Recap of the workshop "Embedding and sustaining Research Data and Research Software Professionals in Research Teams and Institutions"

Thanks everyone who took part in the workshop "Embedding and sustaining Research Data and Research Software Professionals in Research Teams and Institutions" 😀 On behalf of all the organisers, I wanted to share with you a short recap of the workshop, as well as the workshop materials (atached).

The session focused on embedding and sustaining research data and research software professionals in Research Teams and Institutions.

After a short introduction and getting to know each other, challenges around embedding of these roles were introduced in short pitches. The challenges included:

1. Appreciation and recognition: How to appreciate and recognise these professionals and how to offer them appropriate career perspectives? Academic roles tend to be well recognised within research institutions. Some professional support staff roles are also well recognised. But what happens with the roles which fall in-between? How can grassroots activities contribute to advocating for change and supporting institution-led strategies?

2. Job profiles: How to ensure that these roles have formal job profiles? A case study of introducing a job profile of a data steward within the Dutch universities job classification system was introduced through a community-driven effort. However, challenges remain around the adoption of these profiles, attracting and retaining talented people, providing suitable training etc.

3. Training and skills: these are essentials to provide professionals with growth opportunities through training. But at the moment it is rather unclear what training is needed, and what training is available. Finally, even if there is training, is there always capacity to deliver such training at scale?

4. Structural embedding of data and software professionals within research institutions: how to facilitate structural embedding? Should this be organised centrally or at a more granular level? Proper recognition and successful embedding depends on recognising and rewarding these roles. For this, cultural change is needed to change the perception of how support staff are viewed.

5. Sustainable funding for research professionals: Getting structural funding from institutions: How to get the buy in and commitment from the institution to secure structural funding? How to scale? How to focus on research quality and on contributing to a more sustainable ecosystem? How to convince researchers that hiring a data manager or an RSE for a project instead of another PhD student will lead to efficiency gains?

Subsequently, the participants split into groups where they discussed the challenges and possible solutions. Example solutions which were discussed:

1. Remove the divide between research and support roles;

2. Flexibility and mindset change;

3. Physical embedding of professional staff within research teams;

4. Supporting/enabling mobility between different roles;

5. Coordinated efforts across the country to show good practices.

Finally, participants reflected on concrete actions they could take to address the challenges in the next 6 months. Some inspiring ideas which were shared are:

1. Connect HR and Recognition & Rewards professionals with research data and software professionals communities;

2. Brown bag luncheons for support and research staff - bring people together for informal lunchtime discussions;

3. Improve visibility and appreciation of support roles through case studies;

4. Facilitate team discussions around institutional policies;

5. Join ARMA-NL.

We also wanted to share a few take aways of the workshop:

• Everyone can drive change within their environment. You can start with local discussions and pitch the benefits and opportunities of positive change to your colleagues.
• Current role structures in many institutions do not provide ideal support for technical professional roles but there is no perfect solution - discussion and engagement are important to find suitable solutions.
• Improving support for roles relating to software and data can help institutions to improve the quality and sustainability of their research outputs.

And two interesting quotes:

There should be a continuum between research and professional support staff roles.

Good research support is the difference between research and good research.

For the full notes, as well as all the feedback from the participants, see the materials attached.