Lifespan Initiative for the Research and Data Archive Repository
The project aims to provide an information environment for research data collections in the frame of the Digital Object Repository (DOR) held by Royal Holloway, University of London. The research data for the project will be provided by the Lifespan Research Group, which, in line with the prevailing research councils’ policies on data sharing and preservation, has engaged in the project to offer its collection to a wider research community.
The Lifespan Collection (www.lifespancollection.org.uk) represents an existing and unique research data set, which includes around 3,400 hours of audio-taped interviews, scorings and quantitative computerised data, capturing the lifetime experience of over 500 individuals. The outcomes of this project will be presented in terms of both a report on the processes and best-practice solutions for preserving and digitalising the data, including the creation of processes of submission of, and accessibility to, current and future critical datasets that ensure compliance with data security, copyright legislation, licensing, and associated audit functions. One or more detailed case studies will be produced that will not only inform the future development of this project but will act as illustrative examples for use by other similar start-up projects. This will lay the ground work for an exemplar implementation of the tools and solutions already delivered by JISC and other institutions.
The long-term impact of this project will be in the influence of the Lifespan Collection on the wider research field through the unique and irreplaceable nature of its data. The successful digital development (within an information environment) of the Collection would map it directly into the interdisciplinary project of data re-use exemplified by projects dealt with by Qualidata and new research programmes, such as Timescapes.
Lead Institution
Partner Institutions
Project Staff
Principal Investigator
- Antonia Bifulco, PhD, Professor in Health and Social Care, Lifespan Research Group, Royal Holloway, University of London, a.bifulco@rhul.ac.uk
Project Team