Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Data Management Plans

STFC, through the facilities it operates and subscribes to and the grants it funds, is one of the main UK producers of scientific data. This data is one of the major outputs of STFC and a major source of its economic impact. STFC, as a publicly funded organisation, has a responsibility to ensure that this data is carefully managed and optimally exploited, both in the short and the long term.

(STFC Scientific Data Policy)

Requirements

• Proposals for projects that would result in the production or collection of scientific data should include a data management plan as an attachment to the Je-S proforma
• The data management plan attachment is mandatory against most STFC schemes (not Public Engagement) and should be no longer than two pages of A4
• If it is felt that a DMP is not relevant to a proposal then an attachment explaining this should be uploaded to pass validation
• The data management plan should explain how the data will be managed over the lifetime of the project and, where appropriate, preserved for future re-use
• STFC does not stipulate a specific format for data management plans and applicants may structure them in the way most appropriate to the project. However, they should be clear, concise and proportionate – both to the scale and type of the datasets generated – and take into account the value of the data, the likely level of future re-use, the complexity and levels of data, and the cost effectiveness of preservation compared to re-creation