Significant National Data Collections

Maximising the impact of significant national data collections
A person with a tablet in a corridor at a data center, checking hardware on server racks
Who will benefit
Organisations managing existing research data collection

The Challenge

Australia holds a wealth of highly-quality research collections. Many of these are managed by Australian universities and national facilities funded through the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).

However it’s difficult for researchers to find and reuse these collections.

The Response

This project focuses on identifying and supporting important data collections that have not been previously supported by federal research infrastructure initiatives.

We’ve established co-investment partnerships with Australian universities and NCRIS facilities managing research data collections. Our partners are enriching their collections to a more FAIR state using 13 metadata standards from the international data citation initiative, DataCite.

Who Will Benefit

Researchers will be acknowledged and cited when their collections are reused in research.

Infrastructure providers will deliver more efficient infrastructure operations to support their researchers and institutions.

The Partners

We’re working with Australian universities and National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy facilities that manage important and valuable research data collections.

Our co-investment partners are:

  • Astronomy Australia Ltd
  • AuScope
  • Australian Plant Phenomics Facility
  • BioPlatforms Australia
  • University of New South Wales
  • The University of Queensland
  • Monash University

Target Outcomes

Significant national data collections will be described in a consistent and persistent manner using the international citation framework, DataCite. This allows researchers to easily and accurately locate their data collections in a digital research infrastructure and acknowledge other researchers’ data collections when they’re reused.

This project will establish the foundation for a coherent national definition of an important data collection, rapidly identify data collections of national significance.

Infrastructure providers will be enabled to more deeply and accurately understand the nature of the data collections their storage contains and use this business intelligence for operational efficiency gains.

Contact the ARDC

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Timeframe

March 2021 to June 2023

Current Phase

Complete

ARDC Co-investment

$3.6 million

Project lead

Max Wilkinson, ARDC Research Data Infrastructure Architect

Research Topic