Scheduled workshops

In semester 2 of the 2021/22 academic year we will be delivering a mix of in-person and online workshops. Please check the details of each workshop before registering.

Booking through MyEd

All of our courses can be booked through MyEd and using the links below.  Once you have booked onto a course you will be registered on the appropriate session and should receive an email with details of how to join the session before it starts. If you don't receive this information please let us know using the Contact Us option at the top of this page.

The courses provided by us this term are:

• Realising the Benefits of Good Research Data Management (RDS001)
• Writing a Data Management Plan for your Research (RDS002)
• Working with Personal and Sensitive Data (RDS003)
• Data Handling Using SPSS (RDS005)
• Archiving your Research Data (RDS010)

Realising the Benefits of Good Research Data Management (RDS001)

Interactive Workshop - Attendees need to bring a smart phone, tablet, or laptop, preferably a laptop. No prior knowledge is required for this course.

This course runs for 2.5 hours.

This in-depth course will provide researchers at all stages of their career with an accessible and practical guide to Research Data Management (RDM) and how it can benefit their research. It covers the entire research data life cycle from Data Management Planning through to Improving the Visibility and Impact of research data in order to increase a researcher’s profile. With practical hints and tips throughout this course is ideal for those just setting out on a career in research as well as anyone looking to update or refresh their skills.

Upon completion of this course, attendees will be able to:

1. recognize the importance of RDM and Data Management Planning
2. understand the difference between sensitive and non-sensitive data and how that will impact on their research and RDM
3. apply basic RDM skills to their daily research practices
4. determine the extent to which their research data is Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR)

Writing a Data Management Plan for your Research (RDS002)

Interactive workshop - Attendees should bring a laptop or tablet to write their DMP on either using DMPonline, or the basic template the tutor will provide. It would also be helpful if you could bring your project outline to base the draft DMP on.

At the end of this practical workshop you will have produced a 1^st draft Data Management Plan (DMP) for your research project. You will understand the basic components of good DMP.

Upon completion of this course, attendees will:

1. understand the necessity/benefits of producing a DMP;
2. know how to register for and use DMPonline;
3. have drafted a basic DMP that they can complete after the course.

Working with Personal and Sensitive Data (RDS003)

Presentation - Before attending you should complete the mandatory online Data Protection Training https://www.ed.ac.uk/records-management/training/data-protection

Researchers today are pressured to share their research data and make it accessible to other researchers. But what if you have collected sensitive or confidential data?

For many researchers, the sensitivity of research data is one of the main barriers to data sharing. Fear of violating ethical or legal obligations, lack of knowledge about disclosure control and the time required to anonymise data to a suitable standard often prevent valuable datasets from seeing the light of day.

In this two-hour awareness raising course, we introduce how to collect, share, store, and protect the sensitive data you may encounter as part of your work.

Upon completion of this course, attendees will:

1. understand the principles of good research data management;
2. have knowledge of GDPR and data protection regulations, and what these mean for research and research data;
3. be aware of relevant services and resources available to researchers at the university.

Handling Data Using SPSS (RDS005)

Computer lab-based, hands on workshop

The aim of this half-day course is to show you how the facilities provided by SPSS can help with the management of your research data, demonstrating the benefits of using SPSS syntax-driven commands to keep a record of data preparation, management and analysis steps. This includes getting data out of SPSS, whether for long-term preservation or for further analysis in other software.

Upon completion of this course, attendees will:

1. Understand the importance of data management for research

2. Gain hands-on experience undertaking common data management steps in SPSS

3. Become confident in using syntax-driven commands to work with research data

Archiving your Research Data (RDS010)

Interactive workshop

Learn how to keep your data findable, accessible and re-usable (FAIR) for the decades to come, and how to show your funder you’re complying with their data policy. The course includes a demo of DataVault’s new and improved interface.