In recent years, more attention is put on what researchers do with the data (and other resources) they produce. Especially in Europe, but also everywhere else. The main idea is that when researchers use taxpayers' money, the taxpayers themselves should also have access to the results, free of charge. This means that the research should be published in open access journals and data should be made publicly available.

Good data management may help you with that, at least to make the process easier on the whole. If you think “how to manage your data” at the beginning and during the project and know what you plan to do with it at the end of the project, the process at the end will be easier. However, what is “good data management”, is up to debate. The FAIR Principles concentrates on making your data findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable, so this is a good start. And let’s be honest, some of these things you are probably already doing.

In this course, we will be going over all the FAIR Principles and how they are applied in real life. This way, you will already know what to consider, while writing a grant, filling out your data management plan or doing your research.