Research Data Management in the Biomedical Sciences at KU Leuven: what is the role of the Biomedical Library?

The benefits of Research Data Management (RDM) to a modern academic institution have been well established. In 2014, the KU Leuven approved a policy highlighting the importance of RDM, and determining the responsibilities of both university and researchers. In support of this policy, a RDM work group and support team was gathered, mainly consisting of staff members of KU Leuven libraries and working closly together with members from the Research Coordination Office, the Research and Development Office, the ICT services, and the legal department of KU Leuven. Based on a tool developed by the British Digital Curation Centre, they built a web-based planning tool for Data Management Plans (DMP), adjusted to KU Leuven context and needs. The tool is now available to all KU Leuven researchers, and provides different templates meeting the various demands of specific funders such as Horizon 2020. The accompanying website offers extensive guidance, and is based on the project life cycle model. It is divided into three main clusters, each one containing specific information about RDM in the preparation phase, in the execution phase, and in the final stages of a research project. Since early 2017, RDM workshops on how to write a DMP have been organized for all PhD students. Sessions for senior researchers focus on the publication of data and on specific RDM demands by funders. In cooperation with the Research Coordination Office, the KU Leuven Libraries distributed a survey to outline and assess current RDM practices and (future) needs of the research departments at KU Leuven. The survey was conducted with the purpose of mapping regional RDM practices in Flemish research institutes first. In 2018, the survey will be continued, but will focus more extensively on the researcher, so that RDM support can be tailored to individual researchers’ needs. Gathering from the required feedback on sessions for PhD students, RDM needs are currently situated on three levels: policy (guidelines, legislation), education (training), and infrastructure (payable data storage). This presentation will provide a clear overview of the development of an RDM strategy at KU Leuven, as well as its current status. Then, it will discuss the RDM needs in the Biomedical Sciences Group, as well as those of a few individual researchers. It is clear that within the Biomedical Sciences, RDM needs vary significantly among researchers, and that RDM comes with particular challenges, such as large image files, delicate forensic data, sensitive patient information, etc. Despite claims that libraries have lost their significance in the digital age, the Biomedical Library – as this presentation demonstrates – has proven to be a key player in the entire RDM process at KU Leuven.status: accepte