Data Management Support

We support the UKERC Researcher Community to perform data management planning. The approach is As open as possible, as closed as necessary.

Guidance Documents

Our advice and recommendations for data depositors is available from Guidance for Data Providers

Brief guides

We have produced a series of A4 guides on a variety of Data Management topics:

Available guides

Guide 1	Guide 2	Guide 3	Guide 4
Data Management Checklist	Submitting data to the EDC	Data behind a publication	Research software: citation and credit

Submitting data or recommendations for metadata only records

We welcome deposits of data or recommendations for datasets we should link to. A form is available: Submit dataset for curation or you can email us: Email EDC Team about data management

FAIR Data

FAIR Data complies with the principles that Data should be:

• Findable: that others who wish to use it are able to discover that it exists and that it can be uniquely identified
• Accessible: that how the data can be located is clear, this may be openly avaiable or after checks or payment depending on the data
• Interoperable: by using standard file formats and metadata, so that datasets can be understood and combined
• Reusable: so that enough of the context & data description is available that others who did not create the data can use it in a meaningful way. This includes license information

both by humans and machines.

Depositing in a Data Centre, such as the EDC, Data becomes more FAIR.

More information on FAIR Data Principles

By SangyaPundir CC BY-SA 4.0

Choosing a Data Centre

We recommend that all data of use to others, or that which underpins a publication is deposited in a respository where the domain researchers will expect to find it. The EDC aims to hold non-senstive data from the Energy research sector. For data which is best in another repository, such as Energy research using social science methods, the EDC will hold a metadata only record for it. We are happy to discuss this with our community, so please get in touch.

Is FAIR Data always Open Data?

Data which complies with the FAIR principles need not be Open Data. Open Data expects that there are no access restrictions and can be reused without additional consent from the original creator.

Depending on the type of data collected and any potential restrictions, such as studies relating to people or intellectual property issues, then it may not be appropriate to be Open but could be FAIR.

The EDC holds both FAIR and Open Data. The creator/depositor is responsible for deciding what is appropriate for their data.