Spotlight on: Karen Mulders
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 used to teach a workshop about how to implement the GDPR/AVG within our university and assist in role-playing games for students to experience a DPIA first-hand. As I was frequently asked by secretaries to help design practical solutions I looked into best practices for research data management, since they may often be redesigned to be helpful in educational or business management operations.
What is an activity/task of your role that you find yourself looking forward to?
Currently I am designing webpages for our faculty intranet to help researchers in the field of Behavioral and Social Sciences to design their research projects GDPR/AVG conform and write their Research Data Management Plans in such a way that they can be used both as a logbook for tracking their own research plan and modifications, and as a tool for future support in case of security issues or the necessity to perform a DPIA.
What is something unexpected that you can offer help with, if a colleague reaches out to you?
My job is mainly behind the scenes and very much faculty (policy) specific, so I doubt my knowledge and skills are directly of use to colleagues from outside our faculty. However, when I see a question in the DSIG Slack channel that relates to issues we have dealt with or are dealing with, I either share my insights or attend colleagues to the raised question.
What do you think your community of research data professionals is missing?
In my view our research data professionals lack time and manpower to address all questions that arise from the GDPR and from applying data management. Also I feel that the appropriate appreciation from central management is still missing. They are not "just support staff" - they often play a crucial role in the design of state-of-the-art and cutting-edge research projects, for which the research staff get credited. This applies to all research data professionals, software programmers and hardware developers for specific experiments included.
What is a topic you would want to collaborate on with others?
No specific topic comes to mind, right now. I am involved in various topics but always "back-end", to address common misconceptions or questions and translate best practices to information, which researchers within our faculty can use to design research projects and solve privacy-issues, thereby saving valuable time of the research data professionals that work "front-end".
Could you point us to a resource, learning platform, tool or similar which you find useful or inspirational?
I have learned a lot from my involvement in the DPIA role-playing games designed for students to experience hands-on what a DPIA can be like. The award-wining game, developed as part of a Comenius Senior Teaching Fellowship, is beneficial for non-students, as well, and can be used by any team that wants or needs to know about a DPIA and how to organise it or participate in one. Check out Privacy in Research
Get in touch with Karen via email: k.e.a.mulders[at]rug.nl
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