A thematic archive within the Australian Social Science Data Archive (ASSDA), the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Data Archive (ATSIDA) provides a unique link between research data and community development. With data, statistics and datasets that comprise everything from SPSS numerical data, through to bark paintings and song recordings, the project provides both essential infrastructure for current and emerging social science researchers, and community access to datasets which relate to them.

The ATSIDA team works closely with:

·         experienced researchers submitting their ‘life’s work’ to the archive

·         emerging researchers developing data management plans

·         Indigenous communities seeking digital repatriation of data relating to them.

ATSIDA provides a trusted digital archive for social sciences data relating to the Indigenous peoples of Australia through the secure preservation of data in the Australian National University Supercomputer Facility (ANUSF) as a thematic archive within the Australian Social Sciences Data Archive.

ATSIDA develops data literacy skills in early career researchers, through the development of reasonable and comprehensive data management planning strategies.

And importantly, ATSIDA ensures that the Indigenous communities informing the research gain access to knowledge provided by their ancestors and peers. 

This paper demonstrates how the project provides sustainability across all levels of the researcher and the researched. Focussed on the challenging domain of Indigenous research, ATSIDA is establishing new modalities for handling research data with implications across the social sciences.