An MRC data management plan (DMP) sets out how researchers will collect, document, store, secure and share data on an MRC-funded project, using UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) official template. Wellcome instead requires a broader “outputs management plan” covering data, software and physical materials, with no fixed template. Both are due at application stage, but their scope, sharing timelines and repository rules differ in ways that matter for bioscience grantees.
A data management plan is a funder-mandated document that specifies how research data will be handled, from creation through to long-term preservation and reuse.
- What must an MRC data management plan include?
- How does Wellcome’s outputs management plan differ?
- MRC vs Wellcome: data-sharing requirements compared
- What are the sharing timelines and repository rules?
- Common questions about data management plans
- What this means for UK bioscience grant applicants
What must an MRC data management plan include?
The Medical Research Council (MRC), a UKRI council, requires all funding applicants to submit a DMP as part of their research proposal. Applicants must use UKRI’s official MRC data management plan template, an ODT document last revised on 1 April 2024 to align with the MRC’s revised data sharing policy.
The template asks researchers to address:
- Data types and volumes — what will be generated or reused, and in what formats.
- Documentation and metadata — how the data will be made interpretable to other researchers.
- Ethics and legal compliance — data protection, consent and confidentiality arrangements.
- Storage, backup and security — arrangements during the life of the project.
- Sharing and preservation — the named repository and any restrictions on access.
- Trusted research and innovation (TRI) considerations — a requirement added in the April 2024 revision, reflecting UKRI-wide guidance on research security.
The underlying MRC data sharing policy was itself revised on 29 November 2023 to reflect the commitments in the MRC’s Strategic Delivery Plan 2022 to 2025, incorporating a wider definition of “research data” and updated open access and data protection law. Reviewers assess DMPs against a published rubric, and MRC guidance states it expects valuable data to be shared with as few restrictions as possible.
How does Wellcome’s outputs management plan differ?
Wellcome does not ask for a “data management plan” in the MRC sense. Its Policy on Data, Software and Materials Management and Sharing — released on 10 July 2017, replacing an earlier Policy on Data Management and Sharing — requires an outputs management plan wherever a project will generate data, software or materials of clear value to others.
Three features distinguish the Wellcome approach from MRC’s:
- Broader scope — the plan must cover physical materials such as antibodies and cell lines, not only digital data and software.
- No fixed template — applicants draft a plan “proportionate” to the scale and likely value of the outputs, rather than completing a standard form.
- Living document — the plan is expected to be maintained and reviewed throughout the research lifecycle, not filed once at application stage.
Wellcome frames its position as “as open as possible, as closed as necessary” — language that mirrors the European Commission’s Horizon Europe open-data principle — allowing restrictions to protect participant confidentiality or to enable intellectual property to be developed under its IP and patenting policy.
MRC vs Wellcome: data-sharing requirements compared
The table below summarises the structural differences a bioscience grantee applying to both funders needs to reconcile.
| Feature | MRC | Wellcome |
|---|---|---|
| Plan name | Data management plan (DMP) | Outputs management plan |
| Template | Fixed UKRI ODT template (rev. April 2024) | No template; proportionate free-text plan |
| Scope | Research data | Data, software and physical materials |
| Governing policy | MRC data sharing policy (rev. Nov 2023) | Policy on Data, Software and Materials Management and Sharing (2017) |
| Review | Assessed by peer reviewers against a published rubric | Assessed as part of the wider proposal; monitored at end-of-grant reporting |
| Extra checks | Trusted research and innovation considerations required | IP and patenting policy considerations required |
| Repository expectation | Discipline-specific repository, minimal restrictions | Recognised community repository with persistent identifiers |
What are the sharing timelines and repository rules?
Wellcome sets the more explicit timeline of the two funders. Its policy states that, as a minimum, data underpinning a research paper must be made available at the time of publication, along with any original software needed to view the dataset or replicate the analysis. For research related to public health emergencies, Wellcome requires quality-assured interim and final data to be shared “as rapidly and widely as possible”, ahead of journal publication.
MRC’s policy is principles-based rather than date-bound: it asks applicants to share data “in a timely and responsible manner” with as few restrictions as possible, leaving the specific timeline to be justified case by case in the DMP itself.
On repositories, both funders expect deposit in a recognised, discipline-appropriate service with persistent identifiers where possible. Wellcome additionally operates Wellcome Open Research, a publishing platform for rapid dissemination of funded results. On costs, both funders will fund justified data-sharing expenses within the grant; notably, in early 2018 Wellcome, the MRC, Cancer Research UK and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation jointly announced they would cover the costs of sharing clinical trials data via the Clinical Study Data Request (CSDR) platform — a rare example of aligned funder practice that removes cost as a barrier to compliance.
Common questions about data management plans
What is a data management plan?
A data management plan (DMP) is a formal document describing how research data will be collected, documented, stored, secured and shared throughout and after a project. UK funders including MRC and Wellcome require a DMP, or an equivalent outputs plan, at application stage to demonstrate researchers have planned for responsible data stewardship and future reuse.
How to write a data management plan?
Writing a DMP means addressing data type and volume, documentation and metadata standards, ethical and legal compliance, storage and security arrangements, and a sharing and preservation route via a named repository. MRC applicants must use UKRI’s fixed template; Wellcome applicants draft a proportionate outputs management plan without a set format.
What are the 5 steps to data management?
Most funder templates cover five areas: data description, documentation and metadata, ethical and legal compliance, storage and security, and data sharing and preservation. MRC and Wellcome both map onto this structure, though Wellcome extends the final step to cover software and physical materials alongside data.
What this means for UK bioscience grant applicants
Researchers holding, or applying for, both MRC and Wellcome funding on related bioscience or clinical work cannot use a single generic DMP. The MRC’s fixed template and trusted-research-and-innovation checks demand a structured, form-based response; Wellcome’s proportionate outputs management plan demands editorial judgement about what counts as a “significant” output and how physical materials will be tracked alongside data.
For institutional research administration teams, the practical implication is a checklist mismatch: MRC compliance is verified against a rubric at peer review, while Wellcome compliance is verified narratively at end-of-grant reporting. Multi-funder consortium grants — increasingly common in UK bioscience — should draft to the stricter of the two requirements (typically Wellcome’s publication-time data availability) and then map that single commitment back into each funder’s own plan format, rather than drafting two plans independently.
As UKRI continues to harmonise data policy guidance across its seven councils, and as Wellcome’s outputs-based model gains attention from other biomedical funders, expect further convergence — but for now, grantees still need to satisfy two distinct documents, two distinct review processes, and two distinct definitions of what “data” even covers.
