A research hub's worth of data - lessons in making it accessible and reusable

A key objective of the National Environmental Science Program was to ensure that all data generated by program research projects were made publicly available in a reusable and accessible manner. The eAtlas is a web delivery platform for environmental research data and was responsible for coordinating and publishing data products from the NESP Tropical Water Quality (TWQ) hub. Data management is often an afterthought in environmental research, leading to only a fraction of the data ever being published, and often with only poor documentation that limits their potential reuse. To combat this the eAtlas introduced data discussions, data management plans, expanded metadata templates and a data review process as part of the NESP TWQ hub data management. These helped guide and engage researchers in data management, resulting in the successful delivery of a high percentage of project data with high-quality documentation that facilitates data reuse.

This talk will highlight where you can access these data products, highlight which data management processes were most effective, outline how experience from the eAtlas assisted GBRMPA with the development of their Reef Knowledge System and lessons learnt in delivering research project specific web portals that go beyond just data management.