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NERC-funded scientists
This page contains information for NERC-supported scientists in academia and NERC research and collaborative centres.
The datasets scientists collect in the course of their work will be an important research output. They must ensure that adequate care is taken of the data and make sensible plans, seeking timely advice where necessary.
NERC's formal data policy sets out the obligations of scientists and the support that NERC will provide to them; all managers of NERC programmes are expected to be familiar with it.
Key points for a NERC-supported researcher are as follows:
- NERC has an infrastructure of Data Centres responsible for scientific data in their subject area. 'Responsibility' includes the provision of advice on the long-term stewardship of data and, where the data centres don't themselves hold NERC datasets, at least knowing where these are located.
- Scientists are expected to consider all the scientific data management implications of their projects at the planning stage (and before submitting grant applications), consulting the data centres as appropriate.
- It is Council's policy to make its existing data available to environmental scientists free of charge for bona fide research. If a project requires access to NERC's data the appropriate data centre must be consulted. Academics requiring data from a third party should not assume that NERC will reimburse them for the cost of a licence; they should consult the appropriate data centre. However, NERC does hold some key environmental data sets from other organisations, such as the Met Office, which it can make available to support NERC's research activities.
- Data collected by NERC supported activities will often be a unique resource, potentially re-usable for further research and perhaps even of commercial value. Unless positive steps are taken to look after this asset, its scientific or commercial value will never be realised. The appropriate data centre should, therefore, be consulted as soon as it is clear what datasets will be emerging from the project. This means the data centre has advance warning and can offer advice where necessary. At the end of their projects grant holders are required to offer to deposit with NERC a copy of datasets resulting from their research. This enables the data centres to make the data available to other researchers at a later date; there are safeguards to protect the interests of the original collector, who may retain the Intellectual Property Rights.
