No abstract

At Leiden University, it is increasingly recognised that effective data management forms an integral component of responsible research. To actively promote the stewardship of all the research data that are produced at Leiden University, a comprehensive, institution-wide programme was launched in 2015, which centrally aims to encourage its researchers to carefully plan the temporal storage, long-term preservation and potential Fostering Effective Data Management Practices at Leiden University 2Liber Quarterly Volume 27 Issue 1 2017 reuse of their data. This programme, which is managed centrally by the Department of Academic Affairs, and which receives important contributions from academic staff, from Leiden University Libraries, and from the University's central ICT organisation, basically consists of three parts. Firstly, a basic central policy has been formulated, containing clear guidelines for activities before, during and after research projects. The central aim of this institutional policy is to ensure that all Leiden-based research projects can effectively comply with the most common requirements stipulated by funding agencies, academic publishers, the Dutch standard evaluation protocol and the European data protection directive. As a second part of the data management programme, faculties have organised workshops and meetings, concentrating on the rationale and on the technical and organisational practicalities of effective data management in order to bring about a discipline-specific protocol. Data librarians employed by Leiden University Libraries have developed educational materials and provide training for PhDs in the principles and benefits of good data management. Thirdly, to ensure that scholars can genuinely make a reasoned selection among the many tools that are currently available, a central catalogue was developed which lists and characterises the most relevant data management services. The catalogue currently provides information about, amongst many other aspects, the organisations behind these services, the main academic disciplines which are targeted and the accepted file formats and metadata formats. The various aspects of these facilities have been classified using terminology provided by conceptual models developed by the UKDA, ANDS and the DCC. Using Leiden University's policy guidelines as criteria, the overall suitability of each service has also been evaluated. Leiden University's data management programme has a total duration of three years, and its basic objective is to offer a comprehensive form of support, in which the data management policy which is propagated centrally is complemented by various forms of assistance which ought to make it easier for scholars to adhere to this policy. The catalogue of data management services also aims to bolster the implementation of an adequate technical infrastructure, as the qualitative evaluations of the services enable policy-makers and developers to quickly establish gaps or other shortcomings within existing facilities.

In this paper, we discuss the various stages of the institution-wide project that lead to the adoption of the data management policy at Leiden University in 2016. We illustrate this process by highlighting how we have involved all stakeholders. Each organisational unit was represented in the project teams. Results were discussed in a sounding board with both academic and support staff. Senior researchers acted as pioneers and raised awareness and commitment among their peers. By way of example, we present pilot projects from two faculties. We then describe the comprehensive implementation programme that will create facilities and services that must allow implementing the policy as well as monitoring and evaluating it. Finally, we will present lessons learnt and steps ahead. The engagement of all stakeholders, as well as explicit commitment from the Executive Board, has been an important key factor for the success of the project and will continue to be an important condition for the steps ahead.

Leiden University (LU) adopted a data management regulation in 2016. The regulation embraces the Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) principles. To implement the regulation a programme was established. The focus of the programme was initially to raise awareness and to set up services to make data Findable and Accessible and to train researchers on data management planning. In 2019, the programme entered its second phase, with an increased focus on Interoperable and Reusable data, and on implementing the machine-actionable aspects of FAIR data. This step is non-trivial, however, because of the fast-developing FAIR research data international research field that requires fast adoption of leading practices by support professionals with the adequate skills. In this paper we describe how LU aims to close the feedback loop between international bottom-up organisations such as GOFAIR, the Research Data Alliance and CODATA on the one hand and university staff engaged in developing and implementing emerging FAIR leading practices on the other. During processes such as these, it is of crucial importance to focus primarily on the needs of researchers. We describe how LU builds up its support for FAIR data before, during and after research through its involvement in leading practices, training and consultancy and end with recommendations for other universities wanting to implement the FAIR principles.