Writing a DMP for a grant application

If a data management plan (DMP) is required as part of a grant application, this will be reviewed by the Research Data Manager prior to submission of the final application. You must ensure that a draft of your DMP is made available to the Research Data Manager for review and comment as early as possible and no later than 5 working days before the application submission date. Draft plans can be sent directly to the Research Data Manager or via the Research Development Manager who is supporting your application.

You can contact the Research Data Manager, via email or by booking a consultation, at any stage if you require advice and support in writing your data management plan.

The guide Writing a Data Management Plan for a Grant Application (pdf) focuses on general principles, and provides information about University policies and services. Guidance on writing DMPs for selected funders is provided below.

Funders' DMP requirements and guides

If you are applying for funding from one of the major funders, you should write your DMP following the format/structure specified by the funder, and using the funder's template where one is provided. A number of UK funders' data management plan requirements are listed by the Digital Curation Centre (DCC).

Guides to preparing DMPs and addressing data management requirements for selected funders are provided below.

• AHRC DMP Guidance (pdf)
• BBSRC DMP Guidance (pdf)
• British Academy DMP Guidance (pdf)
• EPSRC Data Management Guidance (pdf)
• ESRC DMP Guidance (pdf)
• GCRF Internal Application DMP Guidance (pdf)
• Horizon Europe Open Science and Research Data Management Guidance (pdf)
• MRC/UKRI FLF DMP Template (docx)
• NERC DMP Guidance (pdf)
• Royal Society DMP Guidance (pdf)

Examples

If you would like to get an idea of what a DMP looks like, the Digital Curation Centre (DCC) provides a number of examples that you can refer to. (Note that some of the DCC examples are quite old, so may be formatted using obsolete templates, and may not always reflect current best practice.) You can also review applications made by University of Reading researchers in the Research Services Successful proposal library (login required). If you cannot find a useful example, contact us for assistance.

Bear in mind that specific DMP examples should be used as inspirations rather than models to be followed. Individual DMPs will have weaknesses as well as strengths, and may have greater or lesser relevance to your own research context. Applications in the Successful proposal library are not included on the basis of the quality of the DMP.

DMPonline

DMPonline is an online data management planning tool that can be used to create a DMP according to your funder's requirements. DMPonline includes funder-specific templates for the Research Councils and other major funders, with tailored prompts and guidance. Plans can be saved, shared with co-applicants, commented and edited, and exported in a variety of formats for incorporation into grant applications.