research data management

Louise Saul presented the CaSDaR initiative to the computing infrastructure community at Computing Insights UK 2025. CaSDaR was represented on the main stage and in the breakout rooms. On the final day of the conference, CaSDaR presented alongside other UKRI funded Network+ groups in the sessions ‘Overview of the NetworkPlus Programme’ and in the breakout session ‘From ExCALIBUR to DRI, linking the UK’s compute programme’. The latter session was run by the Computational Abilities Knowledge Exchange (CAKE) Network+. In this presentation, we gave a high-level overview of the aims and remit of the CaSDaR, describing our key deliverables activities for the next four years, alongside describing the current state of play for Data Stewards.

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.

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.