People Research Data Commons: Feedback from Consultations

A report on the feedback from consultations for the ARDC’s People Research Data Commons.

This is a report on the findings of consultations held in 2022 with the Australian health research community on the ARDC’s People Research Data Commons (People RDC).

The People RDC is a new Thematic Research Data Commons, an initiative that will collaboratively develop and deliver sustainable digital research infrastructure on a national scale.

The focus of the initial consultations was on what the People RDC needs to deliver and why the challenges addressed by the People RDC would be transformative for research. The purposes of these consultations were to:

• identify the key data challenges in health and biomedical research as well as the associated priorities
• help define the value proposition of the People RDC 
• learn where initial efforts need to be focused in establishing the People RDC. 

The consultations were done in phases, with initial feedback sought from national committees that have the breadth and depth of representation across sectors and jurisdictions, including from health research, research funding bodies, national digital/research infrastructure organisations and the community.

Detailed feedback was received from the ARDC’s Health Studies Australian National Data Asset (HeSANDA) Advisory Committee and Research and Technology Advisory Committee. Recommendations and comments were also received from the Chairs of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences Data Steering Committee and the Advanced Health Research and Translation Centres National Data Driven Healthcare Committee.

Two roundtable consultations on 1 and 2 June 2022 were open to all stakeholders. There were 161 registrations for the 2 sessions. The attendees were predominantly researchers, institutional research infrastructure providers and representatives from NCRIS facilities. There were also representatives from industry, health services, government agencies, NHMRC, philanthropic research funding organisations, consumer groups and Learned Academies.

Generally, the consistent feedback from the consultations has been that the ARDC’s vision is big and the proposed challenges are difficult, but it is also important to address the identified challenges on a national scale with a focus on early wins towards this long term vision.

Contents

1. Background
2. What: Challenges and Priorities
3. Why: Impact and Value Proposition
4. Who: National Stakeholders
5. How: Implementation Factors
6. Glossary

The Next Step

The next stage of the People RDC consultation, design and development will include NCRIS facilities, data custodians and research infrastructure providers. The discussions will cover the question of how the People RDC can deliver infrastructure to address the identified challenges by building on existing capabilities, both within the ARDC and across the sector.

Learn more about the People Research Data Commons.