Assessing Readiness for a Campus-wide Research Data Management Directive

In November 2024, the rectorate of the University of Graz adopted a research data management directive (RDM)[1]. The directive is a first among major universities in its breadth as it applies to all research conducted on the campus by staff and affiliates alike, amounting to over 4,500 individuals. The directive aims to enhance: 1) promotion of secure and reliable research data storage on university-provided infrastructure, 2) formalization of data sharing and data use agreements with external partners and collaborators, and 3) publication of research data to the extent possible in FAIR-compliant data repositories. These objectives align with FAIR principles [2] and the Sorbonne declaration on research data rights [3]. In order to ensure a systematic adherence to the new policy, the university has allowed for a transition period, which lasts until 30th June 2026, and adopted a governance structure for coordinating efforts which includes representatives from each faculty, headed by a chief data officer. This transition peri-od will allow for various research units, projects, and individuals to adopt and adapt their practices to align with the new directive. In order to assess readiness and community needs for adherence to the new directive, we are conducting a campus-wide survey regarding the current state of research data management (RDM) practices as well as researchers' needs for adopting the new policy. Staff in all university faculties, institutes (departments) and research centers are invited to participate in the sur-vey. This survey will run through mid-June and data analysis will be conducted immediately after. Our presentation will outline the current state of campus-wide RDM efforts as well as areas where researchers can benefit from the development of resources such as guidelines and templates as well as from training in RDM and open science activities. Our findings will provide a context for the adoption of RDM practices on an institutional scale. In addition to highlighting intra-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary variation, we expect to conduct these surveys annually, thus the first survey will provide a baseline for assessing progress toward cam-pus-wide RDM adoption.