Making the Case in Challenging Times: The University of Manchester Data Stewardship Project
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 Tristan Martin from the University of Manchester. Abstract: Since the launch of the Office for Open Research at the University of Manchester in 2022 the Library has been undertaking a project on research data stewardship, in close partnership with Research IT and the University’s Research Lifecycle Programme. It aims to develop and professionalise and enhance the data stewardship support and data steward community at Manchester, aiding researchers in the transition to a FAIR data research culture. This talk will explore the progress we have made so far, the ambitions we have for the future of the project, in addition to reflections on the challenges faced in making the case for data stewards and data stewardship in a higher education environment in which resources and budgets are under intense scrutiny. Speaker Bio: Tristan’s current role is Open Research Librarian, Office for Open Research, University of Manchester Library. He leads on research data stewardship for the Research Data Management team and has been a member of the Open Research team since 2018. Before joining the University of Manchester, he completed a PhD in Politics at Newcastle University, UK. His current focus is leading on developing and expanding the data stewardship infrastructure and community at the University of Manchester via the Research Data Stewardship project, a collaboration between the University’s Research Lifecycle Programme and the Library. He is also the Research IT CaDiR (Computation and Data in Research) Community Team Leader for the Research Data Stewardship Community. 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/Ud5Kej4xLR0 This video is an output from the Careers and Skills for Data-driven Research (CaSDaR) initiative, a 4-year UKRI funded dRTP initiative.