ZonMw’s policy, procedures, practical guidance, and initiatives are aimed at the creation of reusable data and reuse of existing data.
ZonMw’s approach is guided by the FAIR principles to obtain data that are findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. Overall, the FAIR principles help to enhance the quality of research projects, and to accelerate innovation in health and health care.
The activities are part of ZonMw’s policy on Open Science. The international transition to open science is crucial to accomplish the right conditions for creating reusable data, and data reuse: FAIR data stewardship, recognition and reward, open access publications, and citizen science.
The information in Data management in your research project is particularly aimed at researchers (and their data stewards) who apply for or hold a grant from ZonMw. All ZonMw’s stakeholders may take interest in the emerging approaches to FAIRify data, and how they are developed in the context of the COVID-19 research programme.
In Background information, support & community building one can find stakeholders who provide (and develop) the relevant concepts, services and infrastructure.
ZonMw regards the creation of (and access to) reusable data to be essential for realising scientific and social impact of its research projects. Ideally, these data comply with – as many as possible - FAIR principles. FAIR (and therefore reusable) data may directly support the knowledge cycle (Dutch).
Moreover, the health challenges that face our society, can only be tackled with the help of innovative methods and techniques that largely depend upon computational technology and data science. These methods and techniques use large amounts of data from various sources, which are in different locations. For the optimal usage of such data they must be FAIR.
With research data and real world data that are FAIR, researchers, innovators, professionals and policy makers have a wide range of resources available for future research and innovation. They can verify research findings, and rely on improved information as input for informed decision making in health policy and practice.
Here you can read more about How data lead to better decisions.
For these reasons, ZonMw requires its grantees to FAIRify data as much as possible. In order to make this as easy as possible, ZonMw actively promotes the further development of data stewardship capacity, as well as tools, services and technology.
The digital newsletter (also on paper !) E-Data & Research, issued by DANS, shows interesting examples of what one can do with data.
Read the article: Where do data stewards get their knowledge and how can the Netherlands approach this more professionally?
FAIR data are not necessarily OPEN data. Through the ‘A’ of Accessibility, one can state the conditions for sharing the data (‘restricted access’). The FAIR principles are in line with the policy of research funders like ZonMw and NWO to make research data “as open as possible, and as closed as needed”.
Open dataHealth-RI and BBMRI.nl organise new expert meetings to discuss the next step in making health data available for research. Expert meeting number 1 was about collecting FAIR data on September 9th. On September 23rd was the focus on Data Findability and Linkage. Join the meeting on October 7th.
Read more on the website of our partner Health-RI
Together with our sponsors and clients, we are looking into possibilities for financing research into the coronavirus and COVID-19. The pandemic is having a major impact on healthcare and society.
Read more about the researchThe new Promoting Good Science (PGS) programme, which is the follow-up to the Fostering Responsible Research Practices (FRRP) programme, will be chaired by Sally Wyatt. PGS is aimed at encouraging sustainable improvements in the science system. Eduard Klasen is stepping down as former chair of FRRP, and he is confidently passing the baton on to his successor Sally, who wants to involve the broader science domain.
The aim of this call is to assemble networks of leading experts and stakeholders with an intent to facilitate the development, optimisation, and use of diagnostic and surveillance tools, technologies and systems.
As from 1 April 2022, the General Terms and Conditions Governing Grants of ZonMw will be amended with regard to the final accountability reporting by the grant recipient.
In the Summer of 2021, an international team of early career researchers won the ZonMw/CIHR-IGH Gender in Research Award. It allowed the team to bring their innovative idea for supporting health researchers in integrating sex and gender in research to life. Now they proudly present The Genderful Research World (GRW), an interactive online platform designed for health researchers to easily access resources related to integrating a sex- and...
Persons with disabilities, with care needs or with psychiatric illnesses are particularly affected by the impact of the digital divide in society. The EURECO 2021 conference will focus on approaches to promote the development of equal digital participation for these vulnerable groups as well.
Read more
Do you face challenges in finding an animal-free innovation in research and industry? Sign up for the online matchmaking event on 10 February 2021 at 13:00h CET of Create2Solve by sending an e-mail to mkmd@zonmw.nl.
Read more
