In March 2013, 250 international researchers and research data experts gathered in Gothenburg to form the Research Data Alliance (RDA). The alliance has grown considerably since then and now has over 13,000 members in 149 countries. This year, the organization will be back in Gothenburg to celebrate its tenth anniversary. Together with Chalmers, SND is one of the hosts for the conference.
Research Data Alliance 20th Plenary Meeting: Celebrating 10 years of the RDA. A Decade of Data will be held as a hybrid conference from 21 to 23 March. The event is a haven for anyone working to increase the possibilities for researchers and others to share data. The activities within RDA are entirely based on the individual members' commitment and expertise in matters that are important to data sharing, such as data preservation and citation, reproducibility, metadata, and best practices for repositories in various scientific disciplines. Members collaborate mainly through the 87 working groups and interest groups that are currently active in RDA.
“We had no idea it would become this significant”
Elisabeth Strandhagen, Deputy Director, was SND's representative at RDA's first plenary meeting in the Student Union Building at Chalmers in the spring of 2013. She recalls how enthusiastic the participants were, but says that she couldn't imagine that what they laid the foundation for then would become as significant as it is today.
“You can say that RDA has become the most important international actor in matters of research data. Members of the organization contribute with a great deal of practical work, including recommendations, tools, and standards that are highly useful for everyone who works with similar things”, says Elisabeth Strandhagen.
She also appreciates that both researchers and data professionals who provide support to researchers meet and create solutions together.
“There is great diversity both in who participates in the work and in the issues they address. It can be about everything from solving problems with data sharing in very narrow research areas to developing common recommendations for repositories with a wide variety of data types and target audiences.”
Plenary meetings twice a year
RDA's large international meetings, known as plenary meetings, are held twice a year in different locations around the world. Even at the meetings, active work takes place within various interest and working groups, but there are also common sessions in the program where more overarching current issues in the research data field are discussed by a panel of experts.