Your role: Data Steward: infrastructure

Description

As a infrastructure data steward, I focus on liaising with the people involved in the IT infrastructure, technicians, application managers and other service providers inside and outside my research institute. My task is to translate the requirements of policies and science into suitable IT solutions and tools as well as provide advice. I implement IT infrastructure solutions, give access to data and software, and I may also perform hands-on work in a research project.

Focus

Identify the requirements of an adequate data infrastructure and tool landscape that fits with research data management (RDM) policies
Ensure the compliance of the data infrastructure and tool landscape with codes of conduct and regulations
Align the data infrastructure and tool landscape to the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data principles and the principles of Open Science, and facilitate and support FAIR data
Identify the requirements of and provide access to data infrastructure for RDM for researchers
Make an inventory for data infrastructure and tools that fit with the researchers RDM needs
Liaison and align the data infrastructure and tools management in and outside the organisation
Facilitate the availability of local data-infrastructure and tools for FAIR and long term archiving of data

Learning path

Institutes across Europe have started hiring professional data stewards. A infrastructure oriented data steward is expected to be competent in the following areas:

Advise and assist researchers on short and long term actions for data infrastructure and tools
Continuously monitor data infrastructure and tools available inside and outside the institute, in close collaboration with the responsible (IT) department
Assess technical knowledge status of researchers and relevant stakeholders (including other data stewards), and if needed give training in technical RDM skills
Communicate with researchers, technical staff and support staff about data infrastructure and tools
Knowledge of encryption of data, data protection and data security protocols
Translate ethical and technical requirements for data infrastructure and tools to technological measures, while understanding the research requirements and limitations
Translate the FAIR data principles into data infrastructure and tool requirements
Advise researchers and stakeholders (including other data stewards) on archiving solutions, including (meta)data standards

Your tasks

More information

Training

Relevant tools and resources

Tool or resource	Description	Related pages	Registry
Arvados	With Arvados, bioinformaticians run and scale compute-intensive workflows, developers create biomedical applications, and IT administrators manage large compute and storage resources.	Data Steward: policy Researcher Data analysis
Aspera Fasp	With fast file transfer and streaming solutions built on the award-winning IBM FASP protocol, IBM Aspera software moves data of any size across any distance	Data transfer
Beacon	The Beacon protocol defines an open standard for genomics data discovery.	Researcher Data Steward: research Human data	Tool info Training
BIII	The BioImage Informatics Index is a registry of software tools, image databases for benchmarking, and training materials for bioimage analysis	Data analysis	Tool info
Bioconda	Bioconda is a bioinformatics channel for the Conda package manager	Data analysis	Tool info Training
Bioschemas.org	Bioschemas aims to improve the Findability on the Web of life sciences resources such as datasets, software, and training materials	Machine actionability	Training
Bitbucket	Git based code hosting and collaboration tool, built for teams.	Data organisation Data Steward: research	Standards/Databases
Box	Cloud storage and file sharing service	Data storage Data transfer	Training
BrAPI	Specification for a standard API for plant data: plant material, plant phenotyping data	Plant sciences	Training
Castor	Castor is an EDC system for researchers and institutions. With Castor, you can create and customize your own database in no time. Without any prior technical knowledge, you can build a study in just a few clicks using our intuitive Form Builder. Simply define your data points and start collecting high quality data, all you need is a web browser.	Identifiers Data Steward: research	Tool info
Common Workflow Language (CWL)	An open standard for describing workflows that are build from command line tools	Researcher Data analysis	Standards/Databases Training
Conda	Open source package management system	Data analysis	Training
Cookiecutter	A command-line utility that creates projects from cookiecutters (project templates), e.g. creating a Python package project from a Python package project template.	Data organisation Data Steward: research
Crop Ontology	The Crop Ontology compiles concepts to curate phenotyping assays on crop plants, including anatomy, structure and phenotype.	Researcher Data Steward: research Plant sciences	Standards/Databases Training
cURL	command line tool and library for transferring data with URLs	Data transfer
DAISY	Data Information System to keep sensitive data inventory and meet GDPR accountability requirement.	Data Steward: policy Human data Data protection TransMed	Tool info
Data Catalog Vocabulary (DCAT)	DCAT is an RDF vocabulary designed to facilitate interoperability between data catalogs published on the Web.	Machine actionability
Data Stewardship Wizard	Publicly available online tool for composing smart data management plans	Data management plan Researcher Data Steward: research NeLS TSD	Tool info Training
DATAVERSE	Open source research data respository software.	Data storage Researcher Data Steward: research IFB	Training
dbGAP	The database of Genotypes and Phenotypes (dbGaP) archives and distributes data from studies investigating the interaction of genotype and phenotype in Humans	Data publication Researcher Human data	Tool info Standards/Databases Training
Docker	Docker is a software for the execution of applications in virtualized environments called containers. It is linked to DockerHub, a library for sharing container images	Data analysis	Standards/Databases Training
DropBox	Cloud storage and file sharing service	Data storage Data transfer
e!DAL	Electronic data archive library is a framework for publishing and sharing research data	Data storage	Tool info
e!DAL-PGP	Plant Genomics and Phenomics Research Data Repository	Plant sciences Plant Genomics Researcher Data Steward: research Data publication	Standards/Databases
ELIXIR Deposition Databases for Biomolecular Data	List of discipline-specific deposition databases recommended by ELIXIR.	Data publication Researcher Data Steward: research COVID-19 Data Portal NeLS IFB CSC	Standards/Databases
EUPID	EUPID provides a method for identity management, pseudonymisation and record linkage to bridge the gap between multiple contexts.	Data Steward: policy Human data
FAIRDOM-SEEK	Data, model and SOPs management for projects, from preliminary data to publication, support for running SBML models etc.	Data storage NeLS Microbial biotechnology IFB Machine actionability	Tool info Training
FileZilla	A free FTP solution	Data transfer
Free-IPA	FreeIPA is an integrated Identity and Authentication solution for Linux/UNIX networked environments.	TransMed
GA4GH Data Security Toolkit	Principled and practical framework for the responsible sharing of genomic and health-related data.	Data publication Data Steward: policy Data Steward: research Human data Sensitive data
GA4GH Genomic Data Toolkit	Open standards for genomic data sharing.	Data Steward: research Human data
GA4GH Regulatory and Ethics toolkit	Framework for Responsible Sharing of Genomic and Health-Related Data	Data protection Sensitive data Data Steward: policy Data Steward: research Human data
Galaxy	Open, web-based platform for data intensive biomedical research. Whether on the free public server or your own instance, you can perform, reproduce, and share complete analyses.	NeLS Marine Metagenomics Data analysis Researcher IFB	Tool info Training
Git	Distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects	Data organisation Data Steward: research	Training
GitHub	Versioning system, used for sharing code, as well as for sharing of small data	Data publication Data organisation Data Steward: research	Standards/Databases Standards/Databases Training
GitLab	GitLab is an open source end-to-end software development platform with built-in version control, issue tracking, code review, CI/CD, and more. Self-host GitLab on your own servers, in a container, or on a cloud provider.	Data organisation Data publication Data Steward: research	Standards/Databases Training
Globus	Globus lets you efficiently, securely, and reliably transfer data directly between systems separated by an office wall or an ocean. Focus on your research and offload your data transfer headaches to Globus	Data transfer
Identifiers.org	The Identifiers.org Resolution Service provides consistent access to life science data using Compact Identifiers. Compact Identifiers consist of an assigned unique prefix and a local provider designated accession number (prefix:accession).	Identifiers Data Steward: research	Tool info Standards/Databases
Informed Consent Ontology	The Informed Consent Ontology (ICO) is an ontology for the informed consent and informed consent process in the medical field.	Data Steward: policy Human data	Standards/Databases
iRODS	Integrated Rule-Oriented Data System (iRODS) is open source data management software for a cancer genome analysis workflow.	Data storage TransMed Bioimaging data	Tool info
ISA-tools	Open source framework and tools helping to manage a diverse set of life science, environmental and biomedical experiments using the Investigation Study Assay (ISA) standard	Data Steward: research Microbial biotechnology Machine actionability	Standards/Databases
Jupyter	Jupyter notebooks allow to share code, documentation	Data analysis	Training
Keycloak	Keycloak is an open source identity and data access management solution.	TransMed	Training
LUMI	EuroHPC world-class supercomputer	Data analysis Researcher CSC	Tool info
maDMP - Research Bridge	Machine-Actionable Data Management Plan \| Webinar (2016) on making a good data management plan.	Data management plan
Microsoft Azure	Cloud storage and file sharing service from Microsoft	Data storage Data transfer
Microsoft OneDrive	Cloud storage and file sharing service from Microsoft	Data storage
Molgenis	Molgenis is a modular web application for scientific data. Molgenis provides researchers with user friendly and scalable software infrastructures to capture, exchange, and exploit the large amounts of data that is being produced by scientific organisations all around the world.	Identifiers Data Steward: research	Tool info
Multi-Crop Passport Descriptor (MCPD)	The Multi-Crop Passport Descriptor is the metadata standard for plant genetic resources maintained ex situ by genbanks.	Documentation and metadata Researcher Data Steward: policy Plant sciences	Standards/Databases
NextCloud	As fully on-premises solution, Nextcloud Hub provides the benefits of online collaboration without the compliance and security risks.	Data storage Data transfer
Nextflow	Nextflow is a framework for data analysis workflow execution	Data analysis	Tool info Training
OMERO	OMERO is an open-source client-server platform for managing, visualizing and analyzing microscopy images and associated metadata	Documentation and metadata Data Steward: research Data storage OMERO Bioimaging data	Tool info Training
ONTOMATON	OntoMaton facilitates ontology search and tagging functionalities within Google Spreadsheets.	Researcher Data Steward: research Documentation and metadata Identifiers
OpenEBench	ELIXIR benchmarking platform to support community-led scientific benchmarking efforts and the technical monitoring of bioinformatics reosurces	Data analysis Data Steward: research	Tool info
OwnCloud	Cloud storage and file sharing service	Data storage Data transfer Data analysis
REDCap	REDCap is a secure web application for building and managing online surveys and databases. While REDCap can be used to collect virtually any type of data in any environment, it is specifically geared to support online and offline data capture for research studies and operations.	Identifiers Data Steward: research Data quality	Tool info
REMS	REMS (Resource Entitlement Management System), developed by CSC, is a tool that can be used to manage researchers’ access rights to datasets.	TransMed	Tool info Training
Research Data Management Platform (RDMP)	Data management platform for automated loading, storage, linkage and provision of data sets	Data storage	Tool info
Rstudio	Rstudio notebooks allow to share code, documentation	Data analysis Researcher	Tool info Training
Schema.org	Schema.org is a collaborative, community activity with a mission to create, maintain, and promote schemas for structured data on the Internet, on web pages, in email messages, and beyond.	Machine actionability	Standards/Databases Training
Scientific Data's Recommended Repositories	List of respositories recommended by Scientific Data, contains both discipline-specific and general repositories.	Data publication Researcher Data Steward: research
semares	All-in-one platform for life science data management, semantic data integration, data analysis and visualization	Researcher Data Steward: research Documentation and metadata Data analysis Data storage
Singularity	Singularity is a container platform.	Data analysis TSD	Training
Snakemake	Snakemake is a framework for data analysis workflow execution	Data analysis	Tool info Training
The Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC)	Minimum Information about any (x) Sequence	Documentation and metadata Researcher Data Steward: policy Human data	Standards/Databases
WinSCP	WinSCP is a popular SFTP client and FTP client for Microsoft Windows! Copy file between a local computer and remote servers using FTP, FTPS, SCP, SFTP, WebDAV or S3 file transfer protocols.	Data transfer
National resources
ENA upload tool	The program submits experimental data and respective metadata to the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA).	Data Steward: research Researcher
PIPPA	PIPPA, the PSB Interface for Plant Phenotype Analysis, is the central web interface and database that provides the tools for the management of the plant imaging robots on the one hand, and the analysis of images and data on the other hand.	Plant sciences Data Steward: research Researcher
Belnet	Belnet is the privileged partner of higher education, research and administration for connectivity. We provide high-bandwidth internet access and related services for our specific target groups.	Data Steward: research Researcher Data transfer
Flemish Supercomputing Center (VSC)	VSC is the Flanders’ most highly integrated high-performance research computing environment, providing world-class services to government, industry, and researchers.	Data Steward: research Data analysis Data storage
e!DAL-PGP	Plant Genomics and Phenomics Research Data Repository	Data storage Documentation and metadata Researcher Data Steward: research Plant sciences Plant Genomics
FAIRDOM-SEEK	Data management platform for organising, sharing and publishing research datasets, models, protocols, samples, publications and other research outcomes.	Data storage Documentation and metadata Researcher Data Steward: research
Red Española de Supercomputación	The Spanish Supercomputing Network’s mission is to offer the resources and services of supercomputing and data management necessary for the development of innovative and high-quality scientific and technological projects, through competitive calls based on the scientific excellence of the projects to be developed.	Researcher Data Steward: research
RedIRIS	Spanish academic and research network that provides advanced communication services to the scientific community and national universities.	Researcher Data Steward: research
Recolecta	The national aggregator of open access repositories. This platform brings together all the Spanish digital infrastructures in which open access research results are published and / or deposited.	Researcher Data Steward: research
Datos.gob.es	Open data portal of the spanish government. A meeting point for the various actors that make up the open data ecosystem.	Researcher Data Steward: research
Chipster	Chipster is a user-friendly analysis software for high-throughput data such as RNA-seq and single cell RNA-seq. It contains analysis tools and a large reference genome collection.	CSC Researcher Data analysis