Data management planning

A data management plan (DMP) describes the data you will collect during your research and how it will be managed, both during and after the project.

Creating a DMP at the start of your research will help you organise your data, keeping it safe and ensuring access to those who need it. It can also highlight data management issues that may arise over the course of the project.

To write your DMP, it is recommended that you use DMPonline Sheffield, a resource containing funder and University templates, detailed guidance to help you, and the option to request feedback on your plan from the Library team.

DMPs are required by most research funders and recommended as part of the University’s Research Data Management Policy.

All postgraduate research students starting in the academic year 2019/2020 onwards are required to submit a DMP as part of their confirmation review and maintain this plan over the course of their research.

It is also recommended that DMPs are included in any ethics applications to help reviewers understand what steps are being taken to protect sensitive research data, for more information about this please see the UREC guidance.

Templates, examples and further resources

The Library has created a practical guide to using DMPonline and specific guidance to support supervisors, as well as a short video introduction to DMPonline.

The Digital Curation Centre also provides a detailed guide to creating DMPs and examples of completed plans.

For guidance on data management planning for masters projects, please see Research data management for postgraduate taught masters students

For further information, please contact rdm@sheffield.ac.uk