How to grow Research Data Management services and uptake at a university

The Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), through the library, has ensured a functional environment to foster good Research Data Management (RDM) practices and services for the university community and in line with FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) principles to ensure transparency. The first RDM policy was approved in 2013 and subsequently reviewed, a research data repository, called eSango, powered by Figshare, was established in 2018 and a Data Management Plan (DMP) tool was developed and deployed. A preservation platform, Arkivum, was procured and a CoreTrustSeal submission is in process to secure and build trust in the research data repository. Even though these services were available, and awareness was created by communication through various Senate and/or university committees, workshops, training and other communication avenues, the uptake was initially slow. A key decision by the Higher Degrees Committee that postgraduate students need to submit a Data Management Plan with their proposal and make their research data available together with their thesis submission for graduation purposes, made a significant and impactful difference. A comprehensive review process was implemented on eSango to include the university’s Ethics Manager and the supervisors for postgraduate students. This had a significant increase in the awareness of RDM and uptake of these services at the university, especially involving the supervisors as part of the review process as they are also the researchers. This paper will explore these strategies, highlight challenges and successes.