Work package 2: Research data management

This work package ensures the project-internal research data management as well as data publication and thus external impact generation for KResCo. An essential part of the project is the collection and evaluation of external data. This takes place in work packages 3 - 7 to answer the respective research questions. Data can be, for example, quantitative data, such as numbers on corona infections, but also qualitative data, such as legal texts. In addition, research data such as interviews, coded political decisions or quantitative survey values are collected in the individual work packages. In order to ensure a high, consistent quality of the research results derived from this data and to make it easier for the participating scientists to use the data, it is necessary to establish extensive research data management within the project.

With its “Guidelines for Handling Research Data”, the German Research Foundation (DFG) has created a normative framework for the acquisition, processing and archiving of data in scientific research. This already requires a forward-looking concept for handling the data during the project planning and application process. In addition, a generally available provision of data and raw data for researchers from other disciplines is required.

In its research framework program Horizon 2020, the European Commission also calls for the planning of research data management and the publication of the data in accordance with the FAIR principles. These requirements will be expanded further in the new Horizon Europe research framework program.

With the availability of cost-effective systems for processing and storing large-volume data and the spreading Open Data Policy, the DFG guidelines have gained a new meaning: The machine-readable availability of research data and the assurance of data quality have become an essential part of research marketing and, with the open- Data Act has even become law. The relevance of a project and its effectiveness, especially in social science, depends crucially on the research data management and the provision of the findings in machine-readable formats.

At the beginning of work package 2, a standardized survey is carried out for the other work packages in order to obtain an overview of which data is being collected and evaluated within the project. This ist he starting point for the research data management.

Various legal aspects, such as compliance with the GDPR, play a role in research data management. The researchers are supported with templates for the declaration of consent, data protection notices, data transfer agreements and an agreement on data sharing.

A central point of research data management is the storage of the data, which is centrally regulated in the project. At the same time, the documentation of the data begins with collection of metadata about the dataset, research domain and methods. In accordance with the requirements of the DFG guidelines and the Scientific Data Policy, all data for which there is no obstacle  (copyrights, data protection) are made available in machine-readable form via suitable channels.

Finally, it must be ensured that all research data are archived for at least 10 years in accordance with the regulations of good scientific practice.

In addition, the project strives for the standardized use of different research methods. For this purpose, work takes place in the “research domains” identified in the project. The main task of the domain responsibles is to maintain and consolidate a method list centrally in the project. Furthermore, a data curation profile for file formats and metadata per method and phase is to be created for each domain, and templates are to be made available as an option.

This work package is managed by the Fraunhofer IRB.

The basic mission of the Fraunhofer Information Center for Planning and Building (Fraunhofer IRB for short) is to guide its customers effectively and efficiently to the information they need.

The institute has decades of experience in the field of knowledge transfer for building information. The competencies gained in this area have also been offered to other Fraunhofer institutes for many years. The Fraunhofer IRB has established itself as a “knowledge service provider” within the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.

On the one hand, users from the entire construction and planning sector are addressed as customers. The careful, reliable, neutral and objective processing and transfer of information has top priority at the Fraunhofer IRB. In connection with the technical and content-related quality, they are the reason for the institute's unique selling point.

On the other hand, there are all Fraunhofer institutes and their scientists who act as customers and authors of research and publication management services.

Fraunhofer IRB is supported in the work package by Fraunhofer IAO, Fraunhofer ISI and Fraunhofer INT.

Work package 2 forms the basis for the methodical approach for almost all other work packages within the project, so that there is close cooperation with all other work packages. Particularly the work within the domains requires a networked collaboration. 

Research data used and collected in the project are managed by a data governance along a 9-stage research process in order to ensure high quality and interoperability of data. So the reseachers benefit from easy and good usability and handling of the data. As far as possible, the data will be published after the end of the project, including extensive documentation in accordance with the FAIR principles.

The results from work package 2 “Research Data Management” are used on the one hand for scientific publications. Furthermore, the results are used for the further development of central research data management services for the institutes. They are also used to acquire new projects.