Guidelines for DFG Proposals

Please contact the University of Rostock's Research Data Team as early as possible in the proposal process: forschungsdatenuni-rostockde.

Research data management (FDM) should be integrated into project planning and proposal submission. Statements about handling research data are mandatory in proposals for individual and collaborative projects. The handling of research data is taken into account in the evaluation and assessment of the research project.

This applies not only to digital research data, but also to statements about physical research objects, materials, substances, or tissues. Always refer to the University of Rostock's Research Data Policy and relate to the FAIR principles.

Regarding your previous activities, you can provide information about additional services to science, such as the establishment of a scientific infrastructure, and a variety of publication formats, such as datasets and software packages, in the new curriculum vitae template (obligatory since 01.03.2023).

Please note the DFG's guidelines:

• Guidelines for securing good scientific practice (2019), guidelines 11-13, 17
• Guidelines for handling research data (2015)
• Checklist for handling research data (12/2021)
• Website on handling research data at the DFG
• Guide for proposal submission (Sachbeihilfe, Emmy-Noether-Programm, Research Group, Clinical Research Group, Focus), (Nr. 54.01 - 09/2022), point 2.4 

In individual projects, many proposals provide ½ - 1 ½ pages for research data management, 1-2 sentences per topic are sufficient:

• Description of the project - project proposal (Nr. 53.01 elan - 09/22)

This does not necessarily have to be done in section 2.4 of the proposal (for individual projects), but can already be done elsewhere in the proposal, for example, under section 2.3 in the description of the planned procedure. You can then simply refer to the relevant section in the data part for completeness.

Help with creating a data management plan and examples of model plans can be found on the page Working with a Data Management Plan.

There are sometimes very specific, extensive discipline-specific requirements that are not well referenced in the general proposal forms.

Recommendations are available for the following areas:

• Humanities and Social Sciences: Psychology; Education and Educational Science, Subject Didactics; Social Sciences; Ancient Cultures; Social and Cultural Anthropology, Non-European Cultures, Judaism, Religious Studies; Economics; Linguistics; Scientific Editions
• Life Sciences: Biodiversity Research; Medicine and Biomedicine
• Engineering Sciences: Materials Science and Materials Technology
• Natural Sciences: Chemistry, see also Life Sciences for Biology.

The DFG's Checklist for Discipline-Specific FDM in DFG Proposals provides an overview of the requirements and recommendations.

A data management plan should be created and maintained during the planning/ proposal phase and continued during the project phase. The RDMO-Questionnaire can help with this. Please explicitly state in the proposal that a data management plan has been created and maintained.

In addition, there are recommendations for handling research software in the DFG's funding practice.

Attention when dealing with digitalization projects: very detailed information about metadata, formats, access, archiving, presentation, etc. is necessary. Please contact the Research Data Team (forschungsdatenuni-rostockde) for this. Some documents that should be taken into account:

• Funding program "Digitalization and Indexing"
• Forms and guidelines
• Guidelines for proposal submission in the funding program "Digitalization and Indexing" (02/2023)
• Handbook and additional guide. Digitalization and Indexing (Nr. 12.15 - 09/2021)
• DFG Practice Rules "Digitalization". Updated version 2022 (02/2023)
• Handbook for the digitalization of archival sources (2019)
• Handbooks for the digitalization and exploitation of medieval manuscripts
• Handbooks for the digitalization of historical newspapers (2019)

NFDI If necessary, contact the NDFI consortia. The National Research Data Infrastructure is a large initiative of the federal government and the states to develop and establish (mostly discipline-specific) services and best practices in data management.

In the proposal, the following topics should generally be covered:

1. Data description: The type, scope, documentation, planned storage, and long-term reuse of the data should be described. Please also mention the data formats used in the individual research steps, for example, raw data, preprocessed/anonymized data, aggregated data.
2. Documentation and quality assurance: The goal should be to document the data so well that someone from the scientific community can understand the creation process and reproduce the results derived from it. To emphasize this, please refer to existing standards (metadata, ontologies, classifications) that are widely used in the community. If there is an NFDI in your field and you use a recommended standard (or service), please refer to their recommendations. This also shows that you are already familiar with the NFDI. If you use special software or your own software, please also explain how you ensure the reproducibility of the research (publishing your own software; the software used is widely used in the field, etc.). Please also briefly mention quality assurance measures beyond documentation and standards, such as double data collection or fixed calibration protocols. Finally, please take the opportunity to point out that the data description and documentation are done with a view to the FAIR criteria.
3. Storage during the research phase: Please state where the data is stored and how backup copies (backups) are created. If you use a network drive of the ITMZ, please refer to the fact that the project stores the data on server systems that are professionally maintained and secured by the ITMZ. If you collect data "in the field" (weather stations, interviews on site, videos of breeding grounds, etc.), please also briefly mention the storage of the data in the field and how the data are quickly transferred to systems with regular backups. Please also mention if special protection measures are taken, for example, a customized access rights assignment for sensitive data. If you receive support from other institutions for storage, please refer to the fact that you use their expertise. In projects with participants outside the University of Rostock, it is a good idea to also mention access possibilities for external partners and the planned data transfer. Text examples for describing data management services can be found below.
4. Legal obligations: This point is particularly important if you collect data that is subject to copyright or data protection regulations. Even if you plan to file patents or enter into industrial agreements, it would be sensible to mention the resulting obligations regarding the data. If you have unproblematic data (measurement of atoms in an optical lattice; data on the fracture toughness of an alloy; videos of giraffes with no people visible, etc.), a brief sentence, for example, "The data generated in the research program are subject to no legal or research-ethical requirements or obligations." is sufficient. If there are common requirements or established practices in the field regarding data storage, please follow these as far as possible and explicitly mention them in the proposal.
5. Data exchange and access to the data: In general, the DFG wishes that data be made available to the community as far as possible and sensible for reuse. Please state why data (are not) made available. You can mention reuse potential, great effort in collecting the data, unique character, or data protection barriers, copyright, legitimate interests of industrial partners, etc. If you do not make the data available in a long-term infrastructure (e.g., Zenodo, RatSWD-certified repositories, NFDI-recommended infrastructures, University of Rostock repository, etc.), please always mention the archiving of the data on which publications are based for at least ten years (DFG requirement) at the University of Rostock in the ITMZ archive storage. If you make data available to other researchers or publish data, please explain the access conditions (e.g., time limits until availability, access requirements).
6. Responsibilities and resources: Finally, please mention the people responsible for individual steps in data management in the project. Typical areas are the introduction of new staff members to FDM workflows, coordination between working groups, long-term storage. In smaller projects, this is often one person. Please mention this person by name if possible. Please also mention who or which department is responsible for handling the data after the funding period ends (keyword: sustainability). When storing data, you can refer to the services of the ITMZ (see also 5.). Please also mention which resources are allocated to FDM (personnel and other costs, see also next section).

Costs for data management, such as reuse fees for established infrastructure or data preparation measures for the reuse of data, can be requested project-specifically (personnel costs and software and hardware). However, a clear distinction from existing resources (especially basic equipment) must be made.

For example, the following costs can be requested:

• Costs incurred to obtain access to research data and to process and prepare the research data generated in the project so that they can be reused by others
• Costs incurred for transferring the data to a public repository 

More information can be found on the DFG's website on requestable funds. Unterstützung finden Sie auch auf der Webseite RDM costs von OpenAIRE.eu. You can also find support on the RDM costs website from OpenAIRE.eu.

General Rules and Recommendations Please contact the University of Rostock's Research Data Team as early as possible in the proposal process: forschungsdatenuni-rostockde.

Please note the DFG's documents on research data and the guidelines for NFDI consortia in the upper section Research Data Management in DFG Proposals. In addition, the DFG's GRK-specific guidelines should be reviewed:

• Guide for Sketches of Graduate Colleges and International Graduate Colleges [Nr. 1.303 - 12/22]
• Guide for proposal submission. Graduate Colleges and International Graduate Colleges (Institutional Applications), point B.3.2 (Handling of Research Data) and point B.4.1 (Study Program) [Nr. 54.05 - 12/22] 

The handling of research data should be described in the sketch and the proposal. This section includes about ½ - 1 page on the topic of research data management and the qualification concept in the field of FDM.

• Description of the project - Outline proposals for graduate colleges and international graduate colleges Section 2 “Research program” and Section 3 “Qualification concept” [Nr. 53.60 elan - 08/22]. 

In the proposal, up to 2 pages, including a section on research data management in the qualification concept, are expected:

• Description of the project - Application outlines for graduate colleges and international graduate colleges, Section 3 “Research Program” and Section 4 “Qualification Concept” [No. 53.61 elan - 08/22].

Please note the section "Central points in the DFG proposal" in Research Data Management in DFG Proposals in the upper section. In addition, theDFG's discipline-specific recommendations should be addressed.

For GRK proposals, the following points regarding research data management are added:

• Joint concept development for research data management within the college
• Development of methods in the field of research data
• Establishment and expansion of data infrastructures: connectivity to existing structures, considerations for sustainability
• How do the participating institutions in the consortium support data and information management?
• In the qualification concept, training sessions on collecting, securing, preparing, and sustainably providing research data should be planned. Which contact persons within the University of Rostock and which external lecturers will be included in the training concept? Possible topics, see below. The University of Rostock's Research Data Team (forschungsdatenuni-rostockde) will support you with this. Topics for FDM training sessions within the GRK The transfer of core competences in research data management to PhD students is becoming increasingly important and should be considered in a GRK proposal.

Teaching doctoral students core competencies in research data management is becoming increasingly important and should be considered in a GRK application.

There are 10 central topics that cover both basic and discipline-specific topics and project-specific aspects:

1. (Digital) Research data and data management F
2. ramework conditions (policies and requirements at local, national, and international levels)
3. Data management plans
4. Order and structure
5. Storage and backup, as well as access security
6. Documentation and metadata
7. Long-term storage/archiving
8. Publication of data
9. Legal aspects
10. Special infrastructure/software tools on site 

For an introductory training that covers all topics at a basic level, you can refer to the offer of the University of Rostock's Research Data Team (forschungsdatenuni-rostockde).

“The qualification concept includes workshops on submitting funding applications, research data management, and handling sensitive data. Where sensible, the internal offers of the University of Rostock's Library will be supplemented by external expertise, for example, through workshops by XYZ.”

"Building on the basic seminars, the topic of research data management in the graduate college will be deepened in a discipline-specific and method-specific way, with a focus on [e.g., social media data, copyright, data protection, Wikidata, DMPs in the humanities, literature management, etc.]. For this, both the offers of XXX and external lecturers will be used."