Project: KI DASH takes a holistic approach to research data management
KI DASH (Data Access, Storage, and Handling) is a project that aims to ensure that KI researchers have good conditions to manage their research data throughout its life cycle. On this page, you can delve deeper into the different phases of the project, our deliveries, and ongoing work.
Current situation and challenges
Data management is an increasingly important part of the projects for all our researchers, and this management must be carried out in efficient, secure and cost-effective ways. Currently, we are uncertain whether KI meets these three criteria for various reasons, and this is what the KI DASH project aims to address. In any case, our current fragmented handling of data means that the overview is lost and that, in the worst case, KI cannot meet the information security requirements imposed on us as a university.
To meet these challenges, long-term, cost-effective, and secure solutions are required that are tailored to the needs of researchers while ensuring that KI can meet the security requirements incumbent upon the university.
The term "solution" here means the entire chain from principles, technology, support processes, and, perhaps most importantly, a financing model that both provides clear and attractive incentives for correct data management, and makes the management of direct and indirect costs more efficient than today.
Objective and goals
The KI DASH project is expected to run during 2025 and involves preparatory work for an upcoming implementation. The aim is to pave the way for long-term, efficient, cost-effective, user-friendly, and secure research data management throughout the research process.
The work includes a baseline analysis, external monitoring, and needs assessments to design and deliver a roadmap.
The long-term impact goals of the project
- KI researchers and administrative staff have clear, uniform, and effective conditions and support functions for managing all research data.
This means that the project must always keep the researcher's need for simplicity and efficiency in mind.
- The responsibility for funding the storage and management of research data in its various forms and phases is clear.
This means that the project needs to describe how the various research processes handle data and, if necessary, propose new or updated principles for data responsibility.
- KI researchers can fulfil KI's policy for open access to research data in accordance with the FAIR principle.
This mainly means that several of the measures along the entire data lifecycle should be linked, for example, by reusing early input metadata in later phases.
Ongoing work and sub-activities
The work in 2025 is divided into two phases. Extensive work with dialogue with department management and researchers is a natural part of the first phase's needs assessment, where the project team will conduct interviews and focus groups.
Phase 1: Principles, current situation, and external monitoring
- Research process and types of research.
- Baseline analysis and external monitoring.
- Investigation of the current financing model.
- Mapping of needs, requirements, and responsibilities.
Phase 2: Designing the roadmap
- Proposal for a target image for unified research data management at KI.
- A temporary solution for financing of storage for 2026.
- A long-term, cost-effective, and secure solution for the transport, storage, management, publication, archiving, and reuse of research data at KI, a rough plan for an implementation project and an estimate of the ongoing operation and maintenance required for all this.
Ongoing sub-activities
The baseline analysis maps existing tools and system support linked to research data management at KI. The work covers both KI's central and department-specific solutions and facilities and the national services available (such as NAISS computing services and SND's storage services). It aims to provide an overall picture of how research data is managed today.
In parallel, external monitoring is being conducted to gather knowledge about how other higher education institutions in Sweden organise their support for research data management. The aim is to identify good examples, alternative models, and insights that can guide KI's future direction.
The baseline analysis and external monitoring constitute a common knowledge base in the project and help ensure that KI DASH is based on both internal conditions and proven solutions at higher education institutions. The work lays an important foundation for the project's roadmap and for creating coherent, efficient, and secure support for research data management at KI.
Catalogue of terms as part of the work
A catalogue of terms clarifying and defining key concepts used in the project has been produced. It serves as a common language for the project team, is used in the ongoing sub-activities and may be developed over time.
As a central part of the project, a needs assessment is carried out to gain an in-depth understanding of how researchers at KI work with their research data - from planning, collection and analysis to storage, sharing and archiving.
The aim is to identify the actual needs, challenges, and underlying factors that affect the management of research data in different parts of the research process. The mapping is based on the organisation's perspective and will help create a common and sustainable basis for future support structures and solutions in research data management.
Implementation
The needs assessment uses several methods, such as interviews, focus groups, surveys and workshops with researchers and core facilities. The work is done in close collaboration with the deans at KI to ensure a broad and representative selection of researchers.
In addition, it analyses how different regulations and guidelines will lead to KI and the researcher taking responsibility and carrying out activities, respectively.
Basis for roadmap
The results of the needs assessment will form the basis for KI DASH's roadmap and ensure that the proposed actions are based on the organisation's actual needs.
By building on the insights from the mapping, the project can help ensure that researchers and administrative staff at KI have clear, uniform, and effective conditions for handling research data in accordance with current regulations throughout the research process.
A prerequisite for achieving the project's goals and objectives is that KI has transparent and reasonable pricing of storage and data management services. Moreover, as storage volumes constantly increase, the importance of good management and reasonable pricing increases yearly.
Therefore, the following is carried out:
The current storage pricing and financing model is analysed and described. In brief, the current funding combines direct charges (covering about half of the storage costs), and a share of the IT fee paid for all KI staff.
Possible scenarios for future storage financing are described and assessed in terms of likely consequences. These scenarios are based on different types of principles, sometimes conflicting, for example:
- "Direct user charges pays for storage" and
- "Common funds finance storage".
In addition, the project assesses different variants of 'free storage' per department or staff member, as well as central subsidies in areas where KI has strong common interests, etc.
The model eventually proposed may well combine all the above principles and tools. The activity should take into account that the project may propose new storage services in other sub-activities, making the service flora more complicated than it is currently.
Projekt organisation
- Veronika Sundström, University director.
- Mattias Nordström, CIO-CDO.
- Björn Kull, Head of office, FER.
- Miriam Nauri, Chief librarian.
- Sven Carlsson, Heaf of office, JPE.
- Karin Dahlman-Wright, Chair of the Infrastructure board.
- Sten Linnarsson, Dean KI Campus Solna.
- Jonas Melander, FER (Project manager)
- Cecilia Sallström, FER (Project manager, consultant)
- Emma Almroth, KIB
- Glenn Haya, KIB
- Nikolaos Volakakis, FER
- Mikael Carp, ITA
- Johan Lagerros, ITA
- Stefan Olsson, ITA
- Daniel Wikström, ITA
- Daniel Ståhl, ITA
- Gabriel Larsson, JPE
- Tove Hörner, JPE
- Rebecka Rosenberg, CNS
During the ongoing work, reference groups and working groups in finance, research and IT are also coordinated.
Would you like to share knowledge or insights?
The project team welcomes input from those who are conducting research or have insights into these issues.
Please contact the project managers Jonas Molander or Cecilia Sällström.