This document summarizes current practices and issues around research data management (RDM) training in Europe. It discusses the results of a survey of over 100 RDM trainers and trainees, who were mostly from Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK. The survey found that most training is delivered by librarians and researchers to PhD students and postdocs, lasts less than two days, aims to change practices but has limited impact. Areas for improvement include tailoring training more to researchers' needs with a bottom-up approach. A workshop on the topic shared insights like perceiving RDM training as professionally relevant rather than mandated. Overall themes emphasize making training timely, discipline-specific, hands-on, and focused on practical exercises.

1. Current practices around RDM
training in Europe
Jens Nieschulze, University of Göttingen, on behalf of
RD working group

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Knowledge-Exchange
Vision: to enable open scholarship
two areas of particular focus:

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Knowledge-Exchange
Vision: to enable open scholarship
two areas of particular focus:

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Landscape
o FOSTER: Open Science Training 2015
o Monash University: Research data skills development
o DCC: Digital Curation Training
o University of Edinburgh: Research Data Management Training
o Research Information and Digital Literacies Coalition (RDLIS) (2013): Helping to open up
o University of Cambridge: Training Resources
o JISC: Research Data Management Training
o Nestor: Training and education in digital long term preservation
o GESIS: Training Center CESSDA
o RIN: Research Data Management Skills Support Initiative (DaMSSI)
o DigCurV: Digital Curator Vocational Education Europe
o Australian National University: Training and resources
o Purdue University: Supporting Information for Data Services
o FH Potsdam: Postgraduate Master Degree Course "Information Science MA”
o 1st WP5 Training course for data curators at GFBio Collection Data Centers
o Task Force on Librarians’ Competencies in Support of E-Research and Scholarly Communication by COAR, ARL, CARL and LIBER
o …

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Training
Who What
Why How

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Training
Who What
Why How
Survey
&
Workshop

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The survey
• NOT representative
• ~24 questions
• Dec 10, 2015 - Jan 15, 2016
• 103 valid responses
• DE 56%
• NL 16 %
• UK 10%
• FIN 8%
• DK 6%
• UK underrepresented
The Data:
http://repository.jisc.ac.uk/6379/13/KE_Training_%26_Skills_ Survey_Dec_2015_Raw_data_-_all_responses.xlsx
http://repository.jisc.ac.uk/6379/14/KE_Training_%26_Skills_ Survey_Dec_2015_Tidied_data_-_individual_responses.xlsx
The workshop
• 9th & 10th Feb, 2016
• 30 participants (+5 KE)
• 8 presentations on practices and
experiences
• 2-4 discussion sessions
Aim:
sharing successful approaches to
RDM training and capacity building

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Survey: some numbers
– Trainers: curators/librarians [55%] &| researchers [44%]
– Trainees: PhD students [~90%] & postdocs [~70%]
– Duration: less than 2 days [~90%] (18% only a few hours)
– Objectives: change practice and/or behaviour [~70%]
– Impact: Awareness [~20%]; changes in practice [~20%]

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Survey: some insights
– Materials geared for institutions
– On site, face2face
– Building awareness
– Need to address concrete problems
– Systematic discrepancy between trainers’ expectations
and feelings expressed by those being trained

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Survey: Areas for improvement (open question)
less than 6% are content
…

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Insight/Workshop
Researchers tend not to perceive a need for
training except when driven by […] mandates or expectations of funders
Do you measure a growing interest in training?

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Insight/Workshop
Researchers tend not to perceive a need for
training except when driven by […] mandates or expectations of funders
Start with making researchers realise that RDM is
both professionally relevant and important, use
carrots, not sticks
Success and impact criteria evolving

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Recurring themes:
 Tailor to researchers’ needs
 Bottom-up approach
 Appreciate varied way data is perceived
 Providing training in a timely fashion
 Adapt language of RDM to respective discipline
 Understand and know relevant research environments
 Hands-on approaches/real-life case studies
 Exercises, exercises, practical and relevant exercises

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What curricula, methods,… can be shared?
Sustainable registry of information on training resources needed

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Thank you for your attention!