Retention and Disposal of Research Data: from current to best practices

Modern research institutions are grappling with the indefinite retention of an uncontrolled expansion of uncurated digital content associated with research activities. To address that challenge, the Institutional Underpinnings Extension Project "The Retention and Disposal of Research Data - Confirming Obligations, Establishing Practice", has identified decision points related to the retention and disposal of data that arise while undertaking research and investigated the best practices around those decision opportunities. Decisions to retain or dispose of data depend on knowing the properties of the data. Therefore this project is closely related to the Institutional Underpinnings Extension Project, "RDM Business Intelligence and Reporting" (Final report: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10076883). 

The institutional underpinnings extension project was supported by the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC). ARDC is enabled by the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). The project was principally carried out by project partners: UNSW Sydney (Chief Investigator), The University of Sydney, University of Technology Sydney, and The University of Melbourne, with support from the broader community in the Steering Committee, Working Group, Workshops, and Birds of a Feather session at the eResearch conference Australasia 2023.