The “FAIR Implementation Workshop - What is a ‘Data Champion’ and how can they support good practice in data management and sharing?” will take place on 16th April at 11.00-12.30.
Confirm your registration below. Note: Registration for the workshop is free but mandatory if you would like to attend.
Encouraging and supporting researchers to manage, share, and reuse data effectively and responsibly is a challenge shared by higher education institutions, repositories, and researchers themselves. Often, the role of educating, training, and providing practical assistance with research data management and FAIR is taken on by professional services staff and repository employees. It is now becoming increasingly recognised that researchers themselves might inspire and support their own peers, and provide a different perspective and influence, as well as discipline-specific knowledge and experience. This is often known as ‘data championship’.
This webinar explores the definition, qualities, roles, and responsibilities of a ‘data champion’. We will examine the potential motivations, incentives, and sustainability of setting up data champion programmes’. We will look at the relationship between data champions and professional services and repository staff such as data management specialists, data stewards, and digital archivists. We will ask how the organisers of such programmes communicate with, encourage, retain, and replace data champions. And much more - though these are our suggested topics, we will be led by the speakers and audience members on the day!
Our special guests are each from organisations with data champion programmes, or that are considering establishing one. Each organisation’s programme is at a different level of maturity, and – with different financial resources, staffing levels etc – each speaker brings a different perspective on the potential rewards and challenges involved. Our speakers are:
- Dr Giulia Caldoni, Data Steward for the biomedical area at the Research Area of the University of Bologna. EOSC FAIR Champion. Italy.
- Dr Sara Garofalo, Senior assistant professor at the Department of Psychology and Data Champion, University of Bologna. Italy.
- Dr Aoife Coffey, Research Data Coordinator, University College Cork. Co-Chair of the Sonraí (Irish Data Stewardship Network) project. Ireland.
- Dr Lutfi Othman and Dr Kim Clugston, Research Data Coordinators, Cambridge University. UK
The event hosts will be Dr Deborah Thorpe, DANS and Clara Linés, DCC, introducing the programme and guiding this discussion about data champions.
