Training Resources

The Alliance offers a range of training materials – everything from one-page guides to online training modules and videos – that span the research data life cycle.

With the assistance of the National Training Expert Group, the Network of Experts continues to develop new bilingual training aids and online modules to support a community of practice for research data management (RDM) in Canada.

These materials are intended for researchers, library data specialists, research data managers, and discipline and functional experts across the research data landscape. All training resources created by the Alliance are licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 and are free to share and adapt for your own needs.

If you have questions about developing RDM training at your institution or would like assistance with creating in-person or online training resources or opportunities, please contact RDM-GDR@alliancecan.ca. 

 

Brief Guides

Primers

Training Modules

Dataverse 101 

This training module provides an overview of the purpose, importance, and benefits of sharing research data, as well as an overview of the Dataverse repository platform and its key features. Created by the Dataverse North Working Group. 

 

Research Data Management (RDM) 101 

These modules include an overview of research data and RDM, the research data life cycle, and Canadian RDM policies. 

 

Research Data Repositories 101 

These modules will help users learn about the role that research data repositories play in good RDM, and in meeting the requirements of the Tri-Agency RDM Policy. 

Training Videos

DMP Assistant Tutorial Series – Playlist 

This video series is designed to familiarize researchers and those supporting them with DMPs and the DMP Assistant tool. 

 

Get Started With FRDR – Playlist 

This video series is designed to help you get started with the Federated Research Data Repository (FRDR) and learn the basics of using the service, setting up an account, and using Globus File Transfer to upload and download datasets. 

 

Institutional Research Data Management Strategies – Playlist 

This video series is designed to help you through the process of creating or refining an institutional RDM strategy. 

 

Webinars

More webinars are available on the Alliance’s YouTube channel.

Results of the Tri-Agency Institutional RDM Strategy Survey (July 14, 2022) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Redesigning the FRDR Discovery Interface: Better, Stronger, Geospatial-er (June 15, 2022) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Evaluating the Problem of Finding and Accessing Restricted Data in Canada: Where Do We Go from Here? (May 31, 2022) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Portage Webinars

Tri-Agency Policy Pillar 1 Webinar: Institutional RDM Strategy (October 27, 2021) 
> Slides (Matthew Lucas, Jeff Moon, Dylanne Dearborn, Nizar Ladak) > Details 

Tri-Agency Policy Pillar 3 Webinar: Data Deposit (October 26, 2021) 
> Slides (Jeff Moon, Bo Wandschneider, Danielle Cooper, Dr. Karen Payne) > Details 

Introduction to the Tri-Agency Policy and Pillar 2 Webinar: Data Management Plans (October 25, 2021) 
> Slides (Matthew Lucas, James Doiron) > Details 

RDM and Metadata for Discovery: What’s in it for Researchers? — Alicia Urquidi Díaz, Research Associate, International Technology Office (ITO) of the World Data System (WDS) (May 19, 2021) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Support Your Research with DMP Assistant 2.0! — Robyn Nicholson, Data Management Planning Coordinator, Portage (March 30, 2021) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Support Your Research with Data Management Planning! — James Doiron, Research Data Management Services Coordinator, University of Alberta Library (March 23, 2021) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Certify Your Data Repository – Get the Support of a Cohort! — Reyna Jenkyns, Ocean Networks Canada; Rebecca Koskela, Research Data Alliance US; Karine Burger, Portage (February 24, 2021) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Introduction to FRDR Curation — Erin Clary, Portage Curation Coordinator; Nichole DeMichelis, Portage Curation Officer; Yvette Rancourt, Portage Curation Officer; Subhanya Sivajothy, Portage Curation Officer (February 10, 2021) 
> Recording > Slides (English) (French) > Details 

Introduction to FRDR — Lee Wilson, Portage Service Manager, Erin Clary, Portage Curation Coordinator, Beth Knazook, Portage Preservation Coordinator, Kelly Stathis, Portage Discovery and Metadata Coordinator (February 3, 2021) 
> Recording > Slides (English) (French) > Details 

Schema.org for Research Data Managers — Chantelle Verhey, Research Associate at World Data System-International Technology Office and Adam Shepherd, Technical Director for the Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (January 20, 2021) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Put Your Work Twenty Times Upon the Anvil: the Challenges of RDM Training — Jonathan Dorey, École nationale d’administration publique (ENAP), Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) and Université TÉLUQ in Montréal (January 12 and 13, 2021) 
> Recording (English) Recording (French) > Slides (English) (French) > Details 

 

Portage Webinars 

Research Data Canada Webinars 

Building RDM Across an Institution: The UBC Library / Advanced Research Computing (ARC) Partnership — Nick Rochlin, University of British Columbia; Doug Brigham, University of British Columbia; Megan Meredith-Lobay, University of British Columbia and Compute Canada (December 1, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

An Introduction to the Compute Canada Federation — Megan Meredith-Lobay, UBC, Compute Canada; Sergiy Stepanenko, University of Saskatchewan, Compute Canada; Lydia Vermeyden, ACENET (Nov 25, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

What are we DOIng about Dynamic Data at Ocean Networks Canada? — Reyna Jenkyns, Chantel Ridsdale, and Melissa Cuthill, Ocean Networks Canada (Nov 24, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Our Common Water Future: Open Data Sharing to Advance Research and Environmental Stewardship — Carolyn DuBois and Patrick LeClair, The Gordon Foundation (November 18, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Using the Open Science Framework to Enhance Your Research Projects — Kevin Read, University of Saskatchewan (November 3, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Full Spectrum Environmental Data Management – A WISKI & Web Portal Overview — Stephen Elgie, KISTERS (October 27, 2020) 
> Details 

Look Before You Leap: Adventures in Curating and Preserving Research Data — Shahira Khair, University of Victoria, Grant Hurley, Scholars Portal (October 20, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

5 Reasons Why You Should Know the CaSPAr and CUIZINART — Juliane Mai, University of Waterloo (October 14, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Data Summaries: Distilling Best Practices — Dan Phillips, Dalhousie University (October 7, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Enhancing Collaboration and Reproducibility Using GitHub — Jay Brodeur, McMaster University (October 6, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Beginning with the End in Mind — Krysha Dukacz, Global Water Futures and Erin Clary, Portage (September 29, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

(Some) Research Data Management Best Practices! — James Doiron, University of Alberta, and Jane Fry, Carleton University (September 16, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Enabling Painless Reuse of Shared Research Data and Code – Ana Trisovic, Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS), and Qian Zhang, University of Waterloo (August 25, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

The Canadian Integrated Ocean Observing System (CIOOS) – Jeff Cullis, CIOOS Atlantic, Reyna Jenkyns, Ocean Networks Canada and CIOOS Pacific, and Lydia Ross, CIOOS Atlantic (July 28, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Research Data Management in Canada: Perceptions and Practices Across the Disciplines – Melissa Cheung, University of Ottawa, Alexandra Cooper, Queen’s University (July 21, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Reducing Risk: An Introduction to Survey Data Anonymization – Kristi Thompson, Western University (July 7, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Tech Tools for RDM Showcase – Meghan Goodchild, Queen’s University and Scholars Portal, Alex Garnett, Simon Fraser University, and Dr. Tim Vines, DataSeer (June 16, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides (DataSeer) (Data Curation Tool) (Radiam) > Details 

Research Data Preservation in Canada – Beth Knazook, Portage, Corey Davis, University of Victoria and CARL, Jonathan Dorey, Institut national de la recherche scientifique (June 9, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Where is all of the Research Data? – Kevin Read, University of Saskatchewan (June 2, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Surveying Institutional Preparedness for Research Data Management – Shahira Khair, University of Victoria, Alexandra Cooper, Queen’s University, and Dylanne Dearborn, University of Toronto (May 26, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides > Q & A > Details 

Statistics Canada RDC Alternatives: Doing Research Under COVID-19 – Elizabeth Hill, University of Western Ontario, and Kristi Thompson, University of Western Ontario (May 20, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Introduction to Geodisy an Open-source Spatial Discovery Platform – Eugene Barsky, Head of Research Commons at UBC, Mark Goodwin, Metadata Coordinator for the Geodisy project, UBC, and Paul Dante, primary software developer on the Geodisy project, UBC (May 5, 2020) > Recording > Slides > Details 

An Introduction to MERIDIAN and the MERIDIAN Discovery Portal – Casey Hilliard, Senior Data Manager, MERIDIAN, Kim Mortimer, Data Manager, MERIDIAN and Sarah Vela, Data Manager, MERIDIAN (April 28, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

Teaching RDM in an Online Environment: Best Practices and Support – Melanie Parlette-Stewart, Training Coordinator for Portage Network and Nick Rochlin, RDM Specialist in UBC’s Advanced Research Computing (ARC) team (April 21, 2020) 
> Recording > Slides > Details 

NDRIO Update with Ghilaine Roquet – Ghilaine Roquet, Interim Director, Planning and Operations at the New Digital Research Infrastructure Organization (NDRIO) (April 7, 2020) 
> Recording: English and French > Slides: English and French  > Details 

Data Management and the Transition to NDRIO – Jeff Moon, Portage Network (March 31, 2020) 
> Recording  > Slides  > Details 

 
  • Data Ownership Series Part 5: The Open Science and Open Data Context | Richard Gold, McGill University; Leslie Weir, Library and Archives Canada | December 10, 2020 
    Powerpoint Deck – Richard Gold | Powerpoint Deck – Leslie Weir | Video 
  • Data Ownership Series Part 4: Standards and Protocols | Peter Goodhand, GA4GH; Guillaume Bourque, McGill University | November 26, 2020 
    Powerpoint Deck – Guillaume Bourque | Powerpoint Deck – Peter Goodhand  | Video 
  • TRUST Principles in the Canadian Context | November 17, 2020 
    Powerpoint Deck |  Video 
  • Data Ownership Series Part 3: The Academic Post-Secondary Context | Jeffrey Taylor, Nova Scotia Community College; Mark Joseph Daley, Western University | November 5, 2020 
    Video 
  • Data Ownership Series Part 2: Indigenous Research Data | Stacy Allison-Cassin, York University; Joel Heath, Arctic Eider Society; Candice Sudlovenick, Arctic Eider Society; Lisa Binkley, Dalhousie University | October 22, 2020 
    Video 
  • Data Ownership Series Part 1: Data Ownership Writ Large | Carolyn Cummins, University of Toronto; Martin Taylor, Canadian Research Data Centres Network; Lucie Guibault, Dalhousie University | October 15, 2020 
    Video 
  • National Data Services and Framework (NDSF) Summit: 2020 Summary and Outputs | October 8, 2020 
    Powerpoint Deck | Video 
  • RDA COVID-19 Guidelines and Recommendations on Data Sharing, Part 2: Navigational Tools and Other Outputs | September 16, 2020 
    Powerpoint Deck | Video 
  • RDA COVID-19 Guidelines and Recommendations on Data Sharing | August 12, 2020 
    Powerpoint Deck | Video 
  • TRUST Principles Mini Symposium | July 7, 2020 
    Powerpoint Deck Part 1 | Part 2 | Video 
  • The Persistent Identifiers (PID) Graph and its Potential: Extending Persistent Identifiers for Research Data | Ricarda Braukmann, DANS; Robin Dasler, DataCite; Ketil Koop-Jakobsen, PANGAEA | February 27, 2020 
    Powerpoint Deck: Intro to PID |  Powerpoint Deck: PID Forum |  Powerpoint Deck: PID and ROR |  Powerpoint Deck: PID Graph and its use |  Video 
  • Ethical Digital Data Management: A Toolkit | Chandra Kavanagh, PhD, Ethics Officer, Health Research Ethics Authority | February 13, 2020 
    Video |  PowerPoint Deck 

CAUL-CBUA Webinars 

Research Data Canada Webinars 

Data Management Strategies: Preparing Your Institution: Jasmine Hoover, Scholarly Resources Librarian, Cape Breton University; Erin MacPherson, Research Data Management Librarian, Dalhousie University; Maggie Neilson, Academic Librarian, Acadia University; Lee Wilson, Portage Network Service Manager, Portage/ACENET | April 12, 2019 
> Recording > Slides 

 

Introduction to new RDM Capacity Building Initiatives | Amanda Crupi, Acting Manager, Knowledge Translations Strategies, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR); Suzanne Board, Senior Policy Advisor, Corporate Strategy and Performance, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC); Natalie Hunter, Program Officer, Research Grants and Partnerships, SSHRC | January 8, 2019 
Video |  PowerPoint Deck: CIHR |  PowerPoint Deck: SSHRC 

 

CAUL-CBUA Webinars 

Research Data Canada Webinars 

Forum on Research Data Management: Jeff Moon, Director, Portage Network; Lee Wilson, Service Manager, Portage Network & Research Consultant, ACENET; Amber Leahey, Data Services Metadata Librarian, Scholars Portal; Corey Davis, Digital Preservation Network Coordinator, COPPUL; Jay Brodeur, Maps/Data/GIS Manager, McMaster University; Mark Leggott, Executive Director, RDC; Mike Smit, Associate Professor & Acting Associate Dean (Research), Dalhousie University’s School of Information Management; Erin MacPherson, Research and Instruction Librarian, Dalhousie University Libraries; Jamie MacKenzie, Director of Scholarly Technologies, University of New Brunswick Libraries; Donald Moses, Interim University Librarian, University of Prince Edward Island Robertson Library, & Director of the Office of Skills Development; Donna Bourne-Tyson, CAUL-CBUA Chair & University Librarian, Dalhousie University Libraries | February 26, 2018 
> Recording 1 > Recording 2 > Slides – Jeff Moon > Slides – Lee Wilson > Slides – Amber Leahey > Slides – Corey Davis > Slides – Jay Brodeur > Slides – Mike Smit > Slides – Erin MacPherson > Slides – Donald Moses 

 
  • Data Deidentification and Anonymization: An Introduction | Kristi Thompson, University of Windsor and Manolis Terrovitis, Institute for the Management of Information Systems, Greece | September 27, 2018 
    Video | PowerPoint Deck: Kristi Thompson |  PowerPoint Deck: Manolis Terrovitis 
  • GDPR and the Canadian Research Landscape | James MacGregor, Associate Director, Strategic Projects and Services, Public Knowledge Project (PKP) | June 28, 2018 
    PowerPoint Deck |  Video | GDPR Guidebook for PKP Users 
  • Development of a Common Research Classification Standard | Ariadne Legendre, Senior Data Analyst, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada | June 6, 2018 
    English: PowerPoint Deck |  Video 
    French: PowerPoint Deck |  Video 
  • Initiatives for Enhancing the Canadian Clinical Research Environment | Yunjo Lee, Project Manager, Office of the President, Research at St. Michael’s Hospital, and Kathryn Nijssen, Initiatives Manager, Canadian Clinical Trials Coordinating Centre | February 20, 2018 
    PowerPoint Deck: Kathryn Nijssen | PowerPoint Deck: Yunjo Lee |  Video 
  • How to Reduce Waste and Increase Transparency in Health Research | Kelly Cobey, Centre for Journalology at the Ottawa Methods Centre, The Ottawa Hospital | January 24, 2018 
    PowerPoint Deck |  Video 

 

CAUL-CBUA Webinars

Research Data Canada Webinars 

Current trends in Open Access for Research Data: Erin MacPherson, Research & Instruction Librarian, Dal; Maggie Neilson, Academic Librarian, ACA; and Lee Wilson, ACENET/Portage | October 26, 2017 
> Slides 
  • ORCID and the ORCID-CA Consortium | Gloria Booth-Morrison, ORCID-CA Member Support Specialist, CRKN | November 2, 2017 
    PowerPoint Deck |   Video 
  • What is RDA and Why Should I Attend the 10th Plenary in Montreal? | Mark Leggott, Research Data Canada and Yolanda Meleco, Fran Berman, and Lynn Yarmey, all of RDA/US | July 25, 2017 
    PowerPoint Deck |   Video 
  • DataCite: Making Research Data Citable and Accessible | Karen Morgenroth and Cyndie Found, DataCite Canada | March 23, 2017 
    PowerPoint Deck | * Due to technical issues, the video recording of the webinar is not available. 
  • Guest Webinar: The CARL Portage Network | Chuck Humphrey, Portage Network | February 8, 2017 
    PowerPoint Deck |  Video 
  • What is RDC? | Mark Leggott, Research Data Canada | January 12, 2017 
    PowerPoint Deck |  Video 

 

Research Data Canada Webinars

Research Data Canada Webinars

Research Data Canada Webinars

Research Data Canada Webinars

Workshop-in-a-Box

Workshop-in-a-Box: Building RDM Awareness in Colleges/Universities

Example DMPs

Example data management plans (DMPs) can help researchers develop their DMPs by demonstrating what the format and content of a DMP can look like. Researchers should, if applicable, follow the requirements of their funder and/or institution when creating DMPs. The Alliance’s example DMPs cover different disciplines, research methodologies and use cases, and can be found in the Alliance’s Zenodo community.

DMP Templates

Institutional Strategies Guidance

Institutional RDM strategies are essential to helping research institutions develop their RDM capacity, comply with funder policies and other RDM best practices, and align with national RDM policies and statements such as the Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy.

The following resources were developed by the Institutional Strategies Working Group, the Institutional RDM Strategy Template Revision Working Group, and working groups within the National Training Expert Group. These are updated as needed to reflect changes in the RDM ecosystem.

Videos:

Institutional Research Data Management Strategies – Playlist

Discussion Prompts:

Curation Guidance

Dataverse Curation Guide

Metadata Guidance

Dataverse North Metadata Best Practices Guide V3.0. PDF

Repositories Guidance

Repository Options in Canada: A Portage Guide. PDF

Sensitive Data Guidance

The Sensitive Data Expert Group created these tools to help researchers understand how research data are related to the research ethics process, and to advance RDM practices, such as data sharing and deposit, in the context of existing research ethics frameworks. 

  • Sensitive Data Toolkit for Researchers Part 1: Glossary of Terms for Sensitive Data used for Research Purposes. PDF
  • Sensitive Data Toolkit for Researchers Part 2: Human Participant Research Data Risk Matrix. PDF
  • Sensitive Data Toolkit for Researchers Part 3: Research Data Management Language for Informed Consent. PDF

RDM Guidance for COVID-19

The COVID-19 Working Group developed these guidance documents to help support research data management in accordance with the RDA COVID-19 Guidelines and Recommendations.