Since 2024, UNL has participated in the Realities of Academic Data Sharing (RADS) initiative, a twelve-institution study examining how researchers manage and share their data and how campus units support that work. Over the last year, we have surveyed funded researchers and interviewed administrators involved in data management and sharing support activities. The study has now reached the point of results, and members of the RADS team, along with local co-PI Leslie Delserone, will be on campus to present our findings.
The day will include:
- A walkthrough of UNL's own data report
- An overview of the project and its results
- Benchmarking and peer comparisons
It is also an opportunity to connect with colleagues across campus (the library, research administration, IT, and other units) who share an interest in this work, and to begin discussing where our services and support might grow.
Session Information
- Date: October 1, 2026
- Time: 8:45 - 11:45am
- Location: UNL Nebraska Union, Regency Suite, City Campus Union, 2nd floor
Registration
Day's Agenda
| Time | Session / Activity Information |
| 8:45 - 9:00 am | Arrival and networking |
| 9:00 - 9:05 am | UNL Kickoff, Welcome from Dean, Liz Lorang |
| 9:05 - 9:30 am | Introduction to RADS Federal agencies require funded researchers to make their data publicly available, and institutions have built services to support that work without a clear account of what those services cost or who pay for them. The Realities of Academic Data Sharing (RADS) initiative is a twelve-institution research study aimed at answering that question. This session introduces the study's guiding questions, the research, and the survey and interview instruments used for data collection. |
| 9:30 - 10:20 am | UNL's Institutional RADS Report Campus units across UNL support data management and sharing for both compliance and open science; researchers, as well, must now consider data management and sharing in their work and some even have to budget for it in their grant budgets. This session walks through UNL's RADS report: what funded principal investigators reported about hours and costs across the research lifecycle, what administrators reported about the services their units provide and how those services are funded, and a combined estimate of the time data management and sharing takes, as well as the costs. The session builds in time for dedicated questions. |
| 10:20 - 10:30 am | Break |
| 10:30 - 10:55 am | Benchmarking & Peer Comparisons This session places UNL's results alongside institutions in the same NSF HERD (Higher Education Research & Development) R&D expenditure tier with the RADS group, comparing staffing levels, data management costs, sharing rates, and the breadth of activities campus units support. |
| 10:55 - 11:25 am | Federal Policy Landscape Federal data management and sharing requirements have expanded in the last several years (e.g., 2023 NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy), while the funding mechanisms that support these requirements have come under direct pressure (e.g., the attempts in 2025 to cap indirect rates at 15%). This session covers what current funder mandates ask of researchers and institutions, and what recent developments in indirect cost recovery, proposed Uniform Guidance revisions, and alternative cost models like the Joint Associations Group (JAG) on Indirect Costs Financial Accountability in Research (FAIR) model. |
| 11:25 - 11:45 am | Open Q&A / Stakeholder Reaction Session What's surprising? What matches your perceptions? What might be missing? |