The challenges of implementing FAIR principles extend beyond technical and metadata issues and includes the human/social aspects of professional practice, professional identity and agency, or the actions humans take in response to changes in their situation and context. This project will use social science approaches to make hidden social and cultural challenges and barriers to data sharing visible. This will enable co-design of evidence-based interventions tailored for the respective research community’s needs. We will pilot a FAIR Data Accelerator, (adapting the tech startup approach), creating a research disciplineagnostic platform that could facilitate adoption of this approach more widely. The challenges of implementing FAIR principles extend beyond technical and metadata issues and includes the human/social aspects of professional practice, professional identity and agency, or the actions humans take in response to changes in their situation and context. This project will use social science approaches to make hidden social and cultural challenges and barriers to data sharing visible.
Potential initiatives include toolkits to support collaborative working across disciplines, techniques to develop trusted relationships between data users and providers, or ways of creating a more equitable working environment. This approach complements and enhances existing UKRI training initiatives, which tend to focus on knowledge and practical skill development (e.g. UNIVERSE-HPC, DiRAC Essentials Training, CLOSER learning hub).
The insights can inform development of new training, community engagement & career development activities supporting the development of existing and new DRI services (e.g. Research Data Cloud Project, DiRAC Data Curation service, UK SKA Regional Centre, STFC-IRIS).
Outputs
- News story The FAIR Data Accelerator is one of the four pilot projects that were referenced by the Chancellor in the 2024 Budget. Together the pilots will test ways to collaborate and share data to solve important problems in society, energy, transport and more.
- Webinar (29/4/2024) - Identifying and validating social and cultural barriers to data sharing
- Presentation (11/6/24) - Identity Negotiation and Professional Development in the Context of the Digital Transformation of Research Communities
Team
Dr Louise Chisholm (PI), Prof Allison Littlejohn, Prof Eileen Kennedy, Dr Francisco Duran Del Fierro
Funding
This project is funded as part of the DSIT/UKRI Research Data Cloud Pilot Commission to Digital Research Investment Committee (DRIC)