Wellcome Trust Data Management Plans

As a charity, Wellcome works to ensure that the results of the research we fund are applied for the public good. This includes creating an environment that enables and incentivises researchers to maximise the value of their research outputs, including data, software and materials...

Making data available in a timely and responsible way ensures other research can verify it, build on it and use it to advance knowledge and make health improvements. Similarly, making software or materials – such as antibodies or cell lines – available to the research community supports reproducibility and can underpin further research

(Wellcome Trust Policy on Data, Software and Materials Management and Sharing)

Requirements

Anyone applying for Wellcome funding must consider their approach to managing and sharing anticipated outputs at the research proposal stage. In cases where these outputs are significant – generating data, software or materials that will hold clear value as a resource for others in academia or industry – applicants will need to include an outputs management plan.

Applicants should consider the following seven questions in their data management plans.

1. What data outputs will your research generate and what data will have value to other researchers?
2. When will you share the data?
3. Where will you make the data available?
4. How will other researchers be able to access the data?
5. Are any limits to data sharing required - for example, to either safeguard research participants or to gain appropriate intellectual property protection?
6. How will you ensure that key datasets are preserved to ensure their long-term value?