Data Steward Career Tracks WG aims to develop a methodology for creating data steward personas as well as a sample set of data steward personas that are linked into a sample career track. The WG was endorsed in April 2025 and is currently developing the second phase of its work plan that includes adapting the persona methodology to data stewardship and developing the initial data steward persona methodology. Other ongoing activities include a Speaker Series to introduce data steward profiles from across the world and communication and outreach efforts aimed at growing and solidifying WG membership.  

https://www.rd-alliance.org/groups/data-steward-career-tracks-wg/activity/

Data Steward Career Tracks WG was endorsed in April 2025. The WG emerged from the Professionalising Data Stewardship IG with the aim to build on the  PDS IG surveys/reports around data stewardship service models (2022) and data steward career tracks (2024). The task force to develop the Statement of Work for the Data Steward Career Tracks WG formed in spring 2024; the group organized a very successful Birds of Feather session at P23 in Costa Rica, gaining broad community support for the proposed WG, and submitted its Statement of Work to RDA in January 2025. The WG holds regular meetings since April 2025. Current work focuses on developing and finalising an annotated Zotero library and developing the data steward persona methodology, which will be the main deliverable of the group. To this end, the group has hosted two in-person co-creation workshops (one in Slovenia and one during P25 in Brisbane), with 3 more co-creation workshops currently in development (2 in the UK, 1 in the USA).