Plan

Maintaining comprehensive data and materials and other records related to your research is essential to the integrity of a research project or activity.
In accordance with the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research, a Research Data and Materials Plan (RDMP) must be established and registered with the Office for Research prior to the commencement of a research project. Data and materials must be safely and securely stored during and beyond the completion of the project for 5+ years to enable research outcomes to be validated and justified.
A data management plan is a living document and should be reviewed and updated regularly.
The planning stage is the time to determine who owns the data and to seek ethics approval. Refer to the Research Data & Materials Guidelines for more information.

Links are as follows:
RDMP
http://www.vu.edu.au/research/researcher-services-support/eresearch-support/r-drive-research-data-storage
RDM Guidelines:
http://www.vu.edu.au/sites/default/files/research/pdfs/RDM%20Making%20Data%20Available%20Guidelines.pdf

Store

Decide where you are going to store your data during the collection and analysis phase, and upon completion.

Apply for access to the R: Drive via the RDMP. Contact ITS if external collaborators require access. 

Other storage options are :
Cloudstor File transfer and storage information and login https://www.aarnet.edu.au/network-and-services/cloud-services-applications/cloudstor

Figshare  
http://figshare.com/

VicNode  
http://vicnode.org.au/

Collect

As you collect your data, ensure that you save, store and backup your data in a reusable format, for example csv rather than xlsx.
Label and organise data records using consistent file names.

Analyse

New technologies have enabled the production and analysis of vast quantities of data and new types of data. When dealing with huge amounts of data it is increasingly necessary to use computer aided tools to analyse it. These tools also provide the capability to collaborate and produce new and innovative outcomes to research areas that previously were not possible. 

For information about some of the High Performance Computing & Visualisation Technology services:
https://www.vu.edu.au/research/researcher-services-support/eresearch-support/computation

MASSIVE

The Multi-modal Australian ScienceS Imaging and Visualisation Environment (MASSIVE) is designed to be the primary Australian high performance computing facility for computational imaging and visualisation.
http://www.massive.org.au/

VizLab

The NCI VizLab is staffed by visualisation programmers with backgrounds in computer graphics and the sciences who can develop tailored software for implementing novel visualisation strategies that suit your datasets.
http://nci.org.au/systems-services/scientific-visualisation/

Discover

There are several options to make your data accessible. There are also various levels of access available such as access to metadata only or the full dataset.
Where possible make your data open by placing in a data repository.  

VU Research Repository
vuir.vu.edu.au

For disseminating larger datasets - contact The Office for Research, eResearch support.

ANDS (Australian National Data Service) Discovery  
http://www.ands.org.au/discovery/discoveryandaccess.html

You will need to create relevant metadata or descriptors to make the data discoverable- the library can assist with this.  

When data is shared with others it may need to be de-identified. 
For guidance see ANDS page on how to deal with sensitive data. (Australian National Data Service).
http://ands.org.au/guides/sensitivedata.html#c3-1

Consider providing documentation to guide researchers wishing to re-use your data.

Alternative mechanisms for publishing digital data are:  

Figshare 
http://FigShare.com/

There are several sites that can help you discover national and international repositories and archives. Use well known repositories for your discipline if possible.
https://www.datacite.org/node will help researchers to find a repository for their data, and has searchable datasets.

Australian Data Archive (Social Science, Historical, Indigenous, Longitudinal Australian surveys).
www.ada.edu.au 

Self-dissemination through dedicated team or project site/portal. (contact Office for Research, eResearch regarding national cloud resources)

For further information, contact your College Librarian

Arts linda.forbes@vu.edu.au, Business lou.connell@vu.edu.au  Education pam.abalo@vu.edu.au Engineering and Science/ Sport & Exercise Science jennifer.murphy@vu.edu.au Health & Biomedicine suzanne.poliness@vu.edu.au Law and Justicemurray.greenway@vu.edu.au.