Contributor: Mijke Jetten
Role: Data Stewardship Liaison, Deputy Training coordinator
Context
ELIXIR Netherlands works in a very distributed way. Many universities, university medical centres (UMCs) and research organisations already have their own research data management (RDM) support, tools and expertise. That gives us a lot to build on, but it also makes coordination difficult.
Recently, ELIXIR Netherlands introduced a new data stewardship liaison role. As part of starting in this role, I began exploring whether ELIXIR Netherlands should also develop a Node level data management strategy.
Very quickly, I realised the challenge was not creating something completely new. Most things already existed somewhere in the network. Different organisations already had their own tools, support pages and local approaches. The difficult part was understanding how everything connected and where ELIXIR Netherlands could actually add value.
This raised a lot of practical questions. Should ELIXIR Netherlands create its own guidance pages or connect to existing platforms such as RDMkit? Should we mainly support the core Node team or also the wider Dutch network? And how do you make a strategy useful when partners already have their own priorities and local structures?
Together with the Heads of Node, we identified a few practical areas where ELIXIR Netherlands could help more. These included data access and governance, metadata standards and catalogues, and training around standards and tools.
To structure these discussions, I started using the RDA GORC model. This helped identify strengths, gaps and possible priorities linked to the new ELIXIR Netherlands strategy.
One important lesson so far is that we probably do not need to build many completely new things ourselves. In many cases, the bigger challenge is helping people find existing expertise, tools and examples across the network.
What still remains difficult is deciding where ELIXIR Netherlands should actively develop something new and where it is better to connect existing activities. Because the network is loosely connected and funding is mostly project based, coordination depends heavily on collaboration and shared priorities across partners.
Why a Node data management strategy
The examples below connect to the module page on Why a Node data management strategy.
Identifying where the Node can add value
One thing we noticed quickly was that everyone already had ideas about coordination, support and data management, but most of these ideas stayed in conversations. We talked about visibility, training, tools and governance, but it was difficult to move from general discussions to concrete next steps.
To make the discussion more practical, we started writing down rough ideas for a possible ELIXIR Netherlands data management strategy. We used the new ELIXIR Netherlands strategy as a starting point and added notes around data stewardship, training, technical coordination and support for researchers. The document was messy and incomplete, but that actually helped. It gave us something concrete to react to.
We then used the draft during discussions with the Head of Node and a data expert from one of our institutions. One thing that became clear very quickly was that many activities already existed somewhere in the network, but responsibilities and connections between activities were not always visible. Starting with a lightweight draft helped turn broad discussions into more practical conversations about priorities, coordination and where ELIXIR Netherlands could realistically help.
Mapping strengths and gaps across the Node
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 understand where coordination was missing and where ELIXIR Netherlands could help most.
One thing became clear very quickly: 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.