Sowing Seeds: A case study of training interventions to support new RDM requirements in environmental and agricultural research at the University of Guelph.

The Food from Thought program is funded in part for a 7-year term from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF), a Tri-Agency initiative. In 2018, these two programs established new funding requirements, requiring a data management plan (DMP) for approved research projects at the University of Guelph.

These requirements centred on improving the effectiveness and efficiency of research projects through the implementation of sound data stewardship practices when collecting, analyzing, storing, preserving, and, when possible, sharing research data. As part of the funders’ commitment to improved data stewardship, each approved research project would include the submission of a DMP to the relevant funder. A suite of support services and resources were developed as a collaborative pilot project between the Library and the Office of Research to assist researchers in meeting the new requirements.