Data management for arts research: the experience at University of the Arts London

Researchers in the United Kingdom are now required to preserve and provide access to research data generated in the course of their funded research projects. Like other UK HEIs, University of the Arts London wishes to assist its researchers with this new mandate and has been exploring ways to manage research data on behalf of its faculty. Unlike other UK HEI’s, however, University of the Arts London is a specialist arts, design and media university, and the data gathered in the course of its research is quite different to that usually considered when RDM strategies are planned, supported and executed. ‘Research data’ is a term generally not used by art and design researchers, and the RDM discourse does not generally engage them.