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Research data management explained

Research data lifecycle

Research data has a longer lifespan than the project. You will need to plan for how you will manage data after the project has finished, as well as before and during.

You should think about how you will create, organise, preserve, share and reuse data. We call this process the research data lifecycle.

The UK Data Archive has created an excellent Research data lifecycle that you may find useful.

Understanding your research data lifecycle will help you to:

  • plan effectively
  • be aware of existing data and how your data adds to it
  • think carefully about how your data will be gathered and processed
  • decide when and where to deposit your data for reuse.