About RIS for Students
RIS for Students (for students and supervisors)
Introduction
The purpose of this section is to provide information on a.) the mission and scope of RIS for Students, b.) the responsibilities, and c.) data storage and security, so that education directors and policy officers can make informed decisions about RIS for Students. We further provide a list of resources for supervisors and students on general research data management for students.
Mission and Scope
The purpose of RIS for Students is two-fold:
1.) For students to write a data management plan
2.) For students to internally archive data related to bachelor and master theses completed at Radboud University
Writing a Data Management Plan
RIS for Students can be used at the beginning of a student’s research project to write a data management plan (DMP). The DMP includes questions about the entire research life cycle, helping students consider all aspects of their research and encouraging them to practice good research data management. Supervisors are the ones to provide students with feedback on the DMP. The following rubric was created to help supervisors provide such feedback.
Internally archiving thesis data
RIS for Students is used at the end of a bachelor or master thesis to internally archive thesis data from Radboud University for seven years for the purpose of scientific integrity.
- RIS for Students is not to be used as a work in progress tool to store data in during the research process
- RIS for Students is not to be used to archive data from Radboud UMC
- RIS for Students is not meant for data associated with a scientific publication. In that case, the student should follow the research institute’s research data management policy when selecting an appropriate repository
RIS for Students is an internal archive, which means that the archived data are not openly published for reuse, but internally archived for the sake of scientific integrity. The following document outlines what data can be archived, with the purpose of scientific integrity in mind. Students should archive one dataset per thesis (and not separate datasets for raw data, analysis, etc.), unless it is over 5GB, in which case multiple dataset entries will need to be created. Supervisors are asked to approve the dataset before it can be deposited, and thus archived.
Roles and Responsibilities
In RIS for Students, there are two main roles: that of student and supervisor.
The student:
- writes a DMP
- creates and edits a dataset and submits it to their supervisor
The supervisor:
- approves or does not approve a dataset
- provides feedback on the DMP
Additionally, there are several roles created to support the system RIS for Students. The administrator role is held by individuals in the Radboud University Digital Competence Centre and several IT staff members, who are all Radboud University employees. Administrators have access to all data and metadata in RIS for Students – including datasets and DMPs. They need this access so that they can provide the necessary support to students and supervisors. They will only access this information if it is strictly necessary and will comply with the GDPR. Further, they are expected to maintain confidentiality while performing their duties.
It is possible for faculties to make use of the data steward role, which is to be held by a Radboud University employee. Data stewards can access the DMPs of students in their faculty as well as the metadata of datasets, however they have no access to the actual data files themselves. They only access information when applicable and will comply with the GDPR. Further, they are expected to maintain confidentiality while performing their duties.
RIS for Students acts as an archive in relation to the data and for that purpose reserves certain rights to the data. Among others, RIS for Student reserves the rights to archive the data, to give access to the data when necessary or legally required (e.g., such as with accreditations), and to delete the data after seven years in line with relevant archiving regulations. RIS for Students is only responsible for storing the data and not responsible for the content of the data - including but not limited to aspects concerning ethics and legality. The archive has the responsibility to archive data for seven years, after which the data will be deleted. If, for some reason, RIS for Students is no longer available, the university will archive the data in a different suitable environment for the seven years.
Data storage and security
As per the Radboud University Guidelines for research data management, RIS for Students is “adequate in terms of availability (the data may not inadvertently be lost), integrity (the data may not inadvertently be modified) and confidentiality (the data may not inadvertently be made available to unauthorised persons)”.
Availability and Integrity
The data are stored on two separate Radboud servers in different locations, of which one is a mirror. Once a datafile is deleted from the system, there is no guarantee that it will be possible to restore it. The archive, RIS for Students, archives the data as they are, which means that it offers no guarantee that the format in which the data is archived will be accessible in seven years.
Confidentiality
Only the student(s) who archive the data, the added supervisor(s) and a small support and IT staff are able to access the data (and the latter do so only when absolutely necessary). In addition to these individuals, sometimes a faculty assigns a data steward role to an individual who can then access the DMPs written by students in their faculty. The data steward role also allows access to the metadata of the archived datasets, but not the data files themselves.
Resources
In addition to the manuals on the website on how to use RIS for Students, you will find more resources for both supervisors and students in the links below:
Supervisors
- A presentation on an introduction to research data management, for supervisors to adapt as they see fit
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A rubric to help guide supervisors when giving feedback on DMPs