Spotlight on: Zeinab Sattari
Every other week, the Thematic DCCs and the Data Steward Interest Group (DSIG) put the spotlight on one research data steward working in the Netherlands to stimulate knowledge exchange and peer-to-peer learning.
What drew you towards the research data management field?
My background in working with sensitive personal data in my PhD, as well as my general interest in research quality. Also, I was attracted to the caring part of this job, the daily contact with individuals, and interesting research topics in Behavioural and Social Sciences.
What is an activity/task of your role that you find yourself looking forward to?
I look forward to thinking along with the researcher to solve another data management puzzle together. I specifically care extra for new researchers who are not familiar with data management principles; their excitement after solving the puzzle is rewarding. I also enjoy collaborations with the ethics committee to develop best practices.
What is something unexpected that you can offer help with, if a colleague reaches out to you?
I cannot call it "unexpected" because anything I do, I assume, can sometimes be expected from a data steward. I think I can help in sewing together various patches of research support and in making data management plans closer to implementation. Moreover, having a working background in both consultancy and research has helped me greatly in having empathy and dedication for both support staff and researchers. I also have a good eye for detecting inconsistencies and missing points in documents.
What do you think your community of research data professionals is missing?
Sometimes, more understanding and empathy for researchers who are under so many restrictions, competition, and other work pressures can make our work more meaningful. We can still maintain the quality and security of the data by reducing the university bureaucracy, shortening decision-making processes, and communicating best practices to the researchers as often as possible.
At the same time, we can assist researchers in managing their expectations and attitudes towards data support staff. This is partly due to the current work culture at universities, which has inadvertently created a thick, invisible line between researchers and support staff (or perhaps better referred to as non-research staff). Additionally, the unclear job profile of data stewards contributes to these unmanaged expectations.
What is a topic you would want to collaborate on with others?
Developing best practices and data policies.
How would you like to see your current field of work evolve in the next 5 years?
I would like to see more examples of best practices in making qualitative data FAIR at both national and international levels, particularly for video and audio data. This requires comprehensive IT and legal infrastructures, clear guidelines, and appropriate reward and recognition systems to address the challenges of making such data FAIR.
Get in touch with Zeinab on LinkedIn | RUG Website
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