When it comes to research data, the JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) is one of the most active players of the moment. Unfortunately they are UK based and most of their project are supportin research institutes in the UK, but from a research perspective, it is a nice way to find out projects their are supporting in this domain.

I was attracted by the Research Data Toolkit who’s objective is “to audit current best practice and develop technology demonstrators with the assistance of leading University of Hertfordshire research groups; and reflect these developments back into the wider internal and external research community via a Research Data ToolKit.
The overall aim is to contribute to the efficacy and quality of research data planning, and establish and cement good data management practice in line with local and national policy”

Apparently the project is in its early phase and a presentation of it can be found below:

The presentation on the Service Oriented Toolkit for Research Data Management