Research Data Management

Since 2020, research data that has been gathered / generated in whole or in part from HRB-funded research must adhere to the following policy requirements: 

1. Researchers are expected to maximise the availability of research data, and the software and materials that underpin it, with as few as restrictions as possible.  As a minimum, the data underpinning published research should be made available to other researchers at the time of publication, as well as any other resources (e.g. original software, methodology or organisation of data collection) that is required to view datasets or to replicate analyses.
2. Applicants for HRB funding must consider their approach to managing and sharing expected data outputs at the research proposal stage in line with the National Framework on the Transition to an Open Research Environment.
3. The HRB requires a data management plan (DMP) supplemental to all approved grant proposals where DMPs requirements are specified within the award call guidance. Host Institutions must sign a declaration that DMPs for research projects have been completed in partnership with an Institutional data steward or equivalent.  The completed DMP and signed declaration must be submitted to the HRB as a first deliverable of all projects. A final updated version of the DMP must be submitted with the final report.
4. The DMP will outline how the data for a specific project will be collected, organised, stored, backed-up, preserved, shared, archived and disposed. It will outline legal and ethical requirements, the roles and responsibilities for data management and stewardship, including the coordination across partners, and for DMP implementation.
5. The HRB has defined a minimum set of questions that comprise the DMP and that are to be addressed in the DMP template.  The HRB DMP is aligned with the Science Europe Core Requirements for Data Management Plans.
6. The HRB recognises that in some instances data cannot be made openly accessible, however it is required that all metadata underpinning the data must be made openly available in a discoverable and accessible manner.  Justification for why data cannot be made openly available must be described in the DMP.
7. Researchers’ approach to data management should be dynamic and DMPs should be updated throughout the life cycle of the project. In particular, researchers must ensure that their research outputs:
   1. Are discoverable through quality metadata and use of searchable repository
   2. Use recognised community repositories for data and other outputs where these exist,
   3. Are citeable by means of a persistent identifier (e.g. DOI) 

See the full HRB Policy on Management and Sharing of Research Data

Appropriate data management and data sharing are fundamental to all stages of the research process and support high quality, reproducible research. As a recipient of a Science Foundation Ireland funded award, you should adhere to the following data management policy:

• Access to research data arising in whole or in part from SFI funding should be as open as possible.
• SFI encourages that research data and software should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable & Reusable (FAIR).
• All data, original software or materials that underpins SFI-funded publications should be deposited in an open access repository. The associated publication should include information on how to access the related resources.
• As part of their application to some programme calls, Science Foundation Ireland requests that researchers submit a data management plan. Please refer to the programme call document for information on whether a data management plan is required, and at what stage in the application process. 

See also SFI's Open Access Policy and guidance on Research Data Management guide. In 2024, the SFI will merge with the IRC and we will update this LibGuide on changes in requirements for research data management. 

The beneficiary of a Horizon Europe grant must manage the digital research data generated during the project responsibly in line with the FAIR principles, and deposit the data in a trusted open access repository. The following actions should all be taken as outlined in the Model Grant Agreement:Beneficiaries must submit a DMP as a deliverable in accordance with the Grant Agreement (normally by month 6, a template is available here). An updated DMP deliverable must also be produced mid-project (for projects longer than twelve months) and at the end of the project (where relevant).

• Beneficiaries must deposit the data in a trusted repository and ensure open access through the repository as soon as possible.
• Research data made open access must be licensed under the latest version of a Creative Commons Attribution International Public Licence (CC BY), or under a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0) or equivalent.
• For calls with a condition relating to the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC): data must be deposited in trusted repositories that are federated in the EOSC in compliance with the EOSC requirements.
• Metadata should be in line with the FAIR principles, in particular, it should be machine-actionable and follow a standardised format, in line with community standards. Metadata must also be open access under a CC0 public domain dedication or equivalent.
• Open access is required as the default for research data under the principle ‘as open as possible, as closed as necessary’. This means that, as an exception, beneficiaries may or must keep certain data closed for justified reasons; beneficiaries must explain in the DMP the exception(s) under which they choose to or must restrict access to some or all of the research data.
• In cases where data is closed but there are no compelling reasons that the related metadata should not be findable and accessible, it is recommended that open access be provided to the metadata of the data, with CC0 public domain dedication or equivalent if possible.

All researchers that are funded by the Wellcome Trust are expected to manage their research outputs in a way that will achieve the greatest health benefit, maximising the availability of research data, software and materials with as few restrictions as possible.

Both applicants to Wellcome Trust funding, and recipients of this funding are expected to develop an Outputs Management Plan (which is similar to a Data Management Plan). Read the full Data, software and materials management and sharing policy from Wellcome here. Wellcome also provide extensive guidance on completing the Outputs Management Plan (see next tab for more information).  

Since the 2017 “Open Research Data” pilot, Horizon 2020 has supported the FAIR data principles, and has mandated open access to all research data with the possibility to opt out from this pilot. The Commission's approach is ‘as open as possible, as closed as necessary’ and the open access requirement only applies to research data related to scientific publications. They define research data to include statistics, results of experiments, measurements, observations resulting from fieldwork, survey results, interview recordings and images.

Some points of note for Horizon 2020 awardees: 

• A Data Management Plan (DMP) is required for all projects participating in the “Open Research Data” pilot. However, projects that opt out are still encouraged to submit a DMP on a voluntary basis.
• Data management costs are fully eligible for funding under Article 6 and Article 6.2.D.3 of the H2020 Grant Agreement or under other Articles relevant for the cost category chosen.
• Beneficiaries of ERC grants can opt out of sharing research data without having to give a reason.

Further resources                                                                                                                              

• H2020 Programme Guidelines on FAIR Data Management in Horizon 2020 [pdf]
• European Commission Guidelines on Open Access to Scientific Publications and Research Data in Horizon 2020