New and enhanced resources to support sustainable Research Data Management (RDM) services across Europe have been released following a two-year ELIXIR-funded project, DATAREX (Data Management for Research in ELIXIR), strengthening ELIXIR’s RDM Community.
Good management of research data enables results to be found, understood and reused by others, increasing scientific value and reducing duplication of effort. RDM is central to the implementation of the FAIR principles (that data should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) and to broader open science objectives.
Running from January 2024 to December 2025, the DATAREX project brought together RDM experts from across ELIXIR Nodes to further develop ELIXIR’s distributed RDM knowledge, training and services.
Strengthening ELIXIR’s RDM ecosystem
The project built on ELIXIR’s RDM ecosystem, including well-used resources such as RDMkit, the FAIR Cookbook, the Data Stewardship Wizard (DSW), FAIRsharing, TeSS, and bio.tools. Key enhancements were made to several services, including
- RDMkit – The resource for community-maintained guidance for research data management in the life sciences was expanded and updated during DATAREX.
- FAIR Cookbook – New and updated content was added to the resource, which gives practical recipes supporting FAIR data implementation.
- TeSS – ELIXIR Training Portal – A ‘Data Management for Researchers’ learning path was added, co-developed with the ELIXIR Learning Paths group and the ELIXIR Training Platform. A ‘Data Stewardship’ learning path is also under development, alongside recommendations to improve RDM training curation in TeSS.
A new resource for RDM professionals
An additional output of the project is the Data Stewardship Handbook, aimed at RDM professionals. While the RDMkit primarily supports researchers with operational guidance, the handbook is for those delivering institutional services and focuses on improving RDM services over time. It combines guidance pages and community case studies, providing users with a range of practical examples. The current version is available as a minimum viable product, providing a stable structure for continued development.
The Data Stewardship Handbook also includes an RDM Services Maturity Model, offering a shared framework to review and strengthen institutional practices. It defines a set of indicators grouped into four domains: strategy and sustainability, legal and governance, RDM support and data and metadata management. Each indicator is described across maturity levels, enabling Nodes and institutes to assess their current position and identify next steps that fit their situation.
Improving data deposition workflows
DATAREX also examined how data stewards and other RDM professionals support researchers in depositing data to ELIXIR Deposition Databases. The resulting recommendations address gaps in role definitions, interoperability and technical workflows. They propose clearer recognition of brokering roles, improved authentication mechanisms, better support for cross-repository linking and more machine-actionable repository requirements.
Building a stronger RDM community
As well as producing resources and guidelines, the project created a strong and engaged RDM Community, which includes a Community Framework and an onboarding document. A mix of workshops, contentathons and collaborative development led to a shared sense of purpose, along with a commitment to maintain and build on the project’s successes.
DATAREX has helped the RDM Community turn data management from a set of isolated, often overlooked, efforts into a set of more standardised practices. As a result, there will be less research data sitting on hard drives and more available to be discovered, understood in context and reused with confidence.
- ELIXIR RDM Community
- DATAREX project
- Key deliverables:
D2.1 – Overview of ELIXIR services for management of research outputs - infographics, user journeys and guidance on navigating the ELIXIR RDM ecosystem
D2.2 – End report on body of knowledge - summary of expanded and updated RDM best-practice content across ELIXIR resources
D2.3 – End report on FAIR training resources - assessment and recommendations for improving RDM training curation and discoverability
D2.4 – End report on published Learning Paths in TeSS - documentation of the development and publication of the first ELIXIR Learning Path
D3.1 & D3.2 – Data Stewardship Handbook and RDM Services Maturity Model (MVPs): shared framework and practical guidance for strengthening institutional RDM services
D3.3 – Requirements for data brokering system - recommendations to improve data deposition workflows and broker–repository coordination