Research Data Management is a suite of connected processes and practices applied throughout the research lifecycle—i.e., as data are planned for, collected, organized, documented, stored, preserved, shared, and reused—in support of analysis, research, creative works, and dissemination that benefit society. It is a critical component of the digital research infrastructure (DRI) that supports scholarship and innovation within and beyond McMaster University. McMaster RDM Specialists are available to consult on and assist with a variety of research data management topics including:

• General consulting on data management needs
• Assisting researchers in creating Data Management Plans and in using the Portage Network DMP Assistant tool;
• Advising on issues related to research data storage and backup;
• Facilitating data sharing--whether by consulting on prospective discipline-specific data repositories, or assisting with data deposit to general repositories such as McMaster Dataverse and the Federated Research Data Repository.
• Providing guidance on creating data documentation and metadata;