Image credit: The Data Tank’s event held in Brussels on October 8, 2024
Original article here.
What is needed to turn the European data strategy into practice? And what is the role of data stewards to that end? The Data Tank’s event in Brussels last month aimed at discussing the need and opportunity for developing data stewardship practices in the context of the recent digital and data policy developments in Europe. The function of the data steward is central as human infrastructure, embedded across all types of organisations, to facilitate the right ecosystems for data reuse and bring data policies into practice.
Building the missing human infrastructure
The Data Tank opened the event by providing context on the urgent need for data stewardship in the current complex and datafied world. According to our co-founder, Stefaan Verhulst, there is a pressing need to enable data access for reuse to tackle today’s pressing challenges. However, many initiatives aimed at unlocking data face significant obstacles and often stall at the pilot stage. A major reason for this is the lack of human infrastructure — specifically, data stewards who provide the necessary foundation for sustainable data use. Without a strong network of data stewards, implementing data policies across Europe will remain difficult.
What are the Data Stewards Bootcamps?
The bootcamps provide practical tools, knowledge, and networks to equip Data Stewards as a function across all types of organisations to encourage data re-use and address public-interest challenges through data. The upskilling on data stewardship offered by The Data Tank is done across all sectors –public, private and civil society. The length and format can be adapted and the offering includes Data Stewards Executive Bootcamps , an intensive program for senior leaders.
As explained in the event, The Data Tank’s mission is to ensure this upskilling programme can be scaled up and is sustainable and so it is rolling them out across Europe to build a network of data stewards capable of implementing policy at the practical level.
Real-World Applications of Data Stewardship Skills
During the session held in Brussels, three data stewards and alumni of previous bootcamps shared how they embed data stewardship practices in their respective organisations, how the training received impacts their work, and their view on how a data stewardship role or function can help organisations better prepare for the implementation of the EU data policies.
(i) Developing a common language to foster dialogue
Bart Rosseau, Program Manager at Digitaal Vlaanderen — the digital cluster for Flanders government — , explained that data stewardship sits as a key role within Digitaal Vlaanderen’s data governance framework. Bart highlighted how data stewards are becoming bigger in their role, and the importance of this function to trigger a dialogue across departments and organisations. Central to this role, is its multidisciplinarity (covering for example technical, business and management aspects), which can surmount barriers between different areas of expertise. Also central to data stewardship as a function is the importance of developing a common language around data reuse. For Bart, such bootcamps and upskilling programmes are also a way to contribute to overall data literacy among stakeholders and civil servants across Flanders. He concluded on the importance of a regulatory ecosystem and said that the EU data policies provide a long term framework and strategic urgency, which makes it easier for the data steward to get things done.
(ii) The importance of the human factor in trustworthy ecosystems
Juliana Outes Velarde brought her perspective as a Senior Data Steward at the Government Outcomes Lab, a research centre based at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. As an organisation committed to doing research to solve problems, a key part of her role consists of investigating how governments can partner with non-government organisations to deliver better services. Juliana’s work heavily relies on working with data that resides elsewhere (either third or private sectors). At her role as a data steward, Juliana focuses on the partnership and convening aspect. She spends time with the data holders who will potentially engage in data sharing and enabling access to data. One of the many learnings that Juliana highlighted from the bootcamp was the importance of first asking the question about what data is needed for. She also underlined the importance of data stewardship in the context of the EU’s data policy development and specifically pointed to the Data Governance Act and its aim to support trustworthy data intermediaries. For Juliana, trustworthiness signals the relevance of the human infrastructure around data, alongside the technical infrastructure: the human element around data-sharing is vital.
(iii) Improving strategy and sustainability
Reflecting on the bootcamp he attended, Mark Herringer, who leads the Healthsites.io platform, highlighted the value of the tangible toolkits provided to participants during the training, particularly the Data Stewards Canvas, which he continues to revisit. While he has long advocated for open data, Mark noted that simply making data available with the expectation that organisations will use it and share data and expertise has not always worked as expected, hence the value of data stewardship skills. Healthsites.io is a platform that provides a global baseline of accessible, openly licensed health facility data. The platform publishes national datasets for every country in multiple accessible formats via its website, an open API, and the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX). In this case, the data stewardship approach prioritises open science, community-driven validation, and collaborative governance to enhance data accuracy and accessibility. The principles of data stewardship have helped refocus the strategy for scale and sustainability by aligning the supply, demand, and value proposition of Healthsites.io’s data initiatives. Healthsites.io is now inviting impact investment into a reciprocal data ecosystem to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and SDG 3.8.1 in particular, ensuring equitable access to quality health services. For Mark, the EU Data strategy, particularly the EU Data Act, can incentivise the engagement of stakeholders, including Ministries of Health, which is crucial for the success of Healthsites.io.
A Vision for Europe’s Data Future
The Director General of the Publications Office at the European Commission, Ms. Hilde Hardeman, gave high-level closing remarks on the work of the European Commission on data stewardship and data governance more broadly. The Publications Office has an inter-institutional mandate to work with and for all EU institutions. It is tasked with publishing EU law to give it legal effect but the role of the office has evolved in time and its mission is to serve as a centre of excellence for data, information and knowledge management, both internally and externally. Hardeman raised three key points in relation to data stewardship in the context of the European Commission:
(i) The European Commission has adopted a systematic, sustainable, and responsible approach to data management and governance, recognizing it as crucial for transparency, accountability, and decision-making, especially in the AI era. Reflecting its importance, data management now stands alongside budget and HR in terms of management and accountability.
(ii) The Commission’s data governance structure includes the Corporate Management Board and the Information Management Steering Board, which coordinate data policies across departments. Data stewardship is a critical component in this framework to ensure high-quality data that is accurate, accessible, and reusable.
(iii) Challenges persist, such as the need for adaptable governance principles, enhanced data quality and standardisation, and fostering skills and collaboration across teams. Security, interoperability, and the FAIR principles (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reuse) guide this effort. Hardeman highlighted that the European Commission is committed to integrating these practices across all operations.
Next steps: scaling up data stewardship
Data stewardship is only becoming more important in the age of data-driven AI driven systems. Despite the ongoing efforts from a policy and technical perspective in the EU to address rapid global data developments, there is an imminent need to focus on building the human infrastructure. Data stewards and data stewardship teams are needed to ensure that the ongoing policy and technical developments are systematic, sustainable and responsible. The Data Tank works towards unlocking such potential, and does so through upskilling, research, and thought leadership. If you are interested to know more about the data stewards bootcamps, check The Data Tank’s website. We are continuously looking for data enthusiasts to join us and shape the data future together!
