JISC

The overall aim of C4D is to develop a framework for incorporating metadata into CERIF such that research organisations and researchers can better discover and make use of existing and future research datasets, wherever they may be held. In order to demonstrate the facility of the approach a subject specific demonstrator will be built and this approach verified at the three partner HEIs, each within their own research administration infrastructure.

Aims and objectives  

• Explore the potential role of CERIF alongside research data metadata standards including  INSPIRE, UKLII, UK GEMINI2, MOLES and MEDIN
• Evaluate the feasibility of using CERIF to represent ‘higher-levels’ of research data metadata
• Demonstrate how this data metadata can be used alongside other CERIF entities for projects, people, institutions and outputs
• Add the capacity to store and search research data metadata onto the existing IRIOS platform www.irios.sunderland.ac.uk

Each HEI partner will:

• Validate the “CERIFication” of metadata with live datasets from their institution
• Propose an institutional policy for the management of research data in line with Digital Curation Centre guidelines

Project methodology

The project will be lead  by Sunderland, and will begin with analysis of existing research datasets and metadata at the three partner HEIs (Glasgow, St Andrews and Sunderland).  Definition of an ontology, and a process for classifying metadata will follow.  Informed by the research council partners, and euroCRIS, we will arrive at a CERIF metadata model to be used in the C4D demonstrator system.  Institutional policies for metadata generation and management will be formulated at the partner HEIs, and made available as templates for other institutions.

Anticipated outputs and outcomes

•  CERIF structure for metadata classification
•  Taxonomy to guide metadata classification
•  Extended IRIOS platform supporting the storage and interrogation of research metadata
•  Integration of the platform with other CERIF-compliant systems including RMAS, Pure and EPrints
•  Deployment plan including potential cloud hosting options
•  Sustainability analysis report
•  User documentation detailing the process for classifying and uploading metadata, and using the IRIOS platform to search for research metadata
•  Institutional framework policy for use/adoption by other HEIs implementing MRD policies within their own organisations
• Project workshops to promote C4D

Technology / Standards used (if applicable)

• CERIF
• ColdFusion
• INSPIRE
• MEDIN
• SWORD2