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UKRI does not have a single, unified Data Management Plan (DMP) requirement. UK Research and Innovation is an umbrella body over nine constituent councils, and DMP requirements — whether one is mandatory, how long it can be, and what template to use — are set independently by each research council rather than by UKRI centrally. A DMP written for an MRC award and one written for an EPSRC award can look substantially different, even though both funders sit under UKRI.
Last verified 25 August 2026 against each council’s own guidance pages on ukri.org and the Digital Curation Centre’s DMPonline funder-template library.
UKRI’s Common Principles: the Concordat on Open Research Data
What UKRI does set centrally is a shared policy foundation. The Concordat on Open Research Data, published in 2016 by Research Councils UK (UKRI’s predecessor body for the research councils), Universities UK, and the Wellcome Trust, lays out ten principles that all UKRI councils’ data policies work within — among them that publicly funded research data are a public good that should be made openly available with as few restrictions as possible, that the creators of data have a right to reasonable first use of it, and that data with long-term value should be preserved and remain usable. Each council then implements these principles through its own policy and its own DMP requirement, which is why the practical mechanics differ so much from one UKRI council to the next.
DMP Requirements by UKRI Council
The table below reflects each council’s own current guidance. Where a council does not publish its own separate data policy, it defers to the UKRI common principles above rather than adding council-specific rules.
| Council | DMP required? | Format / length | When submitted |
|---|---|---|---|
| MRC (Medical Research Council) | Yes, using MRC’s own template | Structured template covering data description, collection, management, security, sharing, and responsibilities | At proposal stage; template last revised April 2024 to align with the updated MRC data sharing policy and UKRI trusted-research guidance |
| NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) | Yes, mandatory for all applications | One-page outline DMP at application; a full DMP is then developed with a NERC data centre | Outline at proposal; full plan within 3–6 months of a successful award’s start date |
| BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council) | Yes, mandatory separate attachment | Maximum one side of A4 | At proposal stage |
| ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) | Yes — a Data Management and Sharing Plan, for applicants generating data (studentships excepted) | Typically around 500 words, subject to the specific call | At proposal stage; funded data must remain shareable for a minimum of three years after the project ends |
| AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) | Yes, except for Research Networking awards | No AHRC-specific template — follows the UKRI common principles directly | At proposal stage |
| EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) | Expected, but not submitted with the application | Held and maintained by the institution/PI, produced against EPSRC’s published expectations for open data | Not reviewed at proposal stage; must exist and be followable if requested |
| STFC (Science and Technology Facilities Council) | Yes, mandatory for most schemes (Public Engagement excepted) | Council-provided template; expects use of an established repository unless there is a compelling reason not to | At proposal stage |
Two councils are omitted from the table because their funding rarely runs through a conventional research-grant DMP process in the same way: Innovate UK (business-facing innovation funding) and Research England (block funding to English universities) are UKRI’s other two constituent councils but sit outside the research-grant DMP pattern the seven research councils above share.
The UKRI Funding Service and the shorter “data management statement”
UKRI has been migrating grant applications onto its unified UKRI Funding Service, and for some award types this has changed what is actually asked for at proposal stage. Rather than the fuller DMP described above, certain UKRI Funding Service opportunities now ask only for a short data management statement — a condensed summary rather than the complete council-specific plan. Which requirement applies is set by the individual funding opportunity, not by the council as a whole, so the specific call text (not just the funding council’s general policy page) is the authoritative source for any given application.
Writing the plan: DMPonline
The DMPonline tool, built and maintained by the UK’s Digital Curation Centre (DCC), is the tool most UK institutions point researchers to for UKRI DMPs. It ships with the current funder templates for MRC, NERC, BBSRC, ESRC, AHRC, EPSRC, STFC, and UKRI more broadly, alongside templates for non-UK funders such as NSF, Horizon Europe, and the Wellcome Trust, plus guidance and worked example answers contributed by the DCC and by research organisations. It is free for individual researchers to use; institutions can subscribe for template customisation and usage analytics. CASRAI compares it against alternative planning tools in DMPTool vs. DMPonline and, more broadly, in Data Management Plan Software: DMPTool vs DMPonline vs RDMO vs Data Stewardship Wizard vs ARGOS.
How UKRI compares to other major funders
UKRI’s council-by-council model is the opposite structure from a funder that issues one policy for all its awards. For comparison, see how NIH and NSF’s DMP requirements differ from each other in the US, Canada’s single Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy, and the EU’s Horizon Europe FAIR Data Management Plan requirement. For the general elements any funder’s DMP typically needs to cover, see CASRAI’s Data Management Plan Template and Structure guide.
References
- UKRI, “Concordat on Open Research Data” (2016), ukri.org
- UKRI, “MRC data management plan template,” publications page, updated 1 April 2024, ukri.org
- UKRI/NERC, “Data management planning,” ukri.org/councils/nerc
- BBSRC, “Data Management Plan,” Application Guidance, bbsrc.ukri.org
- UKRI/ESRC, Je-S Handbook guidance on Data Collection/Management, je-s.rcuk.ac.uk
- UKRI/STFC, “Data management plan,” Guidance for Applicants, ukri.org/councils/stfc
- Digital Curation Centre, DMPonline funder-template library and “About,” dmponline.dcc.ac.uk
