron and the ISIS neutron-scattering lab, to be allocated and managed separately from its budget for grants. Drayson was forced to review the STFC after the council announced last December that the UK would have to pull out of 25 international science projects because of a £40m shortfall in funding.