Melissa Scarpate and Andy Thwaites on research data activities and engagement at University of Cambridge. Research Data Champions Day 26 March 2018.

1. Jisc, 26th March 2018
Research Data Champions Day
Cambridge: A world of research data activities
Marta Busse-Wicher
Sergio Martínez Cuesta
Office of Scholarly Communication Department of Psychology
Andrew Thwaites
Department of Chemistry and CRUK-CI
Melissa Scarpate
Faculty of Education
Annemarie Eckes
Department of Geography

2. University of Cambridge
“With more than 18,000 students from all walks of life and all
corners of the world, over 11,000 staff, 31 Colleges and 150
Departments, Faculties, Schools and other institutions, no two
days are ever the same at the University of Cambridge.”
https://www.cam.ac.uk/about-the-university/how-the-university-and-colleges-work

3. Office of Scholarly Communication
Group of ~20, headed by Dr Danny Kingsley
Including Research Data, headed by Dr Lauren Cadwallader
Why were Champions needed to start with?
Data Policies
Data Repository
Data Management Plans
Research Data Management Training
Data Sharing

4. The Problem(s): Mission impossible
High demand for training
Need to raise awareness of RDM across the research
community
Wide variety of disciplines to serve
Limited resources
Slide by Dr Marta Teperek

5. Solution?
Rosie Higman, Marta Teperek, Danny Kingsley:
How about we ask researchers to advocate for good
data management and sharing practice within their
department?
Slide by Dr Marta Teperek

6. Data Champions – who are they?

7. Update Data Champion Forum - September 2017
Revealed world of activities by
Data Champions!
https://pixabay.com/en/globe-network-connectedness-connect-2679754/

8. How to solve problems: Suggestions / wish list
Promoting RDM
Long,
boring,
jargon
Engage
senior
levels
No staff
responsible
Don’t
know
how to
do
RDM
No
incentives
Only
relevant
@ point
of need
Fear of
change
No links
managers –
researchers
https://pixabay.com/en/pizza-dough-delicious-hot-food-2802555/
Policy
(Funders)
Templates
&
examples
Data
Management
Plans
Bite-sized
e-mails
ELNs
Easy access
to RDM
Part of
writing
grants

9. How to solve problems: Suggestions / wish list
Convincing People to FAIR research
Confidentiality
Lack of
infrastr
ucture
Fear of
being
scooped
Permissions
Lack
of
expertise
Data sharing
solutions
Embargoes
D.O.I.s
More
citation
Recognition
for data set
IP
Lack of
control
over
use
Complexity
Recognition
for
“negative”
data
Problems of
not sharing
Policy
(Funders)

10. Evolution of Data Champions - From RMD to beyond
Initially:
help with RDM training
works well when there is a local RDM expert and
infrastructure support
Also expanded into:
Incorporating “boring” RDM into “interesting” courses
Promoting ELN
and being FAIR researcher

11. Achievements of Data Champions
Four JISC Data Champions:
• Annemarie Eckes
• Melissa Scarpate
• Andy Thwaites
• Sergio Martinez Cuesta

12. Outstanding issues:
 Under-representation of humanities researchers
 Lack of local senior support or interest
 Variable amount of time to spare by researchers –
usually not much!
 Need for professionals – solution: Data Stewards
program?

13. FAIR Data Champions World - future
 Direct involvement of (more) researchers
 Development of RDM solutions to address
researcher’s needs
 Training and opportunities for champions (JISC)
 International collaborations – like this event!
 We are looking forward to working with you!

14. A world of data activities
The OSC
 Workshops, tutorials and seminars
 1-1 meetings
 Mentoring schemes
Education Psychology
 Surveys
Geography Economics
 Forums
Biochemistry Genetics Sainsbury CRUK-CI Chemistry
...

15.  Fortnightly workshops and 1-1
meetings with students and
fellows about data topics
Skills for academic success
programme
https://www.wolfson.cam.ac.uk/
datascience
 Avoiding Data Disasters:
best practices for
biological sciences
Bioinformatics training
https://datachampcam.github.io/
avoid-data-disaster
 Principles on how to work with
data more effectively
 Backing up, naming, organising
and exchanging files
 Data cleaning using OpenRefine
before input in R or Python
 An introduction to Git
and GitHub for chemists
 Managing your code and
data using version control
Graduate education
programme
https://github.com/semacu/training

16. Cambridge Data Champions
Activity Occurrences Audience
Members
(total)
Notes
1:1 Mentoring 6 1
Embedded teaching 1 * *
Workshop_RDM 11 123 * 20.5 people per 6
sessions
Workshop_Talk 6 52 * 26 people per 2
sessions
Conference 1 approx. 100 * approx. 100 people
per 1 session
Research_Survey 3 48 * 24 people per 2
sessions
Other 8 10 * 10 people per 1
session
* Missing data. Averaging 20 per session for workshops, research, and other activities. Did not use conferen
data in this calculation. Total number = 39 activities.

17. Jisc Data Champions
Activity Occurrences Audience
Members
(Average)
Audience per Session
Seminars 4 12.3 3, 4, 4, 30
Brown Bag
Lunch Seminars
3 4.7 3, 4, 7
BYOD sessions 2 4 7, 1
1 on 1 sessions 8 1 1 per session
Usually, 3-7 attendees
in group sessions.
*Missing data.

18. Jisc Data Champions’ Feedback
established seminar series to
present within.
For future efforts, develop a culture
within the department where sharing
information and expertise is regular
and well-attended.
Formal opportunities for PhD students, postdocs (e.g., orientations, courses, and
initial meetings).

19. Thank you!
Questions:
sermarcue@gmail.com
Sergio Martínez Cuesta
mnb29@cam.ac.uk
Marta Busse-Wicher
Andrew Thwaites
acgt2@cam.ac.uk
Melissa Scarpate
melissa.scarpate@gmail.com
Annemarie Eckes
ahe24@cam.ac.uk