Keep calm and manage your data. Research data management education for scientists in Switzerland.

Researchers at Higher Education Institutions in Switzerland generate large amounts of data of various types in their daily work. In order to ensure their usability in the long term and to meet the requirements of investors, they depend on efficient data management, including the creation of data management plans (DMPs). The latter became particularly relevant following the announcement by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) that a DMP must be drawn up and submitted for each project application from October 2017 onwards. By managing one’s data, even if a funding body does not call for it, the research funds can be used optimally through avoidance of unnecessary duplicate work and streamlining of the work process. Additionally, proper data management is a key prerequisite for effective data sharing and publishing, which in turn increases the visibility of one’s scholarly work and thus is likely to increase citation rates. In order to support Swiss researchers, the libraries of ETH Zurich and EPF Lausanne, together with the ETH Zurich Scientific IT Services have been leading the efforts to provide consulting and training services in the field of research data management at their institutions. Together with partners of the national Data Life Cycle Management (DLCM) project (http://www.dlcm.ch), the services are constantly being expanded and adapted to the latest requirements. The offer ranges from individual consultation of individual researchers to the consultation of research groups, from short coffee lectures to full-day workshops, providing insight on data management planning and active research data management, as well as publishing and long-term preservation of research data. In addition to regular training courses and workshops, personalised lectures and events for groups are available on request