Opportunities for ‘data intensive’ social research are growing but funding for data management remains a challenge.

The Digital Curation Centre have been vigorously involved with identifying core components of an effective institutional policy to improve research data management. Angus Whyte runs through the opportunities and challenges in business planning for RDM. Funding and sustaining such services requires a clear vision of what better data management will do for the institution, its researchers, and the broader community. The key is to avoid unintended outcomes of poor design of services or inadequate resourcing.