Jisc invests in collaborative projects to improve research data management

Researchers from across the country are set to benefit from the development of new services which look to overcome the biggest challenges facing the research community, through our research data spring.

Research data spring is an initiative to create innovative partnerships between researchers, librarians, publishers and developers to develop new solutions to common research problems. Such problems include data being difficult to find and therefore re-use, and different data management systems being poorly integrated, making it difficult for researchers to work with one another.

Rachel Bruce, deputy chief innovation officer at Jisc, said:

“While the new Research Councils UK policies and the Horizon 2020 data pilot are laying the foundations for research data management (RDM) to be part and parcel of what researchers do, there is still a need to make access and re-use of data as painless and as rewarding as possible. By inviting those working in the sector to contribute their ideas we hope to foster innovative partnerships.

Our aim is to develop new solutions and protocols that will make it much easier for everyone to find, share and retrieve research data across different subject areas and disciplines.”

When the project launched 70 ideas for solutions were submitted. 44 were shortlisted for further consideration at a workshop in late February. Following discussions and collaborative development work, some projects merged leaving 27 pitches. Subsequently, 17 strong ideas were selected for funding by a panel of judges.

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