Research Data Management (RDM) Strategy

Date: June 1, 2023
Prepared By: The Research Data Management Advisory Committee

PDF Version: Research Data Management (RDM) Strategy
Internal Resource Material: RDM Resources

Introduction

In March 2021, Canada’s top research granting agencies – the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), collectively known as the Tri-Agency, published a policy on research data management (RDM). It requires each post-secondary institution and research hospital eligible to administer Tri-Agency funds to create and publish an institutional RDM strategy and notify the agencies when completed.

In response to the release of this policy, Algonquin College appointed a RDM Advisory Committee (RDMAC). It includes representatives from the Applied Research Office (ARO, Director, Senior Program Managers and Research Operations & Ethics Officer), the Library (Manager and Librarian, Learning Resource Centre), Learning and Teaching Services (LTS, Indigenous Pedagogy Curriculum Consultant), Information Technology Services (ITS, Senior Privacy Specialist and Business Relationship Management Practitioner Lead) and the Research Ethics Board (REB, Chair). The RDMAC jointly created corporate RDM Policy RE10 and this institutional strategy.

The policy governs the processes of updating and implementing the strategy. Compared with the policy, the strategy is much more detailed and flexible and is relevant not only to the College’s researchers, but also to external business and community partners. Both documents aim to support Algonquin’s researchers and partners and achieve full compliance with the Tri-Agency RDM policy.

To accelerate the adoption and the implementation of our institutional strategy Algonquin College will:

  • Encourage, promote and eventually mandate the best practices of RDM,
  • Use knowledge dissemination, training and professional development for all constituents involved in applied research: students, faculty and administrators and business partners.
  • Operationalize RDM support.
  • Provide access to RDM-specific software tools, data storage and infrastructure.

Formulating the RDM strategy is a College-wide research community process. The RDM advisory committee looks forward to collecting ideas, feedback and insights from all constituents interested in transforming the College into a leading research institution based on solid RDM principles.

Fundamental Standards

RDM at Algonquin College is based on the following guiding standards.

Institutional Support for Researchers

Algonquin College supports all its research constituents by providing adequate capacity, technological and organizational structure and specialized services. Algonquin College develops innovative, multi-disciplinary research portfolios involving many disciplines across engineering, trades, business and humanities. (Aligned with the Strategic Plan 2022-2025, Goal 1)

Research Excellence

Industry- and Community-Oriented Collaborations

Open Access to Research Results

Raising Awareness, Training and Professional Development (PD)

Support for Indigenous Rights

Scope

The objective of this Institutional RDM strategy is to advance a culture where research data and its management is of vital importance.

This document applies to all Algonquin College researchers and external business- or community partners, who are involved in Tri-Agency funded research, regardless of academic discipline, program or project specifics. The category “College researchers” includes students, faculty members and administrative staff, no matter what their status is – full-time/part-time employees or volunteers. This definition is slightly narrower than the one provided in policy RE01: Research Administration, which does not differentiate projects in terms of sources of funding.

The main initial objective of this strategy is to ensure that all Tri-Agency funded researchers have proper support in place to facilitate their work and to guarantee maximal beneficial impact. In the longer term, this strategy will streamline the ubiquitous adherence to the best RDM practices on Algonquin’s campuses.

RDM Implementation Steps

To support the adoption of this strategy and institutionalize the use of best practices in RDM among researchers, Algonquin College will engage in various activities, planned over two time periods:

Near-Term

Starting in 2023, Algonquin will begin building essential RDM capacity. During this initial phase, the College will focus firmly on:

  • Developing awareness-raising activities and training:
    • The ARO will post this strategy on their site and will link it to Library’s RDM resource pages.
    • The Library will keep these pages updated with new RDM-oriented training materials and will include a link back to this strategy.
    • The Library will organize periodic training events and an annual RDM workshop.
    • ARO will create professional development (PD) for faculty and staff.
    • ARO and Library staff will be available for consultations and during set office hours.
  • Set up support of operations:
    During the initial stage of our transition towards RDM compliance, a reuse of human resources will be the most feasible way to operationalize RDM. Current employees of the Library and the ARO will oversee and operationalize the RDM-related activities during the initial phase of the process.
  • Provide support for RDM-specific IT tools and infrastructure:
    Algonquin College will provide researchers access to the specialized data repository Borealis – “The Canadian Dataverse Repository”. The Library and the ARO will share the subscription fees. Researchers will also have access to the Data Management Plan (DMP) Assistant software tool. once this Tri-Agency requirement comes into effect. ARO staff will provide IT admin support, aligned with ITS standards which adhere to IT best practices, and training related to these tools.
  • Indigenous research and RDM:
    Algonquin College will consult Indigenous peoples and communities to better understand how to approach best practices for Indigenous research data management, Indigenous data sovereignty and ethical practices of research with Indigenous peoples, communities, and Nations. A guiding document, as well as a template research agreement, will be developed on how to adopt practices for respectful engagement of Indigenous research. This broad category includes research in any field or discipline that is conducted by, grounded in or engaged with First Nations, Inuit and/or Métis peoples, lands, communities, societies or individuals, and their cultures, experiences or knowledge systems, as expressed in their dynamic forms, past and present.
  • Equity, Diversity, Inclusion (EDI) and RDM:
    All researchers at Algonquin College are signatories of the NSERC’s “Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Dimensions Charter”. The research community at Algonquin will foster a culture
    committed to this charter’s principles and objectives.
  • Ethical aspects of RDM:
    In 2021 the Federal Government’s Panel on Research Ethics published “Guidance on Depositing Existing Data in Public Repositories”. This document elaborates ethical aspects of the Tri-Agency RDM policy. The REB will implement these recommendations in their project application approval process.

Medium-Term

Relevant Materials

The following is a set of useful resources referred to in this strategy text above.

Future Steps

This institutional strategy is an evolving document and the RDM Advisory Committee will annually review and update it, according to researchers’ feedback and future Tri-Agency requirements. The process of updating this strategy is defined in corporate policy RE10.

Appendix

Action Plan

Years Goals Actions Responsibility
One Initiate the process of achieving institutional RDM readiness Update and expand the RDM Resources pages maintained by the Library Library
Engage all researchers in awareness raising RDM training activities Library
Develop PD course in RDM for faculty and staff ARO
Set up initial support of operations ARO
Provide guidance on data governance for RDM-specific practical tools and infrastructure ITS
Subscribe Algonquin to the Borealis repository service ARO
Train ARO managers and support staff to use the DMP Assistant software tool ARO
Begin the practice to assure DMPs are added to applications for grants that explicitly require these plans ARO
Develop a guiding document on Indigenous research ethical protocols and principles ARO
Apply for the “Research Data Management Capacity Building Initiative” SSHRC grant ARO
Two Accelerate the adoption of prevalent RDM culture across the campuses

 

 Review and revise the institutional RDM strategy as required RDMAC
Periodically update and diversify the training events and workshops offered both online and in-person Library
Regularly participate in any future consultations around RDM organized by the Tri-Agency, other PSE institutions or non-profits, such as the Digital Research Alliance of Canada ARO
Streamline the technical administrative support for the Borealis data repository ARO
Train faculty researchers to use the DMP Assistant ARO
Develop Indigenous research agreement template LTS
Submit CSEP applications for student jobs supporting RDM operations ARO
Three Regularly adapt the existing RDM practices to new or updated Tri-Agency requirements Update and realign this strategy with the evolving requirements of each Tri-Agency grant type RDMAC
Ensure annual updates are made to all training and PD resources to assure they agree with the current RDM requirements RDMAC
Assess options for hiring dedicated RDM support staff RDMAC
Identify and address any remaining gaps in College’s overall RDM compliance. RDMAC
Evaluate any new external funding opportunities to support the growth of College’s RDM capacity ARO
Explore and encourage the adoption of research-domain specific RDM practices RDMAC
Explore embedding essential RDM training and awareness into academic programs and in-class project courses RDMAC