Data and Code Storage

As researchers we generate a range of data, this can be “output” files, excel spreadsheets, cvs files, large databases, code, PhD thesis, images and more. There is a greater drive to save and store this data for longevity and open access. We are looking to our universities to provide the structures for storing, curating and securing this data. We have multiple needs. Data storage for active research projects that is bing actively changed day to day. As well as data storage for archival purposes for completed projects, and as data associated with published papers as electronic supplementary information. At VUW/THW we don’t yet have an institutional Research Data Management policy. We do however have a range of resources for researchers, some are given below.

As VUW /THW academic or student what are your data options?

For completed projects there is:

Research data: figshare where VUW has an institutional instance here

PhD thesis: handled by the library look here for instructions on how to deposit your thesis

Code: for a frozen archive record of the code that goes alongside a thesis (or other publication) include a *.zip supplementary file with your PhD submission.

For active research there is:

Research data: SOLAR (storage for learning and research), you will need to request this from “Digital Solutions” here

PhD thesis: use one drive (this is NOT a reliable backup resource, make sure you keep a copy elsewhere)

Code: use external providers to share code that will be maintained and updated. Each research group is best placed to decide which online repository they want to use (GitLab, GitHub, bitbucket, or just bundled releases on a webpage). The group will also determine who is in charge of maintaining the code and when it needs to be deprecated.

You can find more information from the library here

Images generated by asking ChatGPT to generate text which was input into Bing.