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RDA: Interest Group in Education and Training for Research Data Handling - workshop, Oxford

Thu, 07/01/2016 - 11:31 by steve

The RDA Education and Training for Research Data Interest Group will be meeting in Oxford on the 14th and 15th January.

Background: The exponential increase in the availability of research data demands a new and evolving set of competencies and skills for researchers who create and use the data, and the growing cadre of professionals who support them.  In general, the fostering of these abilities is not explicitly addressed by current training or formal education plans. Also, the place, role and career structure of support professions (data scientists, data librarians, data managers, data analysts, research administrators, infrastructure providers…) is not clear.

The objective of this IG is the discussion and promotion of training/education on handling of research data, at all levels. Concretely, it will make the case for elaborating reference models to:

(i) enable the setting of quality standards for appropriate education and training programmes aimed at researchers and the professionals that support them, at all career stages;

(ii) encourage the recognition of these standards by institutions and organisations, including professional bodies.

The potential benefits include:

  • increased employability and recognition of data professionals, including international certification and accreditation, and improved career structures;
  • better recognition of data competencies and skills as integral components of researcher attributes;
  • increased supply of trained data professionals;
  • encouraging innovation in data-related curricula;
  • fostering professional associations around recognizable skills.

Also, here is an edited version of the text from our invite, on the purpose of the meeting:  

This interim meeting is to advance the work of the IG, focussing specifically on the preparation of the competence frameworks and collaboration between data-related professions.  We will also prepare for two forthcoming events: a workshop at the International Digital Curation Conference (http://www.dcc.ac.uk/events/idcc16/workshops#Workshop%207) and a session at the 7th RDA Plenary in Tokyo in March 2016.

As we don't have any specfic budget we won't be able to provide food, so nutritional requirements are not needed, but we will serve tea, coffee, water and biscuits at the breaks. There are very good sandwich shops and delis nearby so we won't starve!

Our draft agenda is as follows:

Day 1: Thu 14 Jan afternoon. Start c. 1pm.

  • Introduction (5 mins) 
  • Short presentations: data competences needed by four professions as recently studied by IG ETHRD (5' each, these talks are not to go in to detail, but to provide a quick overview of the status quo; some time for questions and discussion) (30 mins)
  • Breakout session (i.e. group work) on technical competences that are needed for the collaboration between the professions (45 mins)
  • Break (20 mins) 
  • Presentation of results of group work; discussion (30 mins) 
  • Presentations by those who want or need to present something (30 mins)
  • Breakout session (i.e. group work) on the differences in terminology within the four professions (45 mins)
  • Presentation of results of group work; discussion (30 mins) 
  • End of day 1; dinner in one of Oxford's historical local pubs (everybody covers one's own bill).

Day 2: Fri 15 Jan morning. Start 9am.

  • Recap of results of day 1 (15 mins) 
  • Breakout session (i.e. group work) on non-technical competences that are needed for the collaboration between the professions (45 mins)
  • Presentation of results of group work; discussion (15 mins) 
  • Break (20 mins) 
  • General discussion: what are the takeaways from this workshop? Which topics shall the IG cover in depth? how to continue? (45 mins)
  • Wrap-up (15 mins)

The meeting will be facilitated by Dr Christopher Jung of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

If interested, please contact s.brewer@soton.ac.uk

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