The Data Steward Career Tracks WG aims to develop a methodology for creating data steward personas as well as sample set of data steward personas that are linked into a sample career track.

In recent years, data stewards and data stewardship have received increasing attention as the key to achieving effective research data management and FAIR data. Projects and initiatives at both national and international levels have examined the tasks and roles of data stewards, defined job profiles for data stewards, considered skills, competences and training of data stewards, and developed training and certificate courses for data stewards. Within the RDA, the Professionalising Data Stewardship IG – endorsed in 2020 – has considered the landscape of data stewardship education and training as well as surveyed, at the global level, the organisational context and models for data stewardship service provision and individual data steward career tracks.

Current understanding of data steward career tracks focuses largely on defining various data steward roles (e.g., generic vs. embedded data stewards or research vs. policy vs. infrastructure focused data stewards) as well as the skills and training data stewards need to  perform these roles successfully. There is very limited attention in current literature and project-based efforts to define sustainable, long-term data steward career paths. The career tracks survey by the RDA PDS IG provides some initial insights on the medium to long-term professional perspectives of data stewards, but it represents respondents’ self-assessment of career prospects and underscores the need for further systematic work on data steward career tracks.

Both the RDA PDS IG career tracks survey report and the Dutch roadmap towards national implementation of FAIR data stewardship highlight that “the lack of a clear career path makes it difficult to recruit and retain talented data stewardship professionals.” Uncertainty about professional possibilities and career advancement, lack of clearly-defined career trajectories, limited mapping of data steward roles onto established professional roles and career paths means that even though in recent years we have developed in-depth knowledge about the training, skills, and education of prospective data stewards as well as about the professional roles and functions of data stewards, we still have a very limited understanding and lack tools to define how data stewards progress in their careers once they have become data stewards, how they move from entry-level to mid-career and senior level data steward positions, and the availability of such positions, what they entail and how they relate to one another. Without a clearer, more systematic understanding of data steward career tracks, we cannot achieve the professionalisation of data stewardship.

The RDA Data Steward Career Tracks WG proposes to approach data steward career tracks systematically by developing a methodology for data steward persona definition and creating a sample of data steward personas as well as career pathways for the sample personas.

A methodology for data steward persona development, a repository of sample personas and a career track for sample personas have the potential for both medium-term outcomes and long-term impacts by giving visibility to data steward career tracks and offering tools that can be adopted and adapted to specific service contexts. This will allow service owners and institutional management at various levels a resource (the methodology) to develop sustainable, formalised job profiles and long-term career tracks for data stewards as part of their service development as well as provide their data stewards with appropriate continued professional development and growth opportunities. Potential and current data stewards, on the other hand, can use the repository of sample personas to understand better potential career paths and to plan their own careers by seeking out relevant professional development and growth opportunities. We expect a long-term impact of service sustainability, better recognition of data stewards as professionals with defined career paths, and higher retention of qualified professionals in data steward roles.

The Data Steward Career Tracks WG aims to develop a methodology for creating data steward personas as well as sample set of data steward personas that are linked into a sample career track.

In recent years, data stewards and data stewardship have received increasing attention as the key to achieving effective research data management and FAIR data. Projects and initiatives at both national and international levels have examined the tasks and roles of data stewards, defined job profiles for data stewards, considered skills, competences and training of data stewards, and developed training and certificate courses for data stewards. Within the RDA, the Professionalising Data Stewardship IG – endorsed in 2020 – has considered the landscape of data stewardship education and training as well as surveyed, at the global level, the organisational context and models for data stewardship service provision and individual data steward career tracks.

Current understanding of data steward career tracks focuses largely on defining various data steward roles (e.g., generic vs. embedded data stewards or research vs. policy vs. infrastructure focused data stewards) as well as the skills and training data stewards need to  perform these roles successfully. There is very limited attention in current literature and project-based efforts to define sustainable, long-term data steward career paths. The career tracks survey by the RDA PDS IG provides some initial insights on the medium to long-term professional perspectives of data stewards, but it represents respondents’ self-assessment of career prospects and underscores the need for further systematic work on data steward career tracks.

Both the RDA PDS IG career tracks survey report and the Dutch roadmap towards national implementation of FAIR data stewardship highlight that “the lack of a clear career path makes it difficult to recruit and retain talented data stewardship professionals.” Uncertainty about professional possibilities and career advancement, lack of clearly-defined career trajectories, limited mapping of data steward roles onto established professional roles and career paths means that even though in recent years we have developed in-depth knowledge about the training, skills, and education of prospective data stewards as well as about the professional roles and functions of data stewards, we still have a very limited understanding and lack tools to define how data stewards progress in their careers once they have become data stewards, how they move from entry-level to mid-career and senior level data steward positions, and the availability of such positions, what they entail and how they relate to one another. Without a clearer, more systematic understanding of data steward career tracks, we cannot achieve the professionalisation of data stewardship.

The RDA Data Steward Career Tracks WG proposes to approach data steward career tracks systematically by developing a methodology for data steward persona definition and creating a sample of data steward personas as well as career pathways for the sample personas.

A methodology for data steward persona development, a repository of sample personas and a career track for sample personas have the potential for both medium-term outcomes and long-term impacts by giving visibility to data steward career tracks and offering tools that can be adopted and adapted to specific service contexts. This will allow service owners and institutional management at various levels a resource (the methodology) to develop sustainable, formalised job profiles and long-term career tracks for data stewards as part of their service development as well as provide their data stewards with appropriate continued professional development and growth opportunities. Potential and current data stewards, on the other hand, can use the repository of sample personas to understand better potential career paths and to plan their own careers by seeking out relevant professional development and growth opportunities. We expect a long-term impact of service sustainability, better recognition of data stewards as professionals with defined career paths, and higher retention of qualified professionals in data steward roles.