Professionalising Data Stewards and all the 'others'
Abstract
This video is a talk from the Data Steward Initiatives session at the CaSDaR Townhall Launch event on the 18th September 2025, in person at the Library of Birmingham and online. The presentation speaker was Emma Karoune from The Turing Way. Abstract: The interdisciplinary nature of the data science workforce extends beyond the traditional notion of a "data scientist" and we should therefore recognise and strive to professionalise all the ‘other’ roles that are part of the data science workforce. A successful data science team requires a wide range of technical expertise, domain knowledge and leadership capabilities. To strengthen such a team-based approach, we (myself and Malvika Sharan) recommend that institutions, funders and policymakers invest in developing and professionalising a more diverse set of roles, including digital research technical professional roles, such as data stewards, therefore fostering a resilient data science ecosystem for the future. I will highlight work we have done in this area, including The Turing Way project - Professionalising traditional and infrastructure research roles in data science, in which we documented the different roles and competencies that make up data science teams at Turing and my current project, Advancing Biomedical Data Science Careers, which seeks to understand the current landscape of skills, roles and team approaches in this area. By recognising and professionalising these diverse specialist roles and how they collaborate within interdisciplinary teams, organisations can leverage deep expertise across multiple skill sets, enhancing responsible decision-making and fostering innovation at all levels. Ultimately, we seek to shift the perception of data science professionals from the conventional view of individual data scientists to a competency-based model of specialist roles within a team, each essential to the success of data science initiatives. See policy briefing note here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14946850 Speaker Bio: After completing her PhD in Paleoecology, Emma worked in the education sector before moving back into academia to work as a Principal Investigator on the FAIR Phytoliths project at Historic England. Whilst in this role, Emma was also working part-time as a Research Associate at The Alan Turing Institute; she worked on various open science and community building projects including The Turing Way, DECOVID and the Turing-RSS Health Data Lab. She now works full time at Turing as a Principal Researcher, leading the Research Community Management Team and the Advancing Biomedical Data Science Careers Project. She promotes embedding open research practices, community building, and ensuring EDI best practice in data science projects. More information on the event can be found here: https://casdar.ac.uk/event/careers-and-skills-for-data-driven-research-casdar-hybrid-event-launch/ A recording of this session is available on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/HhOhHU2qz7Y This video is an output from the Careers and Skills for Data-driven Research (CaSDaR) initiative, a 4-year UKRI funded dRTP initiative.