Data Management Center of Excellence

The objectives of the Data Management Center of Excellence (DMCOE) are to collect and assess Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) and data management and sharing (DMS) best practice resources, transfer this knowledge to stakeholders inside and outside NIH, and coordinate these activities with other related NIH efforts. The project is comprised of the following main tasks:

• Build a robust list of data repositories and knowledgebases where researchers can share data and find reusable data: This includes developing a catalog of NIH-funded data repositories and knowledgebases using a reproducible methodology that can be regularly replicated to provide a robust catalog. It also includes characterizing the repository landscape with respect to types of data supported, disciplines represented, and alignment with desired characteristics for repositories
• Evaluate and increase awareness of FAIR data management and sharing best practices in the NIH-supported research community: This includes surveys and other community engagement to assess familiarity with FAIR and identify potential gaps in awareness and resources and developing learning resources in partnership with subject matter experts and appropriate organizations.
• Organize events to raise FAIR data management and sharing best practices awareness and adoption: Host events with expert community partners to leverage existing expertise in facilitating workshops and seminars that enhance participants’ FAIR data management and sharing best practices implementation skills. This includes the monthly NIH Data Sharing and Reuse Seminar Series highlighting the work of NIH-funded researchers building new knowledge through innovative data sharing and reuse.

These activities directly support goal 1 of the NIH Strategic Plan for Data Science to improve Capabilities to Sustain the NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing.

The resources listed below are some of the publicly available outputs from activities of the DMCOE and its partners. Check back regularly for new events and resources.

Related Resources

FAIR Awareness and Implementation Learning Materials

The following videos and learning guides are intended for beginner to intermediate audiences and provide engaging guidance on FAIR principles and best practices. They are designed in a modular fashion to facilitate reuse.

Videos

• Jointly Developing an Approach to FAIRness
• Good Data Stewardship
• Leveraging Publicly Accessible Data
• Why Metadata Matters
• Building FAIR Research Software

Learning Guides

• Workbook of Metadata Fundamentals

Seminars and Workshops

Event announcements, post-event materials, and event recordings where available can be found by visiting each link.

NIH Data Sharing and Reuse Seminar Series: The monthly public seminar series highlights researchers who have taken existing data and found clever ways to reuse the data or generate new findings. A different hosting NIH institute or center (IC) also shares its data science activities.

Data Curation Network Partnership Workshops: The DMCOE has partnered with the Data Curation Network to offer several workshops for the institutional repository community and others to help build capacity for implementing best practices for curating and sharing FAIR scientific data across the institutional repository landscape and beyond.

“Getting Practical with the FAIR Principles” Event Series: This workshop series in partnership with the GO FAIR Foundation and GO FAIR U.S. provides an opportunity to learn about the theoretical and practical foundations of the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) Principles and how they can enhance the discovery, utility and attribution of biomedical research data. These events support those who seek to learn how FAIR works in practice, the skills needed to implement FAIR, and how to make FAIR a more routine aspect of their data management strategy.