Rec. 26: Data science and stewardship skills

[sjDCC]

Data skills of various types, as well as data management, data science and data stewardship competencies, need to be developed and embedded at all stages and with all participants in the research endeavour.

• Data skills, including an appropriate foundational level of in data science and data stewardship, should be included in undergraduate and postgraduate training across disciplines, and in the provision of continuing professional development (CPD) credits for researchers. Stakeholders: Institutions; Data services; Research communities.

• More in-depth data science and data stewardship skills should be embedded in Master’s degree courses for Information Professionals, so future generations of librarians, archivists and information systems staff are equipped to deal with the increasing complexity of research outputs. Stakeholders: Institutions; Data services.

[asconrad]

Some research managers I talk to, seem to think that data stewardship should not just be part of Information professionals training, but rather add information Science and Data Science to a disciplinary foundation, e.g. in a specialized Masters program.

[katerbow]

DFG position: This recommendation covers a topic that has been discussed since long, and numerous other stakeholders did recommend the training and skills issue many times on various levels. It certainly is of great importance to improve appropriate skills and there are promising developments already, however, further recommendations are presumably not helping this process. This recommendation as the others in the “Skills and roles of FAIR” section should be reconsidered to be condensed into one single recommendation or inclusion in others (Recommendation 13?).

[ferag]

I think the future data scientist can include different approaches:

• Oriented to data analytics (supported by the Data Lifecycle).
• Data Science engineering, to develop systems to support the DLC.
• Data Manager or Open Data Manager
• etc.

[pkdoorn]

Combine with Rec. #13: Professionalise data science and data stewardship roles #13.

[sangusa]

EOSCpilot WP7 agrees with this recommendation although perhaps this could be combined with the rec 13, as commented by others, to allow the professional development (re-training) and formal education contexts to be seen as continuous rather than separate. There could also be a stronger link between skills and recognition/rewards. Researchers and others will be motivated to develop skills to perform activities they are likely to get recognition for, from their peers and their institution.

[gtoneill]

Fully support the importance of Data Science and Data Stewardship skills with a focus on FAIR and the crucial roles that data scientists and stewards will play in training and supporting researchers. This should be incorporated into a broader shift towards training and support for Open Science. The skills identified by the EC Expert Group on Education and Skills and the OSPP should be further developed with all major stakeholders. There is some overlap with previous recommendations including Recommendations 13 and 14 on roles and rewards for data scientists and stewards. Perhaps merge?