Towards a community-endorsed data steward profession description for life science research

This document contains the summary of the ZonMw funded project proposal  “Towards a community-endorsed data steward profession description for Life Science research” and is the starting document of the Zenodo Community with that same name.

Sufficient, high quality data steward capacity in projects and institutes is one of the requirements for FAIR data management and research in the field of personalised health. The overall project aim is to professionalise the data steward function within the life-sciences domain, with a special focus on the implementation of the FAIR data principles. The project will work towards a common job description and an agreement on knowledge, skills and competencies of a data steward that is broadly supported within the Dutch life-sciences  community. These knowledge, skills and competencies will be translated into concrete learning objectives, which in turn will be used to develop an education line and training material for data stewards (including a design for an eLearning module). Sustainable implementation and alignment with existing education will be ensured. This 1-year project will be executed by a core team in close collaboration with a consultation committee consisting of representatives of the main stakeholders in the domain.