SPEaR Bulletin Items

Sharing research data - April 2004

A one-day seminar on sharing data, hosted last December by the Health Research Council (HRC), was supported by the SPEaR Linkages Programme.

HRC Chief Executive Dr Bruce Scoggins said the HRC held the seminar because it was important to start looking at how to ensure data collections arising from public sector investment “are accessible, affordable and generate the maximum possible benefit to New Zealand”.

But he said that, while everyone at the conference recognised the advantages to New Zealand from implementing a policy on data sharing, “they were less clear on how to proceed from here”.

Peter Davis, professor of public health at the Christchurch School of Medicine and the driving force behind the seminar, says information and communications technologies are transforming the management of research data, including its storage, access, analysis and distribution.

“It’s important that the New Zealand science and science policy communities are brought up to date with this major international trend. For example, we need to discuss the implications for policy and practice of following the OECD principle that publicly funded research data should be openly available to the maximum extent possible.”

Peter said contributions to the seminar by speakers from the UK and Australia were “representative of an international science momentum that, till now, New Zealand has had little part in”.

While some initiatives were under way, such as Statistics New Zealand’s proposed Official Statistics Research and Data Archive and SPEaR’s advocacy for an on-line data-sharing portal, “the abiding impression [from New Zealand speakers] was more of a potential unfulfilled”.

Bruce noted that in January this year, the OECD adopted the Declaration on Access to Research Data from Public Funding.

“The declaration provides a robust rationale for data sharing and a set of commonly agreed principles to facilitate optimal cost-effective access to digital research data from public funding. The development of a set of guidelines is on the agenda.” (see www.oecd.org)

He said the HRC looked forward to working with the other key stakeholders and to engaging in the New Zealand contribution to the OECD initiative.

“The event raised the issue of how New Zealand can retain its standing internationally when big science developments can gain a momentum that could easily pass us by”.

Peter said the positives for data saving and sharing included cost effectiveness, transparency, scientific asset management, and maximising the potential of new technology. However, the overseas experience showed there were also some “snags and snares”. “These include the importance of funding agencies taking their scientific communities with them, and the importance of encouraging informed public debate to cover the issues of law and ethics and privacy issues.”

Peter said digital archiving applied as much to qualitative as to quantitative data. “Protecting data applies not just to matters of research interest but right across the cultural spectrum, and qualitative data are likely to outweigh quantitative and more traditional scientific items in this respect.”

He said the HRC’s hosting of the workshop was a positive move. “I am looking forward to the Health Research Council continuing to lead the science sector by example in this area of saving and sharing research data; there are few other agencies able to match the HRC for its expertise and track record in funding and nourishing high-quality research of national importance, and this is a natural extension of that role.”

Data saving and sharing update - July 2005

A workshop to advance leadership and cross-sector impetus on data saving and sharing in social and environmental science provided the more than 40 people who attended with an update on latest international and national developments.

The 15 June workshop, organised by the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology (MoRST), considered the array of current initiatives and provided an opportunity for discussion about the way forward in the respective sectors.

Presentations on major initiatives across government brought participants up to speed with the technical infrastructure and content management “state of play”. This was in the context of a discussion paper produced by MoRST on international approaches to publicly funded research data policy.

“There was value in bringing together social and environmental people involved in this arena to encourage ‘joining the dots’ and new leadership,” said workshop convenor Eric Pyle from MoRST.

SPEaR’s Paul Honeybone, who facilitated the social discussion stream, said consolidating a strategic approach for enhanced social research data saving and sharing was a priority across the social science sector.

“There are some unique challenges for improving data availability and use as access due to new technologies creates new opportunities,” Paul said. SPEaR would be working with lead agencies to continue to advance the social stream and has a working party to provide impetus and oversight.

Keeping pace with e-research - December 2005

New Zealand is keeping pace with the rapid international developments in building virtual research communities in the social sciences.

Professors David Thorns and Paul Spoonley presented a paper at the first international e-social science conference, held in Manchester, England in June 2005, on New Zealand’s development of access grids for the BRCSS Network (Building Research Capability in Social Sciences).

The new technology will allow BRCSS to create a national network linking all the BRCSS partners, providing high-speed access to multiple sites at once. “It allows for ‘many to many’ teleconferencing, compared with the older ‘one-to-one’ teleconferencing,” David said. “It is embracing new technologies to strengthen the way the network can work.” He said there was similar rapid progress internationally, with 60 sites now in universities in the United Kingdom, and up to 200 planned or running globally. “Access grids were first used in 1999 in the United States, so the growth has taken place in a short period of time.”

David said the conference provided valuable insights into how the technology was used elsewhere, thus showing how to maximise its use in New Zealand. “There were three main strands to the conference. The first was about the technological innovations that support collaborative research, such as access grids, sharing and transfer of files and data, and interactive online activity. For example, how a group working collectively on the same project can see each other and work together in real time.”

The second stream related to how new technologies shaped the way people carried out the practice of social research. “This is about the practice of working together in virtual research communities and networks across the country – how does that change how you do the research? Developments include online researching and web-based design, new ways of sharing and using existing data sets, and collaborative online working.  Such changes will also require new strategies for data storing and retrieval.”

The third stream related to ethical and access issues. “The issues arising from e-social science research include, for example, issues such as how to make data anonymous, and how to protect people’s privacy.”

David said the conference host, the National Centre for e-Social Science, was a leader in e-social science research. The conference provided the opportunity to make valuable links with the centre. “It was certainly useful. We need to stay globally connected and be aware of developments in other places.”