Becoming a data steward
In this post Shalini Kurapati introduces the concept of data stewarding. Drawing on her own experience, she describes how data stewarding has developed an important role in delivering open science and research in higher education and research institutions and discusses how data stewarding also presents an important opportunity for post-doctoral researchers to develop careers within and beyond academia.
Like most PhD researchers, my motivation to enter academia was not driven by monetary success, but a strong desire to make an impact on society for the greater good. After undertaking a complex balancing act between PhD, postdoc, motherhood, and starting a company, I decided not to follow the daunting path of uncertainty towards obtaining tenure. However, neither was I was ready to cut ties completely with the academic network that I had built over 7 years of research. Instead, I wanted to find a role, where I could put my research experience to use, whilst preparing myself to step outside academia. The role I eventually found was that of data steward at TU Delft.
In the context of higher education, data stewards are the first point of reference for all data related questions. In my role as a data steward at TU Delft, I was able to advise, support and train researchers on various aspects of data management throughout the life cycle of a research project, from initial planning to post-publication. This included storing, managing and sharing research outputs such as data, images, models and code.
Data stewards also advise researchers on the ethical, policy and legal considerations during data collection, processing and dissemination. In a way, they are general practitioners for research data management and can usually solve most problems faced by academics. In cases that require specialist intervention, they also serve as a key point for referral (eg: IT, patent, legal experts).
Data stewardship is often organised centrally through the university library. (Subject) Data librarians, research data consultants and research data officers, usually perform similar roles to data stewards. However, TU Delft operates a decentralised model, where data stewards are placed within faculties as disciplinary experts with research experience. This allows data stewards to provide discipline specific support to researchers, which is particularly beneficial, as the concept of what data is itself varies across disciplines.
I did both my PhD and postdoc at the faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, where I ultimately worked as a data steward. Support and training requests from researchers were often related to data management plans, data storage and archiving options, data sharing possibilities, personal data protection, GDPR, cross-border data transfers, commercially sensitive data, discipline specific protocols, ethics/legal compliance, and data/code licensing.
Notwithstanding this technical knowledge, my biggest strength was my disciplinary knowledge and deep understanding of how research is actually done. Being able to say ‘I know what you mean’ or ‘I’ve been there’ and really mean it, is massively important to developing healthy and supportive relationships with researchers. This knowledge also made it easier to explain to researchers, who are normally more focused on their research and publications, the importance of data stewardship and the benefits it can provide in terms of research quality and efficiency.
