Research data management (RDM) means the planning, storage, curation, preservation and provision of continuing access to analogue and digital research data throughout the research project cycle from application to project end.  RDM is a key element of the research process and good practice is essential to the responsible conduct of research. It can make research run more efficiently and effectively and ultimately lead to a higher quality of research.

Research data management has become a priority for research funders, many have research data policies and expectations. These policies set out an expectation on researchers that they register what data they have created, where it can be found and make it available to other researchers as and when required.

The Concordat on Open Research Data was published in July 2016 and was developed by HEFCE, RCUK, Universities UK and the Wellcome Trust. The Concordat aims to ensure that data "is made openly available for use by others wherever possible in a manner consistent with relevant legal, ethical, disciplinary and regulatory frameworks and norms, and with due regard to the costs involved". The Concordat provides a series of clear and practical principles for working with research data. It provides a set of expectations of best practice that were developed by the research community. The College RDM Service will continue to work to embed these principles and ensure that services are developed in alignment with the Concordat.

The College's Research Data Management Service supports researchers with the management of research data, which can improve research practice and impact, meet funder requirements and where data is made available as Open Access, increase the visibility and discoverability of research.

The Service support researchers to develop good practice in working with research data and this is summarised in a checklist of good practice.

The Research Data Management Service supports researchers with RDM and can offer advice throughout the research cycle, from application to project end. Staff from the Research Support Team in Library Services, Research and Innovation and IT work together to provide the service to researchers. The Service can be contacted by emailing rdm@royalholloway.ac.uk and staff are always very happy to help researchers.

The College provides the following systems to support RDM:

• DMP Online - for writing data management plans
• Dropbox for Business - for storing and sharing active research data during research activities and projects
• Figshare - for storing research data, in order to provide long term access

More information about these systems can be found in the Tools section.

The College has an RDM policy which can be viewed in the Policies section.

Please contact the team for advice and support, and with any feedback about the service and tools.