Research Data Management: Data Management @ VU - Case Studies

Institute for Sustainability and Innovation (ISI), Water Research Data @ RDA

ISI is a VU research institute that provides industry and community solutions in water treatment technology, resource management, asset management, social and behavioural research, environment, e-research, smart energy, alternative energy and packaging. Recent ISI projects include:

The Solution:

There is a larger initiative by the Australian Water Research & Development Coalition (AWRDC) to build an Australian Urban Water Collection in Research Data Australia. As part of this initiative ISI were invited to submit a description of the data generated by the above projects. The initiative aims to enable the discovery and re-use of urban water research data. It is important to note, the Research Data Australia portal doesn't store the data itself, but harvests descriptions (metadata) about the data and how it can be accessed. However, the ISI team are committed to the idea of open data and are currently investigating storage solutions.

VU Sports Research Data Collections @ VicNode

The VU Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living (ISEAL) houses nationally significant infrastructure; with over 100 core research staff and 100 PhD / Masters students. ISEAL research projects that have contributed to the Sports Data Collection include:

  • Elite Sport Science and Research Support Programme
  • Talent Identification Using In-Game Skill Performance Outcomes
  • Football Research and Educational Project
  • Exploring the Relationship Between High-Intensity Movements and Successful Match Outcomes in Male and Female Youth Soccer Players

Researchers from ISEAL worked in partnership with the VU Library and eResearch Office to apply for funded VicNode data storage. The application was successful, and the benefits of this form of storage is that it provides ‘researchers and their collaborators with the ability to easily store and share research data through an affordable, secure and sustainable service’. This research will now be accessible through a central data register that enables information exchange and real-time visibility of research activities. Accessing this data storage will be through a web-based interface such as ownCloud.