Tag Archives: staff

ERASMUS work placement visitor from Germany

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Judith DaehneMy name is Judith Dähne (Daehne). I am the Research Data Support Officer of RheinMain University of Applied Sciences.

When I started to think about research data management (RDM) around 2015, MANTRA   provided my first opportunity learn about RDM and how to handle data correctly. I also discovered DMPonline, delivered by the Digital Curation Centre, and it therefore seemed to me that Edinburgh was somehow the cradle of RDM.

When I heard of the final opportunity to visit the UK with the EU’s ERASMUS programme (it will stop in May 2023) I was keen to apply for a visit with the Research Data Support team of the University of Edinburgh… I am really happy that I landed this wonderful opportunity of a short job shadowing visit.

I attended several meetings and training sessions of the Research Data Service team. I am impressed how much support and aid is provided for the researchers. The infrastructure of storage and exchange like DataStore, DataSync, DataShare, DataVault forms the technical basis of the support.

Even more important, in my opinion, is the personal backing and advice of the data management team.You might just ask your questions by pressing one of the “Contact us” buttons  and there you find email and phone numbers of the research data team at your finger tips.

And the team really takes care over every single dataset that is loaded in DataShare: how to enhance the metadata and how to make it more visible for the scientific community. Not many institutional repositories are curated in such a detailed way – I will take home some precious tips and workflows!

One sticking point, however, is the same as with us: How do we make the services known? How do we reach as many researchers as possible? And how can the transformation to more open science then succeed? Perhaps to just carry on with talking and teaching seems the only way…

3 at lunch table

Robin, Simon and Judith enjoy a working lunch at Howie’s

Research data are a social good and data management supports the verification and replication in science. Ultimately transparency, openness and good data management strengthen the credibility of science and help to counter climate change deniers and conspiracy theorists.  To emphasise this argument, like here in Edinburgh, is also a very important take home message for me.

I would like to thank Robin & her team for sharing their knowledge and their hospitality! I hope we stay in touch.

Guest blog post by Judith Dähne
RheinMain University of Applied Sciences

New year, new team members!

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The Research Data Support team has had some noteworthy changes in the last few months.

Pauline WardLongtime staff member Pauline Ward has embraced a new management role as Data Repository Operations Officer, where she will work with two Research Data Support Assistants, myself as service owner, and the Digital Library software engineers. The Digital Library hosts our open and restricted access repositories, DataShare and DataVault – to ensure smooth operations of these data archiving solutions into the future. The two new Research Data Support Assistants are Maeve McCann and Stefano Bordoni, who will be supporting users with our repositories Edinburgh DataShare and DataVault, among other activities with the team (time will tell!).

Maeve has previously worked for the IT team at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Maeve McCannPhilosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences (PPLS), where she was responsible for the development and management of the student and volunteer research databases.  She led the implementation of the Volunteer Panel – a bespoke system for researchers and participants to post and sign up for studies and Maeve also provided technical support for the PPLS Ethics system.

Prior to working for the university, Maeve has held roles with several children’s charities and management consultancy firms.  In her free time, Maeve enjoys mountain biking, skiing and travel.

Stefano Bordoni has recently completed a Doctorate in Archaeology at The University of Edinburgh, with a thesis on historic masonry techniques and building materials in Umbria (Italy). During this experience, he took advantage of IT tools in exploring the informative potential stored in medieval and early modern constructions. In his years in academia, he has taken part in several archaeological projects and excavations. Among them, he established and supervised the Pietrarossa Archaeological Excavation (University of Perugia) and managed the GIS platform for the Water in Istanbul Project (British Institute at Ankara & partners).

Stefano BordoniPrior to his current role, he has worked within the University of Edinburgh as a Tutor in the School of History, Classics & Archaeology, a CDCS Training Fellow (at the Centre for Data, Culture & Society), and EdHelp Information and Support Assistant, in Information Services. In his free time, he loves cooking traditional Umbrian food, foraging wild mushrooms and cycling.

Before the end of the year we bid goodbye to colleagues Dr Bob Sanders, now taking up a lead training role with the Scottish Centre for Administrative Data Research (SCADR) based in the School of Geosciences here, and Yue Gu, Research Data Steward, a PhD candidate in Econometrics who has taken an analyst role at Natwest.

Good luck to everyone in their new roles!

Robin Rice
Data Librarian and Head, Research Data Support

Simon Smith joins the Research Data Support Team

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It has been a long pandemic, and some bright spots are beginning to appear on the horizon. One of them is that we have a new professional joining our team, to work with Kerry Miller in the role of Research Data Support Officer – Simon Smith.

The University’s Digital Research Services programme makes it possible to fund this post for the Research Data Service – deemed an essential addition following a period of reduced resource, because of the need to increase outreach, training and awareness, and take-up of services in the light of the new Research Data Management Policy.

portrait of Simon SmithSimon has worked in Research Data Management since 2015, when he joined the Open Research Team at the University of Surrey. He has spent his time helping to develop a range of research data management (RDM) services, implementing two repositories, and learning to love data management planning. He is genuinely interested in issues around data licencing and sensitive/personal data. His teaching and research background is in philosophy, in the service of which he edited a scholarly journal. Now, however, he is slightly obsessed with James Joyce’s Ulysses.

Simon has been in post for nearly 2 weeks, and is keen to meet researchers and their supporters from all corners of the university – please send any and all invitations to come chat about RDM to data-support@ed.ac.uk! We look forward to gaining from Simon’s insights and experience.

Robin Rice & Simon Smith
Library & University Collections

New Research Data Stewards in post

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Very soon we will sadly say goodbye to Gina Geffers, who, along with Sam Hillman, have become our first Research Data Steward veterans. But we are very pleased to welcome two new stewards to the team this winter, Adam Threlfall and Yue Gu!

Adam Threlfall is a third-year PhD student in the Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, working to improve analysis methods for retinal images, intending to use these

Adam's portrait

improved methods to find changes in the retinal blood vessels in connection with systemic diseases, using a combination of AI and classical image analysis applied to clinical datasets. Outside of work he enjoys cooking and going for long walks in the countryside with his partner and their greyhound, Indie.

Yue Gu is a final year PhD student in the School of Economics. Her research looks to apply advanced methods of portait of Yue Gumicroeconometrics to evaluate the impact of policies and early family environment on women’s economic outcomes in China using household survey data. Outside of university work she enjoys traveling, watching movies and discovering good food in Edinburgh.