livMatS and Research Data Management

livMatS develops novel, bio-inspired materials systems that adapt autonomously to their environment and harvest clean energy from it. To sustainably reach this aim, we must make research data findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR). Science and society as a whole profit from reduced redundancies, reduced costs, and new possibilities for discovery enabled by FAIR data. But where are the direct benefits of FAIR research data management?

How FAIR RDM benefits you:

• Assures quality and reproducibility of your work
• Promotes visibility of your scientific contributions
• Facilitates collaborative research by making data more findable (if not for others, then at least for your future self)

RDM support from livMatS

To assist with making data FAIR, the livMatS research data management (RDM) concept builds upon the three RDM pillars of advocacy, support, and technical infrastructure:

• We offer workshops, talks, and direct exchange to increase awareness and RDM best practices (advocacy)
• We help affiliates with data management-related questions, in particular in creating solid data management plans (support).
• On the technical level, this means the identification of suitable interoperable RDM services, platforms and tools. In addition, livMatS offers assistance in using the data archive and publication service of the University od Freiburg FreiData based on bwSFS, the Baden-Württemberg- and DFG-funded S3 object Storage for Science or any other service. Also customized services can be set up to serve specific needs of the livMatS members (infrastructure).

To uphold these three pillars lies in the responsibility of the livMatS Data Steward.

livMatS RDM policy

The livMatS RDM policy (10.6094/UNIFR/235687) constitutes the foundation of this concept (direct link). The policy is friendly and open enough not to coerce any affiliated project into the use of particular services. It does however define a minimum set of binding data management principles that livMatS and all affiliated researchers shall adhere to, and distributes responsibilities clearly among you, livMatS and university-central or third-party services.

Other resources

livMatS-specific

• livMatS data management plan templates
• livmats-data, the livMatS-wide data repository (currently out of service)
• livmats-data portal, the registration portal (currently out of service)

University of Freiburg platforms and services

• FreiData, the University of Freiburg's institutional data repository and publication platform
• FreiDok plus, the University of Freiburg's institutional general-purpose publication platform
• CDF, the University of Freiburg's Central Data Facility, the central RDM consulting service with many information about services and assistance

Others

• RDMkit, the ELIXIR Research Data Management Kit, a general-purpose information portal on RDM in the life sciences
• forschungsdaten.info, a general-purpose German language information portal on the RDM landscape in German-speaking countries
• R4E, Reproducibility for Everyone, a community-led initiative offering reproducibility-related educational resources under permissive licenses
• re3data registry for research data repositories, a kind of search engine for area specific or general research data repositories, which may help to increase visibility of research data publication within a specific research community

Further reading

• RDM Best Practices & livMatS state of the art (2023-03-02, PDF)
• Policy zum Umgang mit Forschungsdaten an der Universität Freiburg (German). doi: 10.6094/UNIFR/231612
• Open-Science-Policy der Universität Freiburg (German). doi: 10.6094/UNIFR/245816
• J. Hörmann, “livMatS Research Data Management Concept with a focus on the didactic use of dtool,” presented at the Data Stewardship Workshop 2022, Braunschweig, October 13th, 2022. doi: 10.24355/dbbs.084-202211091503-0.

Contact

Dr. Marco Caliaro
Data Steward and IT Management
Phone: +49 761 203 95363
Email: data@livmats.uni-freiburg.de