Henk has worked at the University Library since 1983, starting here with collection building for the School of Business and Economics (SBE) and later as Faculty Librarian where he was the linking pin between SBE and the library. He worked as a Program Manager Research Data Management until his retirement at the end of June 2023. We spoke to Henk about his views on data stewardship.

“For me, important qualities of a Data Steward are first of all an amiable, driven personality combined with substantive knowledge and good empathy with the research process.”

What has inspired you most in your career?
“I have always drawn a lot of inspiration from good practices at fellow institutions and from colleagues who take the lead in taking the right steps. Hence, I also find it very important to be open-minded and, when looking at examples from elsewhere, not to be blinded by great results, but to pay particular attention to the road to it and the underlying reasons for the approach.” 

What is the major added value of data stewardship services for researchers?
“As far as I am concerned, the added value of Data Stewardship services falls into three parts:
– data Stewards;
– integrated range of data services/tools;
– RDM workflow support 

Researchers face conditions for FAIR data management (from funders, government and university). Data Stewards are ideally suited to support them in this; they are embedded in the researchers’ work processes and therefore recognisable and available to support researchers in FAIR data management from the start of their research.  

All Data Stewardship services are made available and integrated at one central location (RDM portal), so the researcher does not have to shop around at different units offering RDM services.  

Last but not least, hard work is being done to develop a Research Projects Services platform to guide and support researchers during the various RDM-related work processes (such as a Data management plan and GDPR)”. 

What do you think are the important characteristics of a good data steward?
“For me, important qualities of a Data Steward are first of all an amiable, driven personality combined with substantive knowledge and good empathy with the research process. In addition, team spirit (not wanting to be a soloist!) and organisational sensitivity (insight into stakeholders and decision-making processes) are also of great value in order to fulfil your role as Data Steward well.” 

What do you think will be the biggest challenge of data stewards in the coming months/years?
“Our Data Stewards are highly valued by the various faculties, which does not mean they can sit back. Staying alert and active within the research community is essential, both towards new researchers and towards senior researchers. In addition, the deployment of Open Science action plans by faculty offers opportunities to expand FAIR RDM and connect with other Open Science action lines, such as FAIR software and pre-registration.” 

Do you think the role of the data steward will change in the future?
“The University Library has focused on the more generic role of a Data Steward, but there will be an increasing need for Data Stewards who actively contribute to research projects within the faculties, so-called embedded Data Stewards. Further cooperation/coordination with research software stewards/engineers will also definitely be part of the scope of Data Stewardship.” 

On this page you will find more information about the faculty data stewards.
To get in contact with your (faculty) data steward, check the overview page here or e-mail the data stewards.