Across all the health centers within the regional node, there are a lot of people that contribute to good quality of research (data). They can be found taking on various roles and responsibilities, like data manager, research software engineer, data support employee, research coordinator or similar. This type of support staff is encapsulated by the term ‘data stewardship’. There are a lot of employees that could and should be considered ‘data stewards’. To optimize the reuse of data, however, much more are needed.
As a start, on a regional level we would like for these data stewards to interconnect. It is easier to get help and borrow items from your next door neighbour, than from a person living in another street. Moreover, the contents of your house, your guests and consumption needs are probably more similar too.
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It should be made possible for data stewards within the region to make use of the same software solutions and data sources.
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Data stewards should be encouraged to learn from each other. I walked, so you could run.
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Data stewards should be advocates for research data management, collaboration and sharing of research data. They are the ones actively trying to support the researchers and their projects. They are also the ones that are able to nudge the researchers in the right direction.
