Interoperability, data stewardship and skills at the ELITma course

In May 2025, ELIXIR-UK members Xènia Pérez Sitjà (Earlham Institute) and Nick Juty (University of Manchester) took part in the ELITMa course on data management strategy for ELIXIR Nodes, organised by the ELIXIR Research Data Management (RDM) Community at the University of Tartu, Estonia.

Xènia attended in her role as co-lead of several RDM Community activities and as a key contributor to the upcoming Data Stewardship Handbook – a new resource designed to support the work of data stewards across Europe. Nick joined as a member of the ELIXIR Interoperability Platform, with a focus on aligning technical efforts and fostering deeper collaboration between the Platform and the RDM Community.

The course generated vibrant discussion and set clear goals for future collaboration, including the development of cross-domain use cases and the finalisation of the handbook as a ready-to-use resource.

This work is particularly relevant to the UK, where the role of data stewards is growing rapidly. The Node has a strong interest in supporting and professionalising this critical part of the research workforce – ensuring the contributions of Digital Research Technical Professionals are recognised and that talent is retained across UK research-performing organisations.

We thank our colleagues Heleri Inno (ELIXIR Estonia) and Mijke Jetten (ELIXIR Netherlands) for their outstanding coordination and leadership in driving the RDM Community forward.