User-Driven Development of a Pilot Data Management Infrastructure for Biomedical Researchers

Page 1 of 3 User-Driven Development of a Pilot Data Management Infrastructure for Biomedical Researchers Meik Poschen, Mhorag Goff, Rob Procter, Peter Halfpenny, Lorraine Beard, Jon Besson, Simon Collins, June Finch, Tom Grahame, Mary McDerby 1 Manchester eResearch Centre (MeRC), University of Manchester 2 The John Rylands University Library (JRUL), University of Manchester 3 Research Computing Services (RCS), University of Manchester Introduction Meeting the challenges of curating digital research data is becoming ever more important in the face of the “remarkable growth of data-intensive research in all knowledge domains” (Blue Ribbon Task Force report, 2010, p.3). These challenges reflect the need to address the whole data lifecycle, from the creation of source data to the end point of publication, the complexities of dealing with a multitude of data types and formats, and the importance of ensuring that solutions (both technical and non-technical) are capable of being embedded in diverse disciplines, working practices and research processes. According to the UK JISC-funded Digital Curation Centre (DCC), data curation means supporting data capture, management and dissemination along the data lifecycle by adding value (metadata, crossreferences), enabling preservation (secure long-term storage and backup) and sharing via trusted archives and repositories, thereby reducing the effort researchers have to put into these processes.