data stewardship

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.

In October 2025, Dr Louise Saul was invited to present on CaSDaR at the UKRI Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI) Congress 2025. Louise Saul presented on CaSDaR, alongside SHAREing and CHARTED. She described the aims and deliverables of the project in the workshop ‘Knowledge Exchange is a Piece of CAKE!’ run by Computational Abilities Knowledge Exchange (CAKE). 

On the 14th October 2025, our Coordinator Dr Louise Saul delivered FAIR Data Training for one of our project partners - the UK Reproducibility Network (UKRN). This was a Train-the-Trainer event, so attending individuals were supported to design and deliver a training session that met the specific needs of their institution, including developing learning objectives and designing activities to support their learners, whilst promoting good practice. 

On the 18th September 2025, CaSDaR formally launched its Network., with a hybrid Townhall event hosted at The Library of Birmingham with hybrid attendance. The event presented the current landscape of Data Stewardship in the UK, introduced the mission and goals of CaSDaR, gathered input on what support and recognition was needed, and created a platform to promote individuals working in the field of Data Stewardship.  

In early September 2025, Dr Samantha Pearman-Kanza was invited to present on CaSDaR at the ELIXIR-UK Research Data Management Club. These regular meetings focus on sharing experiences and signposting new projects, resources, communities and training. In her presentation, Samantha introduced the role of data stewardship and discussed its status within the research technical professional landscape.

In July 2025, Dr Samantha Pearman-Kanza and Dr Louise Saul attended the STEP-UP RSLondon Conference 2025. In the sessions aimed at supporting research data, Dr Samantha Pearman-Kanza presented an overview of the CaSDaR initiative and how CaSDaR plans to support the burgeoning requirement for Data Stewards/hip in the dRTP community and the role of Data Stewards as dRTPs.

In late May 2025, Dr Samantha Pearman-Kanza presented on data stewardship and CaSDaR at Future Labs Live Basel, and chaired a lively panel discussion on 'why should scientific publishers & the lab community care about FAIR data?'