Effective 1 April 2026
Starting 1 April 2026, the Data Stewardship Biomed Unit (DSBU) will provide FAIR data management services through dedicated packages for research projects conducted within the Faculty of Biology and Medicine UNIL–CHUV.
These services ensure compliance with FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) and Open Research Data (ORD) requirements from funders such as the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and European programmes.
DSBU support includes
- Data documentation and structuring (README files)
- Metadata creation and standardization
- Preparation and deposition of datasets for FAIR data sharing
- Metadata publication for sensitive clinical datasets via the HORUS Dataset Catalog
- Long-term preservation and archiving
Mandatory Inclusion in Grant Applications
For projects generating experimental or clinical datasets supporting publications, DSBU data stewardship services must be included in SNSF and European grant applications.
However, this requirement may be waived if a member of the research group fulfills the role of data scientist, provided that their data stewardship qualifications are assessed and validated by the DSBU at the time of the budget request.
These services are delivered through FAIR Data Package©DSBU which require a financial contribution from research groups and must therefore be included in the project budget at submission
FAIR Data Package©DSBU
Two mandatory service levels are available depending on dataset complexity and volume.
| Service package | Annual cost | Consulting hours | FAIR datasets supported per year | Repository support | Suitable for |
| Essential FAIR Data Package©DSBU | CHF 2,000 / year | Up to 30 hours | 2–3 datasets | Generalist repositories (Zenodo – FBM UNIL–CHUV Community, Institutional CHUV Repository), (HORUS Dataset Catalog), and ONE disciplinary FAIR repository | Projects producing moderate dataset volumes with limited disciplinary specialization |
| Advanced FAIR Data Package©DSBU | CHF 2,500 / year | Up to 40 hours | 4–5 datasets | Generalist repositories (Zenodo – FBM UNIL–CHUV Community, Institutional CHUV Repository), (HORUS Dataset Catalog), and up to two disciplinary FAIR repositories | Complex or multi-technology projects generating multiple categories of datasets |
Examples of disciplinary FAIR repositories include **ENA (European Nucleotide Archive), EGA (European Genome-phenome Archive), BioImage Archive, Image Data Resource (IDR), EMPIAR (Electron Microscopy Public Image Archive), EMDB (Electron Microscopy Data Bank), MetaboLights (metabolomics repository), and EBRAINS research infrastructure.
SNSF Funding Available (up to CHF 10,000)
The FAIR Data Package©DSBU corresponds to eligible costs under the SNSF Open Research Data funding scheme.
Researchers must include a request of CHF 8,000–10,000 per project , depending on the Data Stewardship service package selected, under the budget category:
Material costs – Costs for granting access to research data (Open Research Data).
Depending on the selected service level:
- Essential package: CHF 2,000 / year
- Advanced package: CHF 2,500 / year
Budget Request at Submission.
As SNSF regulations do not allow additional funding requests after submission or grant award, researchers planning SNSF or EU proposals are encouraged to contact the DSBU early during proposal preparation.