Spotlight on: Heather Andrews Mancilla
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?
Well, to be honest, when I applied for the job, the role of a university Data Steward was not very well defined. This was back in 2017, when TU Delft was starting to pilot having faculty Data Stewards in place. I knew I did not want to work as a researcher, but I still wanted to stay connected to research and the academic world. From my own experience as a researcher, I knew what poor data management practices could lead to. That is why I became interested in raising awareness about proper data management practices and helping researchers improve the efficiency and effectiveness of data sharing.
What is an activity/task of your role that you find yourself looking forward to?
It is hard to choose just one activity! I really enjoy learning about the research data and code they manage (I find aerospace engineering a fascinating field!); and I also look forward to supporting them and offering useful advice.
What is something unexpected that you can offer help with, if a colleague reaches out to you?
Over the years, researchers have often approached me with questions beyond the activities formally defined in my role - though usually still related to data or code management somehow. Off the top of my head, I can recall being contacted about research integrity, knowledge security, social safety, finance, start-ups, plagiarism, etc. In such cases, what I mainly offer are contacts and proactive support. At the same time, I also get to learn a lot, and often we get to make meaningful improvements in different processes and protocols.
What do you think your community of research data professionals is missing?
Metadata standards and getting used to working with metadata standards to improve the searchability of the datasets.
What is a topic you would want to collaborate on with others?
Guidance on data quality assurance during the entire data lifecycle. At the moment, I do data/code reviews of datasets that are in the process of being published. But I think that data quality assurance needs to be embedded in the research workflow from the very start of the data collection/generation.
Can you share with us a story from your work that was a highlight for you?
When I first started working as a faculty Data Steward, back in 2017, the role was not very well-defined, and I did get some resistance from some researchers who thought data/code management was another "administrative burden" sort-to-say. So, the message I focused on sending out was that this is no administrative task: researchers manage data/code on a daily basis; we are just asking them to do it properly. As time passed by, I have seen how the opinions about data management (and Open Science) have changed, and I have had researchers come to me and admit that at first they did not think it would be useful. But now they see how it has improved their research and how motivated, especially the early career researchers are about these topics. I must admit, I find that extremely rewarding!
Get in touch with Heather on ORCID | GitHub
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