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CaSDaR is committed to promoting recognition for individuals who fulfil Data Stewardship activities within their role, often going above and beyond in this capacity, and to providing an evidence base of what Data Stewardship look like in the UK research ecosystem. Our Data Steward Stories sessions provide an opportunity to share these with the community and empower individuals to seek recognition for their work. In this Data Stewards Stories session, Dr James Steele provided an overview of his career in supporting data stewardship from a holistic perspective, from navigating research dissemination to the appropriate use of statistics. James also shared insights into how his commitment to evidence-based decisions and research integrity has shaped his career trajectory. 

In mid December 2025, Dr Samantha Pearman-Kanza was invited to present on Data Stewardship, Electronic Lab Notebooks and Ethical AI at the SCI Event: The Art of the Possible: Data, Digitalisation & AI in Practice. In her presentation, Samantha explores the importance of creating truly re-useable FAIR data principles through effective stewardship and practical digital solutions. Highlighting national initiatives such as CaSDaR and PSDI, the talk outlines emerging support structures for responsible, data-driven research. A case study from the University of Southampton illustrates lessons learned from implementing an Electronic Laboratory Notebook in the School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering. The final aspect of the talk discusses ethical AI in academia, emphasising transparency, reproducibility, and the responsible adoption of new technologies to build a trustworthy, AI-ready research ecosystem.

In early December 2025, Dr Samantha Pearman-Kanza was invited to present on CaSDaR and Data Stewardship at the University of Manchester Research Data Conversations (RDC). In her presentation, Samantha told her own "Data Stewardship Story", speaking about her journey from computer scientist, to web scientist, to masquerading as a chemist, into leading large-scale initiatives that place people at the heart of data processes, explaining how data - and more importantly the importance of the human effort to produce high quality data - has been central to all of her research and community endeavours.

In November 2025, Dr Samantha Pearman-Kanza and Dr Louise Saul attended the the Building a comprehensive and coordinated training landscape for dRTPs Workshop. This event was organised by STEP-UP and was aimed towards organisations involved in developing, delivering, or investing in skills training for research software, data, and computing infrastructure professionals.

We were excited to launch CaSDaR's first Funding Call, aimed at supporting Data Stewards across the UK research landscape. This was launched via an online webinar on the 5th November. In this webinar we described the development of the project grants, provided more detail about both grants, and gave an overview of the application and review process. We also allocated time for questions about these grants; these were not recorded however are available as an FAQ page on our website. 

In November 2025, Dr Samantha Pearman-Kanza and Dr Louise Saul attended the Understanding dRTP Training Landscape Workshop. This event was organised by CHARTED, DisCouRSE, and SCALE-UP to collaboratively build a comprehensive view of the current training landscape for digital Research Technical Professionals (dRTPs) and to understand the dRTP ecosystem in the UK.  

Just before All Hallows Eve, Dr Samantha Pearman-Kanza presented a warning spooky tale about the pitfalls of not stewarding your data properly at Lab Innovations 2025. She presented a tale of caution, reflecting on the "end based nature" of the FAIR Principles, explaining why FAIR alone can’t banish the ghosts of poor data practices, and how many of the issues with FAIR data occur at the creation/collection stage.