Data Stewards at the Data Science Center of the University of Bremen: Establishing Domain-Specific Data Stewardship

Abstract

Three Data Stewards complemented the Research Data Management (RDM) support infrastructure at the University of Bremen in summer 2022. They are located at the Data Science Center (DSC), an interdisciplinary institute founded in 2019 that acts as hub for dataintensive research. The DSC’s main task is to promote excellent research, education and interdisciplinary collaboration in the field of data science. For this purpose, the DSC provides researchers from all disciplines with a wide range of services, such as computing capacities, data literacy trainings, financial support as well as technical and methodological consultancy on the implementation of data science methods (e.g. machine learning). With the three Data Stewards, these services have been extended to include the RDM aspect. The DSC's Data Stewards are discipline-specific experts acting as an interface between researchers and RDM-infrastructure. They offer trainings and consultations along the research data lifecycle following the FAIR principles. Their overarching goal is to reduce the barriers associated with RDM for scientists and to promote a cultural shift towards a FAIRdata-culture. According to their professional backgrounds, they support the following research domains: (1) Social Sciences and Humanities, (2) Natural and Marine Sciences, and (3) Natural and Health Sciences. With their diverse backgrounds and experience, the Data Stewards form a well-balanced team which will be capable of addressing a wide range of RDM-related topics. During the start-up phase, the Data Stewards gained an overview about digital services useful for RDM at the University of Bremen, participated in workshops (e.g. a DIOSI train-the-trainer workshop on European level) and conferences. They presented their services to a wider audience at the DSC’s virtual “Data Science Forum” seminar series. In addition, the Data Stewards have reached out to University of Bremen scientists, research groups, institutes and data repositories to find out first-hand about specific needs but also to identify existing expertise and already established best practice workflows. The Data Stewards provide support for researchers during the preparation of Data Management Plans (DMPs) for funding applications as well as throughout the research process. A service that is likely to become even more prominent in the work of the Data Stewards in the near future. The first discipline-specific trainings offered by the Data Stewards include an Introduction to Research Data Management in Marine Sciences and How to Write Your DMP as a Social Scientist. Sensitised by replication crises in science, especially in the fields of psychology and marine ecology, the Data Stewards have a particular interest in all things open science, especially reproducibility of research results. To raise awareness to this issue and activate the scientific community, they also hosted a Reproducibility Hackathon (ReproHack). The Data Stewards also engage with local networks like the “Research Data Working Group”, which connects initiatives in the fields of RDM and Data Science and is organised under the umbrella of the U Bremen Research Alliance (UBRA) – a cooperation network of the University of Bremen and twelve state-financed non-university research institutes. At the same time, UBRA member institutions are involved in eight of 19 consortia of the first two funding rounds of the German National Research Data Infrastructure (Nationale Forschungsdateninfrastruktur, NFDI) and therefore provide valuable networking opportunities for the Data Stewards. Another important initiative is the “Data Stewardship Network”, where UBRA scientists interested in sustainable and collaborative RDM have the opportunity to exchange with colleagues on a regular basis. In addition, the Data Stewards work closely together with the central “Research Services” unit of the University of Bremen, which provides general support on DMPs, and the library with its expertise in open-access publishing and data archiving. Links with these already existing networks and support infrastructures will not only be important for joint activities and synergies at the operational level, but also to benefit from collegial advice across disciplines. The DSC’s Data Stewards are only at the beginning of their work. For the future, they plan to advance their activities in fields of data-lifecycle support, RDM policies, best practices, data repository selection, DMP writing, and data literacy training. In order to provide the best possible support to researchers in the aforementioned disciplines and beyond, they will continue to refine their RDM services in collaboration with existing RDM structures at the University of Bremen and UBRA. The aim is to increase the visibility of their services, activate researchers, as well as to pool and expand RDM resources. Three Data Stewards complemented the Research Data Management (RDM) support infrastructure at the University of Bremen in summer 2022. They are located at the Data Science Center (DSC), an interdisciplinary institute founded in 2019 that acts as hub for dataintensive research. The DSC’s main task is to promote excellent research, education and interdisciplinary collaboration in the field of data science. For this purpose, the DSC provides researchers from all disciplines with a wide range of services, such as computing capacities, data literacy trainings, financial support as well as technical and methodological consultancy on the implementation of data science methods (e.g. machine learning). With the three Data Stewards, these services have been extended to include the RDM aspect. The DSC's Data Stewards are discipline-specific experts acting as an interface between researchers and RDM-infrastructure. They offer trainings and consultations along the research data lifecycle following the FAIR principles. Their overarching goal is to reduce the barriers associated with RDM for scientists and to promote a cultural shift towards a FAIRdata-culture. According to their professional backgrounds, they support the following research domains: (1) Social Sciences and Humanities, (2) Natural and Marine Sciences, and (3) Natural and Health Sciences. With their diverse backgrounds and experience, the Data Stewards form a well-balanced team which will be capable of addressing a wide range of RDM-related topics. During the start-up phase, the Data Stewards gained an overview about digital services useful for RDM at the University of Bremen, participated in workshops (e.g. a DIOSI train-the-trainer workshop on European level) and conferences. They presented their services to a wider audience at the DSC’s virtual “Data Science Forum” seminar series. In addition, the Data Stewards have reached out to University of Bremen scientists, research groups, institutes and data repositories to find out first-hand about specific needs but also to identify existing expertise and already established best practice workflows. The Data Stewards provide support for researchers during the preparation of Data Management Plans (DMPs) for funding applications as well as throughout the research process. A service that is likely to become even more prominent in the work of the Data Stewards in the near future. The first discipline-specific trainings offered by the Data Stewards include an Introduction to Research Data Management in Marine Sciences and How to Write Your DMP as a Social Scientist. Sensitised by replication crises in science, especially in the fields of psychology and marine ecology, the Data Stewards have a particular interest in all things open science, especially reproducibility of research results. To raise awareness to this issue and activate the scientific community, they also hosted a Reproducibility Hackathon (ReproHack). The Data Stewards also engage with local networks like the “Research Data Working Group”, which connects initiatives in the fields of RDM and Data Science and is organised under the umbrella of the U Bremen Research Alliance (UBRA) – a cooperation network of the University of Bremen and twelve state-financed non-university research institutes. At the same time, UBRA member institutions are involved in eight of 19 consortia of the first two funding rounds of the German National Research Data Infrastructure (Nationale Forschungsdateninfrastruktur, NFDI) and therefore provide valuable networking opportunities for the Data Stewards. Another important initiative is the “Data Stewardship Network”, where UBRA scientists interested in sustainable and collaborative RDM have the opportunity to exchange with colleagues on a regular basis. In addition, the Data Stewards work closely together with the central “Research Services” unit of the University of Bremen, which provides general support on DMPs, and the library with its expertise in open-access publishing and data archiving. Links with these already existing networks and support infrastructures will not only be important for joint activities and synergies at the operational level, but also to benefit from collegial advice across disciplines. The DSC’s Data Stewards are only at the beginning of their work. For the future, they plan to advance their activities in fields of data-lifecycle support, RDM policies, best practices, data repository selection, DMP writing, and data literacy training. In order to provide the best possible support to researchers in the aforementioned disciplines and beyond, they will continue to refine their RDM services in collaboration with existing RDM structures at the University of Bremen and UBRA. The aim is to increase the visibility of their services, activate researchers, as well as to pool and expand RDM resources