“DMPs play a huge role in keeping all types of research organized”: Reflections from Research Data Management (RDM) Assistant Shrey Acharya

The Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship is home to several undergraduate students working on an array of different projects. Research Data Management (RDM) Assistant Shrey Acharya discusses his experiences working with Danica Evering and Isaac Pratt (RDM Specialists) on McMaster’s new Data Management Plan (DMP) Database initiative.  

Shrey Acharya is a fourth-year student in the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) Program at McMaster University, and a Research Data Management (RDM) Assistant at the Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship. This past year, he has been supporting Danica Evering and Isaac Pratt (RDM Specialists) on McMaster’s new Data Management Plan (DMP) Database initiative, collecting, extracting, and formatting DMPs to build an open-access Database.  

“Coming into this role new to the RDM world, there was a lot that I had to learn,” said Acharya.  “Throughout working on the RDM project, we have been able to learn how researchers in various fields from humanities to ecology use DMPs and RDM methods to improve their research process.”  

A Data Management Plan (DMP) describes how you will manage, store, secure, document, and share research data. Acharya was particularly surprised to learn that despite varying research methods and techniques employed by these researchers differed drastically, DMPs still played a huge role in keeping all types of research organized.

Through the Data Management Plan (DMP) Database initiative, RDM Services developed the DMP Assistant, a free web tool that guides you through drafting your DMP.  

The database that Acharya developed was the collective work of a collaborative project team including Sarthak Behal (RDM Assistant 2022-23), Danica Evering and Isaac Pratt (RDM Specialists) and Debbie Lawlor (Developer). The team gathered DMPs across the world into one searchable, open-access platform. This includes examples from the Digital Research Alliance of Canada, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Qualitative DMP Competition, DataOne, Digital Curation Centre, Liber, the Working Group on NIH DMSP Guidance, and UC San Diego Research Data Curation.

“I am most excited to see how researchers continue to incorporate and develop DMPs for their research projects as funding agencies continue to require such documents in their grant applications,” says Acharya. “It is my hope that the work that we are doing here will serve as an open-access collaborative platform that all can access and contribute towards increasing transparency and improve the state of research at McMaster and abroad.”  

RDM Services’ new DMP Database brings together more than 180 plans and related resources from around the world into a central open-access online platform. It is intended to remove the uncertainty in creating a data management plan and help researchers meet related funding requirements. Explore DMPs by field, location, funder, and more: https://rdm.mcmaster.ca/dmps  

Project Team: Shrey Acharya (RDM Assistant – 2023), Sarthak Behal (RDM Assistant 2022-23), Danica Evering and Isaac Pratt (RDM Specialists), Debbie Lawlor (Developer).