Research Data Conversations - What's Next?
The story so far
Firstly, if you haven鈥檛 heard of Research Data Conversations (RDC), let me explain how it works, the idea behind it, and why you should come to the next conversation on !
The concept behind RDC (credit to our friends and colleagues at Lancaster University Library for the original idea) is simple: provide an informal space for staff and students interested in and/or directly engaged in research data, data management, open data, data, and data stewardship to come together, learn something new, and connect with each other during and afterwards over a free lunch. RDC is a collaboration between the Library鈥檚 researcher development programme and the (itself a collaboration between the and the ).
In the first conversation, lead by to a Data Curator at the , it was heartening to see the range of people from across the research community at the University of 优蜜传媒 come together and connect: data stewards, research data managers, postgraduate researchers, librarians, academics, and research technicians. Conversations were had for the first time between colleagues in the same department and faculty who had no idea the other was interested in and working on the same research data topics they were! This is what RDC is all about, and what we hope to see much more of in the future.
So, what's next?
Our next conversation will be led by Dr James Bird (Research IT, University of 优蜜传媒). James will share his experience of opening up his PhD research, how the use of an electronic research notebook (ERN) enabled that, and the .
For the rest of the academic year RDC will be moving away from topics associated more with the science and engineering research data community (don鈥檛 worry we will be back soon!) and focusing on topics related to qualitative data research (no spoilers). RDC aims to be as inclusive as possible and accessible to the entire research community, and that very much includes those researchers in the humanities, social sciences, and qualitative research communities. At the end of the day, all research includes the collection and analysis of information or observations (data) in some form, so we would love to see as many people as possible from these communities participate in RDC in the future (as a speaker or attendee!).
The next RDC will take place on February 12 and is open to all staff and PGRs
If you have an idea for a conversation topic or would like to be a featured speaker at a future RDC, please email us via openresearch@manchester.ac.uk.