Working With Silos At An Agricultural University

At universities, several communities co-exist and often turn into silos, specialised communities working independently and isolated within the organisation.

The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) generates data in diverse areas, including e.g. wildlife, soil use, water, food, forestry, agriculture and aquaculture, through research and environmental monitoring and assessment activities. The latter are often initiated and funded by external official authorities, with specific requirements that may affect data management.

The scientific activities take place within silos. The same goes for the data curation community, where various organisational units have tended to form silos as well.

- - The scientific silos are in many aspects unique, needing specialised and customised solutions. Their data sovereignty is a vital part of academic freedom and thus must be protected.

- - The support silos hold the general know-how regarding best practice in RDM. The data curation community need general and standardised solutions to work within our budget while representing researchers as well as the institution and the public.

To enable support in the face of the challenges and to create and maintain trust from the scientific silos, we need to work towards cultural change. Collaboration between silos, flexibility, communication and transparency are essential in this development.