Efficient and high-quality managed research data. University of Trier and ZPID working on exact and understandable solutions
Trier University launches a project in cooperation with the Leibniz Institute for Psychology Information (ZPID) on research data management at universities and non-university research institutes. The project “Process-oriented development of management tools for research data in its life cycle” (PODMAN) is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for the duration of two years.
In charge of the project is the service center eSciences at Trier University. A survey of the latter among researchers showed that there is a tremendous demand of information regarding the processing of research data and customized technical solutions. “It is essential to present general guidelines on data management as well as subject- and data-specific standards in a comprehensible and easily accessible way”, says Marina Lemaire, consultant for project management at the service center eSciences. The primary goal of PODMAN is to develop a reference model for research data management (RDM) that enables universities and non-university research institutes to establish an efficient and high quality RDM.
The cooperation between the project partners is a consequence of the range of subjects chosen for the project. On the part of the university, the humanities contribute an enormous diversity of research data from various disciplines, whereas ZPID, traditionally deals with huge, quantitative data and the question of data protection within psychology. Additionally, ZPID has a longstanding experience in implementing technical solutions for high quality RDM.
For over a decade, ZPID has been operating PsychData, a platform for storage, documentation and exchange of data specifically developed for psychological research. The platform is accredited by the German Data Forum (RatSWD). PD Dr. Erich Weichselgartner, PODMAN project manager on ZPID side, underlines the development of DataWiz, “an assistant system, which will help scientists to process and document their data in a professional manner right from the beginning of their research.”
“Through integration of different perspectives in one model, we would like to provide an orientation framework for universities and non-university research institutes that can be used for the flexible implementation of individual solutions of data management strategies”, says Prof. Dr. Georg Müller-Fürstenberger, vice president for research and infrastructure at Trier University and PODMAN project manager.
Improved research data management strengthens universities and university research institutes outside in competition with others on third-party funds, because RDM sometimes is a requirement for funding. On the other hand, open data accelerates the exchange of research results, boosts the gain of knowledge and prevents the repetition of studies by a transparent documentation.
For further information, please visit www.fdm.uni-trier.de.
