Tag Archives: postgraduate training

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

Research Data Training – Semester 1

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*UPDATE* – We have just added two new and exciting courses to our training schedule:

  • Assessing Disclosure Risk in Quantitative Data (RDS006)
  • Assessing Data Quality in Quantitative Data (RDS007)

To find out more about these courses just visit our training page.

Each semester the Research Data Support team puts together a training programme for researchers and research support staff in all schools, and at all points in their career. Our programme this year introduces a number of new courses, including one designed especially for Undergraduates planning their final year dissertation. We have also reviewed and refreshed all of our existing courses to ensure that they are not only up-to-date but also more engaging and interactive.

Full Course list:

  • Realising the Benefits of Good Research Data Management (RDS001)
  • Writing a Data Management Plan for your Research (RDS002)
  • Working with Personal and Sensitive Data (RDS003)
  • Data Cleaning with OpenRefine (RDS004)
  • Handling Data Using SPSS (RDS005)
  • Assessing Disclosure Risk in Quantitative Data (RDS006)
  • Assessing Data Quality in Quantitative Data (RDS007)
  • Data Mindfulness: Making the Most of your Dissertation (RDS009)
  • Introduction to Visualising Data in ArcGIS (RDS011)
  • Introduction to Visualising Data in QGIS (RDS012)

Full details of all these courses, with direct booking links, can be found on our training webpage https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/research-support/research-data-service/training

Courses can also be found and booked via the MyEd Events page.

We are always happy to deliver tailored versions of these courses suitable for a specific school, institute or discipline. Just contact us at data-support@ed.ac.uk to let us know what you need!

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Kerry Miller
Research Data Support Officer
Library and University Collections

New video: the benefits of RDM training

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A big part of the role of the Research Data Service is to provide a mixture of online and (general/tailored) in-person training courses on Research Data Management (RDM) to all University research staff and students.

In this video, PhD student Lis talks about her experiences of accessing both our online training and attending some of our face-to-face courses. Lis emphasises how valuable both of these can be to new PhD candidates, who may well be applying RDM good practice for the first time in their career.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/ycCiXoJw1MY[/youtube]

It is interesting to see Lis reflect on how these training opportunities made her think about how she handles data on a daily basis, bringing a realisation that much of her data was sensitive and therefore needed to be safeguarded in an appropriate manner.

Our range of regularly scheduled face-to-face training courses are run through both Digital Skills and the Institute of Academic Development – these are open to all research staff and students. In addition, we also create and provide bespoke training courses for schools and research groups based on their specific needs. Online training is delivered via MANTRA and the Research Data Management MOOC which we developed in collaboration with the University of North Carolina.

In the video Lis also discusses her experiences using some RDS tools and services, such as DataStore for storing and backing-up her research data to prevent data loss, and contacting our team for timely support in writing a Data Management Plan for her project.

If you would like to learn more about any of the things Lis mentions in her interview you should visit the RDS website, or to discuss bespoke training for your school or research centre / group please contact us via data-support@ed.ac.uk.

Kerry Miller
Research Data Support Officer
Library and University Collections
The University of Edinburgh

Scoping Statistical Analysis Support

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The following is a post by our former PhD Intern, Cindy Nelson-Viljoen, where she outlines her experience of working on a significant Data Library project supported by the Innovation Fund.

Scoping Statistical Analysis Support, supported by the Information Services Innovation Fund and managed by Diarmuid McDonnell, was a six-month project that aimed to identify gaps in statistical analysis training provision at the University of Edinburgh, and the potential role of the Data Library in addressing these gaps. The focus was on understanding how statistical analysis support and training is conducted across University of Edinburgh schools; scoping existing support mechanisms and models for students, researchers and teachers; and identifying services and support that would satisfy existing or future demand.

The activities of the project included designing an online questionnaire of research students, and to engage with and interview faculty (researchers and teachers) with knowledge of and responsibility for quantitative methods/statistical analysis support in their respective school. As part of the project, the Data Library employed a PhD intern (Cindy Nelson-Viljoen) via the Employ.ed scheme, and offered an excellent opportunity for Cindy to develop her knowledge of social science methods, statistical analysis and support, and research data management in a collaborative cross-disciplinary setting.

The project’s findings will inform future planning of statistical analysis support and training within the Data Library, ISG and the University. The report describing the project, methodology, findings and recommendations is available at http://edin.ac/2hnJYPb.