Spotlight on: Femmy Admiraal
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?
I was trained as an anthropologist and linguist, after which I started a PhD in linguistic typology. My PhD was embedded in a language documentation project and the trainings that I followed in preparation of the fieldwork were basically covering all the topics that I nowadays teach in the RDM courses. I always loved the data-side of the research; organising the metadata of the interviews in spreadsheets, transcribing and coding interviews and querying the database.
What is an activity/task of your role that you find yourself looking forward to?
I really like to design and organise sessions, from trainings to workshops or other interventions. Especially when it is done with a team of likeminded and inspirational colleagues, where each brings its own creative ideas to the table. From starting with a blank sheet and a topic, slowly the session starts to take shape. And the highlight of course, when the plan comes together and turns into a great event.
What is something unexpected that you can offer help with, if a colleague reaches out to you?
Through my PhD trajectory, I gained quite some fieldwork experience. Fieldwork comes with all kinds of challenges, including technical ones, but also personal skills, people management, patience, and health considerations. I am happy to help with tips and tricks on any of these.
What do you think your community of research data professionals is missing?
Time! At my university, we have a highly skilled community of research data professionals, where each chips in with specific expertise and domain knowledge. There is a lot still to do to improve the RDM support in the broadest sense, and I feel that we have too many plans for the time that we can dedicate to them.
What is a topic you would want to collaborate on with others?
Lately, I've become more and more interested in the topic of data retention. I think we have reached a point where the importance of preserving data for the longterm is widely acknowledged, but now we have to start thinking about what not to keep.
Could you point us to a resource, learning platform, tool or similar which you find useful or inspirational?
Two years ago, we produced a series of knowledge clips on various RDM issues. I think they are not being know so well beyond our own institutions, so a bit of shameless promotion: Open Science Tips. What I love about these video's is that my colleague Hannah is so contagiously enthusiastic about what she tells that anyone looking at these videos is surely convinced that RDM is a most exciting field.
Get in touch with Femmy on ORCID
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