Introduction to Data Management Plans for Researchers

Data management is an overlooked yet important research skill, especially since nearly all major federal funding agencies in the United States require researchers to include a data management plan along with their grant application. If you’re preparing a data management plan, looking for ways to improve an existing data management plan, or want to learn more about data management plans, this workshop is for you. Postdoctoral researcher, Sheila Saia, will lead workshop attendees through the basics of data management plans including: what they are, why they’re important, and their major components. Attendees will also gain hands-on experience in building a data management plan for their own research using the DMPTool (https://dmptool.org/). At the end of the workshop, attendees will learn about general data management best practices that may help them take additional steps to more efficient and more reproducible research.

Speaker Biography: Sheila Saia is a postdoctoral researcher in NC State University’s Department of Biology and Agricultural Engineering and a member of the Biosystems Analytics Lab. Her current research uses data analytics (i.e., data wrangling, statistical and physically-based modeling, and data visualizing) to predict and minimize human impacts on water resources at regional and national scales. She's broadly interested in research questions exploring the relationships between humans, climate, and water resources (water quantity and water quality).