Liaison and Lego®: development of a Data Stewardship Team

The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) is a world-leading independent environmental research institute, producing data from a wide range of scientific disciplines. Over 20 years ago, we recognised the need to improve data management practices and created the Informatics Liaison Network: staff connected through discipline-specific data expertise, distributed across all our sites. The network developed into the Data Stewardship Team by improving ways of working, introducing tools, and expanding services. However, the core of our work is still very much liaison with researchers at all stages of the data lifecycle, with an overarching aim to make research data and other digital objects increasingly FAIR. And LEGO® bricks? Well, it turns out researchers love a bit of practical, informative play in their training! Liaison and LEGO®: building the Data Stewardship Team Dean, H.J.; Leaver, D.S.; Mobbs, D.C.; Dhiedt, E.; Ferguson, S.; Hunter, J.; Nicholls, M.; Rhodes, G.; Wright, K.; Zhang, T. (2025) 1994 Four research institutions representing different scientific domains merged to form the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH): • Institute of Hydrology, • Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, • Institute of Freshwater Ecology, • Institute of Virology. It was recognised that the research and data from these different domains could be brought together to answer bigger, more complex questions. This led to the establishment of the Environmental Informatics programme. 2007 The first Data Management Plan (DMP) template was designed to provide a framework for data management. The template went through various amendments to improve user engagement. 2022 The Informatics Liaison Network was rebranded as the Data Stewardship Team. The Research Data Management (RDM) hub was launched as an extension and modernisation of our ILO wiki, and is available to all at UKCEH. A customised version of the Data Stewardship Wizard (DSW) was developed: a smart questionnaire with machine-readable DMP output and targeted guidance linked to our RDM hub. It has an intuitive interface, instant feedback and metrics, and easy-to-follow progress. The emphasis is on data management activities during the project and working towards reusable datasets, with guidance on what is required to make them FAIR. 2010 The CEH Information Gateway was launched. For the first time, researchers could find and download datasets held by CEH. The ILOs were instrumental in helping to populate the catalogue and advertise it within the organisation. 2016 The Environmental Information Data Centre (EIDC) catalogue was launched, making data discoverable, accessible and reusable for all NERC-funded research. ILOs have a joint role with the EIDC, liaising with internal and external researchers to get their data published. 2019 UKCEH was formed when CEH became an independent research organisation. 2024 Our training programme for researchers was developed and launched, focussing on short, interactive training courses: Research Data Management principles, FAIR data, how to use the DSW, and data publishing. To maintain engagement, our training courses are interactive and use a variety of tools, including LEGO® bricks, to inform and entertain.* 2025 Our recent developments include a reporting tool that aggregates DMP reponses across the organisation, providing high-level insights that can be used to highlight data trends, inform resource planning, and reveal opportunities that may otherwise have been overlooked. 2011 The ILO competency framework was launched as a way to improve career development and progression. This was based on a set of themes and skills of which all ILOs had a core knowledge, but with the opportunity to develop advanced skills and become theme champions. The ILO wiki was launched as an internal resource on all things data management. 2006 A network of Informatics Liaison Officers (ILOs) was formed, primarily focussed on the management, sharing and reuse of data. The ILOs were based within different science areas, reflecting their expertise. This was the foundation of the Data Stewardship Team. 2014 An InfoPath template was developed, transforming DMPs from isolated project documents to online, machine-readable versions. 94 06 07 10 11 19 22 24 25 14 16 *The idea of LEGO® bricks as a practical teaching aid was inspired by the quote: “Data without metadata is like a LEGO set without the instructions” Acevedo, 2023, Nature, https://doi.org/ 10.1038/d41586-023-01929-7 LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO® Group, which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this poster. [email protected] www.ceh.ac.uk