BU Research Blog

Prof. Mike Silk recently published his research data on ReShare, the UK Data Service’s research data repository, for his ESRC funded project ‘Sex work in the context of sports mega events: Examining the impacts of Rio 2016’. 

Many funders and journals require the data supporting research publications to be deposited for long-term preservation because of its value to future research. Here’s what Prof. Silk had to say:  

What’s most exciting/important about your research?  

Probably centring marginalisation / inequality and ensuring visibility / voice for those who are often excluded and/or peripheral to the juggernaut of mega-events (involving as it does securitisation, sterilisation of communities, event-led urban renewal that is often a guise for further marginalisation).  

What do you see as being the benefits of making your data available?  

The data being available means their voices live on past the event itself. Given this particular dataset is the first of its kind, having this data available will hopefully be a useful comparator for those addressing such issues at future events (e.g., Tokyo 2020 / Paris 2024). 

Any advice you would give to anyone about managing their data effectively for successful deposit? 

Most important thing for me was ensuring familiarity with the UK Data Service’s ‘Plan to Share’ resource … essential to writing the bid and thereby study design. It meant data could be collected in a particular format that made it easy to deposit, as opposed to having to re-work the data at the conclusion of the project (once funding has run out!) to make it ‘shareable’! Going through this resource in advance of bid submission invariably strengthens the quality of the actual bid.  

The dataset is available on request via this link: 

https://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-853702 

What support is available for researchers? 

The library offers guidance and support for data management from bid preparation (Data Management Plans) to deposit in BORDaR, BU’s research data repository. Visit our research data management guide or email us at bordar@bournemouth.ac.uk.