Research data is all data that is generated and processed during a research process. It also forms the basis of research results. The sustainable, open handling of research data promotes transparency, reproducibility and subsequent use of research results and is part of the principles on safeguarding the good scientific practice. Responsible research data management therefore enriches both researchers themselves and potential reusers and contributes significantly to the acquisition and dissemination of scientific knowledge.
Our new training programme in Research Data Management will start in the summer semester 2024.
More information
What is Research Data?
As a researcher, you use data for your work or produce your own data, from which you derive your research findings. Measurement results, text editions, results from surveys, databases, field notes, software – research data is just as varied as the academic disciplines and methods in which it is generated. You should use secure technology to store your research data in the long term, making sure that you comply with data protection regulations. It is up to you as the expert to decide which of your digital materials and data are suitable for long-term storage – regardless of whether you intend to publish them.
Why Research Data Management?
Appropriate handling of research data is an important mark of quality in your academic work. The guidelines issued by funding organisations and rules governing good academic practice enforce a systematic and sustainable handling of research data.
The four FAIR Principles can serve as a guideline:
- Findable
- Accessible
- Interoperable
- Reusable
Only by storing research data in a structured way and with metadata can it be retrieved and used by others.
Why Publish Research Data?
- Publishing research data improves your eligibility for funding. Unless there are important reasons against doing so, many external funding bodies now expect their scholars to publish research data.
- You boost your international visibility and reputation. Data publications can play an important part in your individual performance as a researcher. Provided with a permanent identifier such as DOI (digital object identifier), they appear on publication lists and can be cited.
- Some scientific journals accept articles only if you also publish the corresponding data.
- It makes your research transparent and reproducible: it allows other researchers to understand the research process and verify your results. Other researchers can make use of your data. They cite your research results and can arrive at interesting new conclusions.
National Research Data Infrastructure
The National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) indexes, standardises and secures research data in a sustainable manner and makes it accessible for reuse. To this end, competences from science, infrastructure facilities and specialist societies are pooled in discipline-specific and cross-disciplinary consortia. The NFDI Directorate coordinates the network to be established. In addition, five sections are dedicated to the cross-cutting topics of shared infrastructures, ethical, legal and social aspects of RDM, metadata and terminologies, training and education, and industry cooperation.
The services of the NFDI are currently still under construction and include the development and operation of research data repositories and subject-specific technical infrastructures, the development of standards for handling research data and the development of disciplinary training and further education programmes. In addition, the BASE4NFDI basic service initiative promotes overarching technical solutions that are to be made available to all researchers, regardless of their subject area, for the implementation of their RDM.
An overview of all consortia can be found on the NFDI website. At Leipzig University, researchers and employees are participating in a total of 13 consortia. For information on the NFDI and its services, please contact us.
Research Data Management Service
We offer you both individual advice and subject-specific information events on the subject of research data – please contact us for more details.
Consulting in Research Data Management
We offer you personalised advice as well as information events and workshops on the topic of research data. Please contact us for our services.
- Initial information and practical implementation of research data management
- Advice on RDM specific requirements in funding applications, including text modules
- Funding opportunities for the implementation of project-specific research data management
- Guidelines from funding organisations on handling research data
- Creating data management plans and policies
- Further information and training (also possible for collaborative projects)
- Repositories and identifiers: where can I publish my data so that colleagues can find it and it is always available for citation?
- FAIR Principles: how do I structure data and metadata in such a way that it is findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable?
- Copyright and data protection: which data am I allowed to publish and under which conditions?
- Licences: which rights of use do I want to grant?
- Subsequent use: where do I find research data in my subject and how do I cite it?
Technical RDM services and tools
Detailed service descriptions, requirements and fees for all technical RDM services can be found in the service catalogue of the University Computing Centre.
- Create online surveys and export data for analysing purposes with Limesurvey
- The service RedCap operated by the faculty of medicine can be used to self-create e-CRFs (electronic case report forms) and surveys, to prepare statistcal analyses and to export data to statistical analyses programmes.
- Data sharing with our service Speicherwolke
- Joint Storage space for workgroups
- Virtual Server at Leipzig University Computing Centre
- Data analyses and organisation of data workflows with RStudio
- Complex scientific computations with High Performance ComputinG (HPC)
- Scientific Computing at Leipzig University Computing Centre
- Preserve and archive research data with OPARA
Workshops and training offers
Our training programme has a modular structure. Two basic courses, one each for medicine and the natural sciences and one for the humanities and social sciences, introduce the fundamentals of RDM and provide an overview of the topic. Building on this, further expertise of different research data management topics is covered in various specialisation courses. The basic courses take place as half-day workshops in presence, registration is required. The specialisation courses are online events that can be attended without registration; they are offered regularly on Tuesdays at 09:15 a.m. (CET).
- Date: 31 May 2024 Time: 9am–12.30pm (including break)
Location: Library of Medicine/Natural Sciences, Liebigstr. 23/25, Room 102
Course trainers: Fabrice Panitz (URZ), Dr Dagmar Quandt (UBL) Participants: 15
Discover how to efficiently deliver, store, archive and publish data to make your research future-proof and sustainable with the Basic Course on Research Data Management.
This course imparts fundamental elements of research data management, aligned with the DFG’s checklist for research data. These elements include data categorization, storage, archiving, provision, rights management, documentation, quality control, and publication of research data. We will collaboratively analyze research datasets in terms of their findability, long-term accessibility, reusability, and citeability. Moreover, the course aims to convey the value of responsible research data management and to demonstrate the existing infrastructure support available at the University of Leipzig. Up to 15 participants can attend the course.
- Date: 31.05.2024, 09 - 12:30 a.m.
Lecturers: Dr. Stephan Wünsche, Pia Voigt
Location: Room S301 (Seminar Building), Universitätsstraße 1, 04109 Leipzig
Data is part of everyday research: Where do I store my data and how do I secure it during and after a research project? What guidelines apply to the good handling of research data, its long-term storage and publication?
This basic course deals with these and other questions using examples from the humanities and social sciences. Participants will learn basic concepts of research data management (RDM) and will be able to apply them to their own work. They will get an insight in legal requirements and the rules of safeguarding the good scientific practice for a responsible handling of research data. In addition, you will learn about relevant services and infrastructures for RDM. The focus here is on the handling of personal data, texts and audiovisual data.
The workshop is aimed at all researchers at Leipzig University and all research-related staff with an interest in the basics of RDM.
A similar basic course with a different discipline-specific focus will be held at the same time for RDM in medicine and the natural sciences.
Building on this, important aspects of research data management are dealt with more intensively in specialised courses. These are online events that can be attended without registration; the specialised workshops are offered regularly on Tuesdays at 09:15 a.m.:
- Date: May 14, 2024, 09:15 to 10:45 a.m.
Location: Online
Trainer: Pia Voigt
Why and how should the handling of research data be well planned? What are the benefits and what obstacles need to be overcome? In this workshop, you will learn how you can use data management plans to implement good research data management in your project and which aspects you should consider when preparing a third-party funding application for handling research data.
- Date: May 21, 2024, 09:15 to 10:45 a.m.
Location: Online
Trainer: Pia Voigt
Constantly growing data volumes and ever-increasing demands on data processing are becoming more and more important in research. The basis for good handling of research data is the organisation of project-related data sets. In this course, you will learn about strategies that will help you to store, secure and share your data in a structured way with the help of the services offered at Leipzig University.
- Date: May 28, 2024, 09:15 to 10:45 a.m.
Location: Online
Trainer: Pia Voigt
The handling of personal data often confronts researchers with legal challenges: Under what conditions may personal data be processed? What requirements must be met and what strategies can be used to store, process, share and preserve data securely? In this course, you will learn about data protection aspects when handling your research data.
- Date: June 04, 2024, 09:15 to 10:45 a.m.
Location: Online
Trainer: Dr. Stephan Wünsche
Who owns research data? This question arises with data in whose creation several people were involved, and especially with text data, images and videos. You will learn how to recognise for your own research project whose copyrights and related rights need to be taken into account. You will learn how to create legal security at an early stage with the help of agreements, for example in order to be able to share or publish data.
- Date: June 25, 2024, 09:15 to 10:15 a.m.
Location: Online
Trainer: Fabrice Panitz
Leipzig University's research data repository 'OPARA' has received an extensive update. Discover the updated interface and new functions of the research data repository and how you can archive your data efficiently in this specialised course 'Archiving research data with OPARA'.
- Date: July 02, 2024, 09:15 to 10:45 a.m.
Location: Online
Trainer: Dr. Dagmar Quandt
The publication of research data is explicitly recommended by the German Research Foundation. In this course you will learn how, where and under what conditions you can publish your research data effectively. In addition, the course will teach you the best strategies for finding published research data.