Spotlight on: Julia Camara de Assis

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?

This is not my main activity, but I recognize its importance for data preservation.

What is an activity/task of your role that you find yourself looking forward to?

Learning and figuring out with others how to deal with data-related issues.

What is something unexpected that you can offer help with, if a colleague reaches out to you?

How to put together a data management plan, especially when PhD students have no guidance from their supervisors on this topic. I am always happy to help them with this.

What do you think your community of research data professionals is missing?

Recognition and time, as this is an added responsibility I have, with very few hours to dedicate to it. Ideally, this should be a career or an exclusive role.

What is a topic you would want to collaborate on with others?

The two recurring issues challenging me as a data steward are determining data ownership and data sensitivity (classification, storage, and sharing ‘rights’), and it would be great to find ways to collaborate on these topics with other data stewards.

Can you share with us a story from your work that was a highlight for you?

One of the PhD students has dedicated a whole week to work on the documentation and archiving of their research data. Even though this data is sensitive and, therefore cannot be shared, all the underlying data and scripts from the papers published are archived in a very intelligible way.

Get in touch with Julia: WUR profile

Do you want to read other interviews published in the Spotlight on series? Visit the series' page.