Researchers are encouraged to consider costs arising from data management activities. Data management costs are eligible for many funders and are thus relevant for the proposals. However, they also have an impact on project planning in general as efficient use of time and money contributes to the success of a project.

Possible cost factors

  • Personnel costs:
    • e.g. hiring a person dedicated to data management in the project. This may include: creation, implementation and updating of a data management plan, data description, data cleansing, coordination of data flow/data exchange between the project partners, metadata, transcription, digitization, anonymisation, conversion, backup, etc.
    • time (always a resource to be considered), e.g. for the preparation of research data for archiving and publication including the relevant documentation
  • Acquisition of existing data, e.g. from data archives with underlying payment terms
  • Hardware and infrastructure, e.g. for cloud computing and storage, High Performance Computing, network (in case of special applications)
  • Software, e.g. Electronic Lab Notebooks, project management software, licences (if not offered by TU Wien)
  • Programming, e.g. for APIs regarding data deposit, visualization purposes
  • Measures to protect sensitive or personal data (e.g. request for ethics committee, need to draw up suitable declarations of consent, anonymisation, secure storage)
  • Training costs
  • Web presence (domain, CMS, development, hosting)
  • Publishing and archiving costs, e.g. for data deposit in some repositories
  • Legal advice, e.g. for copyright questions, special agreements, consent forms

 

Please also see the following costing tools:

 

Cost guidelines of funding bodies

Horizon 2020

In Horizon 2020 (including ERC Grants), open access to scientific publication and research data, opens an external URL in a new window is an obligation for all beneficiaries, as set out in the article 29.3 of the Model Grant Agreement, opens an external URL in a new window. The related costs are therefore considered as eligible by the European Commission to support researchers in complying with these requirements, ensuring the necessary resources and the budgetary planning.

The eligibility for reimbursement during the duration of the project is defined in the Model Grant Agreement mainly in the Article 6 (Eligible and ineligible costs), and more specifically in the clause 6.2.D.3., opens an external URL in a new window Please note: Data management costs can also be charged after the project is completed but they must already be included in the proposal phase.

Please also see: https://www.ffg.at/en/content/overview-eligible-costs-horizon-2020, opens an external URL in a new window

FWF

Within grant proposals, costs for the preparation, archiving, open access and later use of research data in repositories can be requested. For further information, see the application guidelines for grant proposals. More information: https://www.fwf.ac.at/en/about-us/what-we-do/open-science/research-data-management, opens an external URL in a new window