Category Archives: Awareness raising and advocacy

Data Management Training – Autumn 2025

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University of Edinburgh courses are now available to book on all topics dealing with research data management. Aimed at postgraduate research students and academic staff, these four courses are taught by experts from the Library’s Research Data Support team, and cover all aspects of managing digital data for a research project. Each course is offered multiple times during the term, at different campus locations and online.Young man with laptop on table with Edinburgh Castle seen through the window.

If you are new to concepts of research data management (RDM) you may wish to take the “Data Management for your Research” overview course (1.5 hours). You will be able to apply basic RDM skills to your daily research practices and understand what the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) mean and why they matter.

“Writing a Data Management Plan for Your Research”: in this interactive two-hour workshop you will understand the basic components of good DMP, and will produce a first draft Data Management Plan (DMP) for your research project using a tool called DMPonline.

Building on the University’s online Data Protection training, “Working with Personal and Sensitive Data” will prepare you for the challenges of dealing with human subject and other types of confidential data: how to collect, share, store and protect your data safely and securely, and what university services are available to help you (two hours).

“Archiving Your Research Data” (1.5-2 hours) helps you to plan ahead to when your logo datashare_edinburghresearch project is approaching completion and it is time to find an appropriate repository to share or safeguard the underlying data for your paper, thesis or dissertation for the long-term. You will gain familiarity with using the University’s open acess data repository, DataShare, and know about an alternative restricted access solution, DataVault, as well as how to identify other appropriate repositories. If you are unable to attend any of these scheduled Archiving Your Research Data workshops, you can request additional sessions via our online form: Request training: Archiving your Research Data.

All of the above courses are available to book through our scheduled workshops web page: Research Data Service – Scheduled workshops.

Robin Rice
Data Librarian and Head, Research Data Support

Knowledge Exchange with Japan

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Two members of the Research Data Support team recently had an adventure visiting Japan in order to provide practical lessons to library students and librarians studying in a research data management (RDM) course.

When Professor Emi Ishita had visited the team in 2023, she was preparing a new syllabus for research data management for her library students at the Kyushu University iSchool. Struck by the strong engagement our team members had with researchers through training, supporting data management plans, and moderating data deposits, she returned in August, 2024 with a delegation of practicing librarians to learn from the Universities of Edinburgh, Leeds, and Oxford. The group spent a full day with various members of Library Research Support, going over a question list they had sent in advance, about Open Access (OA) and RDM support, and our approach to training researchers.Staff and visitors eating lunch

At the end of the session, Emi revealed that a grant was available to pay for two RDM practitioners from UoE to come to Kyushu University in Fukuoka to contribute to an October, 2024 public symposium and a two day-long in-person training sessions for her students. The students would include Masters students enrolled in the iSchool at Kyushu, as well as practicing librarians looking to reskill themselves following government policy directives embracing immediate open access and data sharing for research publications.

bento boxThe speakers for the hybrid symposium on OA and RDM in Japan were myself with Dr Simon Smith, along with long-time RDM service provider Jake Carlson from the University of Buffalo (New York), and the Library Director from Chiba University, and the Research Data Service Director at Kyushu University providing a Japanese context for OA and RDM. Dr Ishita introduced the symposium and chaired the panel session – her team also provided all the speakers with beautifully presented bento boxes tailored to each person’s diet for lunch.

While the symposium was exciting, with about 60 people in attendance and about 130 more watching and listening online, it was the practical training that myself and Simon found truly inspirational. The students overcame their customary reserve to answer Simon’s open-ended questions about supporting researchers with data management planning in a classroom setting. Later, they formed into small groups to try out depositing data in DataShare, and evaluate each other’s metadata for quality. The technology worked, the students were curious and engaged, and the Kyushu instructors were pleased with the outcome.

library trainers at Kyushu University, Oct 2024

Japanese hospitality lunchDuring the week of the event, Simon and I visited prior and new contacts at Tokyo University, Chiba University, Kyoto University, Nagoya University and NII. In addition to the excellent company, we were pleased to be visiting such a beautiful country and eating the wonderful food.

NII staff outside restaurant

Mount Aso volcano

Lunchtime Seminar Series – digestible bites of knowledge on data and computing tools at the University of Edinburgh

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For 2023/2024, Digital Research Services have organised a new iteration of the Lunchtime Seminar Series. These one-hour hybrid seminars will examine different slices of the research lifecycle and introduce you to the data and computing expertise at the University of Edinburgh.

The seminars have been designed to answer the most common questions we get asked, offering valuable bite-sized learning opportunities for research staff, postgraduate research students, and professional staff alike. You will gain an understanding of how digital research fits in with wider research support teams and good research practices. Your sessions will cover research funding, research planning, tailored skill development, data management and advancements in AI.

Oh, and did we mention there is free lunch for in-person attendees? That is truly the cherry on top.

DRS Lunchtime Seminars – 2024 Calendar

Have a look at the upcoming seminars:

Seminar 1: How to plan and design your research project better.                        22nd January 12:00 – 13:00

This session is all about making sure researchers head off with a strong start. Did you know that the University has tools that help you optimise your data management plan, with funder specific templates and in-house feedback? We will make sure you get the best use out of DMPOnline and the Resource Finder Tool. We will also introduce you to some key concepts in data management planning, research funding and digital skill development.

Seminar 2: How to store and organise your data properly.                                    27th February 12:30-13:30.

Discover how to best store and organise your data using University of Edinburgh’s tools: DataStore, DataSync and GitLab. If you work in a wet lab, you might be particularly interested in electronic lab notebooks. We will introduce you to the functionalities of RSpace and protocols.io. Finally, the University has just launched an institutional subscription to the Open Science Framework (OSF). You will discover that it is much more than a tool for data storage, as it can help manage complex workflows and projects as well.

Seminar 3: How to interpret and analyse your data efficiently.                              13th March 12:00-13:00

This seminar is mainly about big computers, such as UoE’s Eddie and Eleanor. Through EPCC, researchers can get also access to large scale national supercomputers, such as Archer and Cirrus. At the same time, we will show a glimpse on some developments on the AI front.

Seminar 4: How to manage, publish, share and preserve your work effectively.  2nd April 12:00-13:00

The final seminar is all about making sure your work is published and preserved in the best way. We will talk you through different (open access) publishing pathways such as Journal Checker, Edinburgh Research Archive, Read & Publish journal list, Edinburgh Diamond. We will also be talking about data repositories (e.g. DataVault, DataShare) and our research output portal, Pure.

For info and booking:
https://digitalresearchservices.ed.ac.uk/training/drs-seminars

Blog post by Dr Sarah Janac                                                                     
Research Facilitator – The University of Edinburgh

How to find your way around the vast portfolio of Digital Research Resources 

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Guest blog post by Dr André de Araújo Vieira,                                                                  Research Facilitator – Digital Research Services – University of Edinburgh

The Digital Research Services website helps researchers find resources including components of the Research Data Service.

The new Digital Research Services website will point you to the most suited tools tailored to your research project

Digital Research Services (DRS) has just released new features on their website to assist researchers who are still unsure about which digital resources would be most appropriate for them. The new interactive tool – Resource Finder – highlights the most suitable service(s) for each project. All the users need to do is answer a series of questions. The main purposes of this new functionality are: 

  • To empower the user to build their own personalized toolkit;
  •  To give autonomy to the user in finding their way around the large portfolio of digital resources provided by the University;
  • To allow the user to understand the breadth and depth of data services available to them. 

Beyond helping the navigation of digital research services, DRS also intends to emphasize the importance of adopting best practices throughout the research lifecycle. Getting to know the broad range of available resources, developed with an emphasis on research excellence, is key for making informed decisions, identify the most appropriate tools and by extension have higher chances of meeting funder requirements and maximise research outputs and impact.  

The new Resource Finder was released as part of a full DRS Website redevelopment, overall enhancing findability and visibility of digital tools. After an assessment in 2022, DRS intensified efforts to raise awareness of data and computing services across the University, facilitate efficient use of digital resources and to enhance the existing training materials on digital tools. One of the steps taken towards this objective was reviewing the DRS website content, design, and functionalities which led to the Resource Finder. 

How does it work?                                                                                           

Once you enter the Resource Finder page, you will find a description of the tool, further user guidance (available under the +More info button) and the DRS research lifecycle. A You will see a list with the name of each phase of the research life cycle and associated questions, as well as guidance text showing where you can interact with the tool. Among the information provided, you will also find an explanatory video on how to use the Resource Finder. There are different ways to navigate the Resource Finder. You can use it by interacting with the colourful wheel or with the drop-down list of phases. When you start answering the questions you will see that tailored resources will appear on your right side, depending on the answers you give.      You can reset each phase or the full questionnaire at any point. You can also see a summary of the resources that appeared in each phase on “+Related Resources”. If you are sure that one of the services presented will not be relevant to you, you can hide it.  Above all the resources, you will be able to select how you want it to be displayed. Finally, above the display options, you will find a button that allows you to copy all the outcomes of your answers, in case you want to send the link to someone.

Give it a try                                                                                                       

The Resource Finder is now available to members of the University of Edinburgh community and beyond. Give it a try and let us know your thoughts via the feedback button on the right side. We will always love to hear suggestions for improvement – whether it is for the Resource Finder or any other functionality of the website.

Other new DRS Website features                                                                           

It is worth to mention that the new DRS website features and functionalities extend beyond the Resource Finder:  

      1. Enhanced site-wide search and filtering functionality for colleges/schools; 
      2. New pages and updated menu including the addition of News and Updates and About us pages;
      3. Additional options for the display or resources; 
      4. New grouping of resources based on the type of service (tool or advice); 
      5. Schedule an online meeting functionality.