UKRI updates its research data policy
UKRI has published a new unified research data policy, applying to new funding opportunities published on or after 1 April 2027 across all seven funding councils, as well as UKRI-wide schemes and some activities funded by Innovate UK and Research England.
The principles-based approach is focused on ensuring that publicly funded research data is findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) and has been designed in collaboration with the research community. There’s also guidance on responsibly sharing data about people, and good practice suggestions for sharing a wider range of research outputs.
Most funded research projects are already required to share research data in a timely and responsible manner – the new policy clarifies that “research data” can be read to include any
“recorded information that is collected, created, generated, observed, or derived from existing sources through any research method, and used to support, validate, or inform research findings.”
This definition extends beyond what may be traditionally considered research data (such as experimental results in the physical sciences) to explicitly include things like creative practice process data, media files, manuscript translations, software, and interview transcripts.
There’s an expectation that a “limited and defined period of exclusive data use” is reasonable, but this needs to be balanced against the wider public interest in making data available as early as possible – in line with disciplinary norms. The maximum permitted embargo is no later than two years from the end of UKRI data, or at the point of publication if the data is needed to validate findings.
In recognising that data management (and data sharing) are a central part of the research process the new policy strengthens and simplifies existing requirements on data management plans for funded projects: an outline plan would normally be required on application, expanded to a full plan within six months of the start of the project or funded studentship that is kept under review throughout the project.
Applications would also be required to include expected costs for managing and sharing research data, meaning that researchers need to be engaging with appropriate data repositories (domain, institutional, or third party) as early as possible. In any case, a FAIR metadata record needs to be shared no later than the time of publication, and this needs to explain the embargo and its duration. Metadata should also include contributor roles, linking to persistent identifiers such as ORCID and the Research Organisation Registry (ROR).
The policy also addresses wider issues around long-term preservation – noting that data underpinning published findings must be retained for a minimum of ten years after publication, but decisions around long term storage should also factor in the cost of retaining data and the potential long term reuse value.
Alongside the policy, UKRI has also published a Research Consulting report which analyses the current state of data management planning via a series of interviews, and makes recommendations. It notes that currently plans are seldom “living documents” and are not updated as the project develops, and that there is no structured process for UKRI to assess whether commitments have been carried out.