The Developmental, Capable and Ethical State division, in collaboration with the Capacity, Growth and Innovation division, aims to host a capacity-building workshop on the ethical foundations of research data management (RDM). This event is geared at masters, doctorate, and research interns. RDM is the foundation of reproducible, ethical, and high-impact social science research. Yet it remains one of the most neglected aspects of the research lifecycle, especially regarding the practices carried out by researchers.

The still-recent COVID-19 pandemic has further complicated the practice of RDM. The pandemic has transformed various working environments, specifically research environments (such as in the HSRC), from primarily in-person spaces to hybrid and remote spaces. These transformed spaces have implications for how research data is managed. This foundational workshop aims to establish the ‘why’ and ‘what’ of RDM, with particular attention to ethical considerations in social science research. It will be a two-hour online workshop facilitated by Dr Candice Groenewald and Adlai Davids from the Public Health, Societies and Belonging division at the HSRC, and Hanlie Baudin from the eResearch Knowledge Unit.

The workshop is interactive by design, requiring active engagement, decision-making, and reflection rather than passive listening. The focus of the workshop will be to define the practice of RDM, describe the key areas associated with this practice, and expose interns to the kinds of ethical risks they are already encountering but may not recognise as ethical issues. It will conclude with introducing interns to techniques that promote rigorous and ethical RDM in quantitative and qualitative ethical social science research, specifically in hybrid and remote research environments.

Date: 24 March 2026

Time: 14:00

Venue: Online

Registration Link: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/X1p4A-axTIGPG3ekXaqkNw

Event Enquiries: dhisaacs@hsrc.ac.za