There is an increasing focus on making data openly available, or at least archived according to the FAIR principles. This has also led to the need for more knowledge and skills in data management at all levels. For some, this is becoming a career path on its own. That was the topic of the panel session “Fostering the emergence of new research data careers” I moderated at EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF2024) in Katowice, Poland, today.
The initiative came from EUA, where I am currently leading “FAIR data”, a subgroup of the Expert Group on Open Science. The aim was to address the needs, challenges, and opportunities related to the emergence of new research data careers, including identifying essential skills, clear career paths, and their integration into research assessment systems.
Federica Garbuglia (EUA) started us off by presenting the EUA Open Science Agenda 2025 and some results from an EUA report on research data.
I was fortunate to have three brilliant panelists. Pim de Boer (VU Amsterdam and AURORA universities) began with presenting the ERA Action 17. Then, Kevin Ashley (Digital Curation Centre and Skills4EOSC project) presented the results of the Skills4EOSC project. Finally, Sara Coppini (University of Bologna) presented the “Data Steward@Unibo” project and her daily life as a data steward.
It was an excellent 75-minute session. Some key takeaways were:
- Reaching common definitions of key terms (data curators, stewards, managers, etc.) is important, but so is identifying the skills and competencies involved
- We need clear career paths for the new data professional job profiles so that they can thrive and have the chance for career mobility
- Research data is an asset for universities, and good data stewardship boosts research quality
I have discussed these topics in other panels, but the nice thing about today was that we managed to include both higher-level perspectives and practitioners’ daily hands-on activities.
