Research Data Stewardship
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What is Research Data Stewardship?
Research data stewardship is the building of organisational networks, infrastructures, and communities, often at universities and higher education institutions, to promote best practices in research data management (RDM) and embed FAIR data principles into research projects and workflows. It often includes the hiring of professional data stewards, who work within institutions at a local level to raise awareness of RDM, FAIR, and Open Data best practices through advocacy such as discipline specific training, workshops, and events. In the health sciences and biomedicine, the focus of research data stewardship is ‘the responsibility to respect the informational rights of data subjects’ (Wendelborn, et al, 2023).
The benefits of research data stewardship include:
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Improved data management and quality across research communities
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The potential for greater reach and impact of published data resources
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Data outputs made increasingly FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) with an emphasis placed on reproducibility
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Improved compliance with funder and institutional regulations and requirements
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Reduced risks around data-related security and privacy requirements
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Harnessing disciplinary and local expertise in data production, analysis and management, and sharing this across disciplines, projects, and groups
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Greater visibility and profile of technical staff and experimental facilities
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Potential to foster new collaborative opportunities
What is a Research Data Steward?
Research data stewards support researchers with their RDM, including advocating for Open Data and FAIR data principles and by acting as the first point of contact for enquiries.
They also act as bridge between university data support infrastructure (e.g. the Library RDM team, Research IT, Information Governance, faculty data managers) and as experts in data practices in the disciplines they support.
They can provide generic support with research data-related issues in departments or faculties (Data Management Plans, funder policies, GDPR, etc.) or be embedded in research projects, teams, laboratories, and institutes providing discipline focused RDM advice and expertise.
The University of Manchester Research Data Stewardship Community
Over the past few years we have been able to progress our activities through the development of a formal Research Data Stewardship project. The University of Manchester has initiated a formal research data stewardship project, developed as a collaboration between the Research Lifecycle Programme and the Office for Open Research.
The aim of the project is to establish a network of data stewards and build the model for professional research data stewardship across the University.
The project team hosted a workshop in Spring 2023 to enable stakeholders to shape the future of research data stewardship at the University of Manchester. One of the priorities identified in the workshop was the need for the project to facilitate communication between those working as research data stewards, through meetings, events, and easy ways to connect with one another.
We are beginning to develop a community of people at the University who are already working as research data stewards or have research data stewardship activities as part of their role, and to bring them together. This will hopefully benefit individuals and their research projects or those they are supporting, as well as providing the project team with further insights on what is needed for the formalisation of research data steward roles, which can be applied to the rest of the project.
There is already a strong relationship between RDM and research software engineering at the University, which we plan to develop further through collaboration with the new Research Software Community.
Research Data Stewardship Community Teams space
We have created a new Research Data Stewardship Community channel within the Computation and Data in Research (CaDiR) Teams space. This community space aims to:
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Develop awareness of the role of Research data stewardship and stewards within research
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Share resources about external networks, training opportunities, and events
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Help the community learn more about research data stewardship
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Advocate for the benefits of data stewardship to research communities
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Promote the professionalisation of research data stewardship and the recognition of research data stewards
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Identify where research data stewardship activities are already happening at the University and bring together people who work in related roles
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Provide an online forum for those working as research data stewards to share knowledge and best practices through peer support and cross-disciplinary collaboration
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Reach and engage with those who produce and work directly with research data, as well as principal investigators and Professional Services staff
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Signpost to relevant experts and services across the University
To join the Teams channel simply visit Research Data Stewardship Community and request to join the CaDiR Teams space.
Research Data Conversations
As part of a new series of My Research Essentials (MRE) and Research Data Stewardship Community events exploring themes within research data and data stewardship, we have introduced Research Data Conversations. These sessions adopt a collaborative and conversational format to explore the promotion of Open Data and FAIR data practices, and the promotion and development of new and emerging ideas in research data.
Details of upcoming Research Data Conversations events can be found via the MRE workshop programme website.
Research Data Stewardship: external training toolkit
University of Manchester staff and postgraduate researchers can access My Research Essentials (MRE) research data management (RDM) training workshops and resources provided by the Office for Open Research. In addition to these University resources, there are a range of high-quality external data stewardship and data steward training resources and courses also available:
This is an introductory level course developed by FAIRsFAIR (Fostering Fair Data Practices in Europe) aimed at anyone looking to learn more about data stewardship, the role of a data steward, or how to provide support to research and professional services staff with RDM activities.
Free online course for those who manage digital data as part of their research project.
Free online course on research data management (with certificate option).
The Essentials 4 Data Support is an intermediate online course which aims to contribute to professionalisation of data stewards and coordination between them within the global data stewardship community.
The course is for anyone wanting to learn more about how to support researchers and colleagues in storing, managing, archiving, and sharing research data.
This online video lecture course on data stewardship has been produced by the University of Tromsø within the DocEnhance project, funded by the European Union, and aims to enhance postgraduate researchers knowledge of RDM.
This comprehensive course links the latest findings on research data management, open science, and open research with the tasks of data stewards and the international data stewardship community. It is delivered by Vienna University Library online, with some in-person events, and in the English language. Duration is two semesters starting in October each year, currently costing € 1,475 (£1,228) per semester.
The full course programme includes:
Module 1: Basics of Research Data Management and Open Science
Module 2: Basics of IT and Data Science
Module 3: FAIR Research Data in the Life Cycle
Module 4: Research Data Management Support
Module 5: Data Stewardship in Practice: Project Work.