Node: ELIXIR Netherlands
Authors: Mijke Jetten, data stewardship liaison and deputy training coordinator
Topics: Starting point, Existing work
What looks like a gap may be a visibility or coordination issue. Before defining new priorities or actions, check what already exists across the network, who is involved and where connections or responsibilities are unclear.
As part of exploring a possible Node data management strategy for ELIXIR Netherlands, we started mapping activities, roles and services across the network. We used the RDA GORC model together with the new ELIXIR Netherlands strategy to help structure our notes and discussions. The goal was not to cover the full model, but to identify gaps in coordination and areas where ELIXIR Netherlands could help connect activities across the network.
What we noticed is that many things already existed somewhere in the network. ELIXIR Netherlands already had strong expertise in interoperability, FAIRification, training and tools. At the same time, activities were spread across projects and organisations, and coordination was not always clear. This made it difficult to understand what should happen at Node level and what should stay local to institutes or projects.
The discussions quickly became practical. We kept coming back to one simple question: how does this help researchers? This helped us focus on topics such as data access and governance, metadata standards, and training around standards and tools. One important lesson so far is that ELIXIR Netherlands probably does not need to build many completely new things itself. In many cases, the bigger challenge is helping people find existing expertise, tools and examples across the network.