Making research data count

Research Data is considered a valuable asset by Researchers and their Institutions alike. Yet, as institutions and infrastructures we do not report on data volume and other characteristics about our data holdings which begs further consideration about its value and the culture we have around managing research data. Working with Research Data Culture Conversation (RDCC) colleagues from Australia, in preparation for eResearch NZ 2023 we started asking a series of apparently simple questions to the Aotearoa New Zealand research data community.

This work has produced the first ‘Macro View’ of Research Data as at December 2022. Giving us both a number, 45 PB (Petabytes) - an estimate of the total research data holdings in Aotearoa New Zealand, and a series of observations, such as how difficult this exercise was or of how the measurement and valuing of research data is mostly absent. We report that less than 0.1 % of our data volume is openly discoverable.

This BoF aims to bring the community of data holders together. Specifically, we anticipate working with the community to define what it is about these data that we might want to know and report on together. Questions to be raised include:

• Should we repeat the Macro view?
• Who needs to know what research data New Zealand Institutes hold and is this more than a storage conversation?
• As a community - what does an end goal look like?

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Bio Ai-Lin Soo has a background in Commerce, with a focus on sustainability and BioMedical Science and has been with the Monash eResearch Centre (www.monash.edu/researchinfrastructure/eresearch). Ai-Lin is involved in a number of cross cutting initiatives within the Centre, applying her project management skills to a diverse range of projects from marketing and communications to research data management. Ai-Lin is also heavily involved in the Research Data Culture Conversation (www.researchdataculture.org) and manages the Monash University response to the ARDC Data Retention and Institutional Underpinnings programmes.

Claire Rye is a Product Manager at New Zealand eScience Infrastructure (NeSI) based out of the University of Auckland. She is responsible for the National Data Transfer Service and works across the Aotearoa Genomics Data Repository and Rakeiora Pathfinder projects and looking at research data management and data lifecycle more generally across NeSI. Claire holds a PhD in organic chemistry and has spent the last 11 years working in the UK in a variety of research settings.

Nick Jones is NeSI’s founding Director, having established and led NeSI alongside a team of colleagues and peers since inception in mid-2011. Nick is responsible for NeSI’s partnerships, strategic directions and performance, bringing together a talented and diverse array of people, and their institutions and interests. Nick is a founding member of the Aotearoa New Zealand Committee on Data in Research, and developed the eResearch Ecosystem Map to establish a common framework for eResearch capability and investment nationally and institutionally.

Rhys Francis has contributed to Australian eResearch through many activities including developing the initial investment plan in eResearch for the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy; proposing the eResearch investments in the scale up created by the Super Science Initiative and serving as the Executive Director of the Australian eResearch Infrastructure Council for seven years. Since retiring he has developed a revised eResearch Framework for government, assisted the University of Melbourne develop its Petascale Campus Initiative and facilitated the Research Data Culture Conversation (www.researchdataculture.org). Today Rhys continues to contribute to the development of national digital research infrastructures as the Associate Director, Strategy and Partnerships, for the Australian BioCommons (www.biocommons.org.au).

Luc Betbeder-Matibet is a nationally recognised subject matter expert in eResearch, University Research Data Management and shared computational infrastructure services for researchers. He has held director-level roles for 15 years in ICT and eResearch. Luc is the Director Research Technology Services at UNSW, a shared services function that he established which is responsible Research Computing and Research Data. He is an Adjunct in UNSW Faculty of Medicine Centre for Big Data and has been a Visiting Scientist with the Visual Analytics Team in CSIRO Data61. Recently Luc has been working with colleagues to count how much Research Data there actually is in Australia.

For more information about eResearch NZ / eRangahau Aotearoa, visit:
https://eresearchnz.co.nz/