RDA in the Netherlands – for members new and seasoned
The day began with an overview of the RDA and the RDA-NL community, delivered by Kim Ferguson (DANS), the current Community Development Manager for RDA-NL. Along with an introduction to the RDA, Kim went into the potential areas of growth for RDA-NL, building upon previous feedback solicited from the community as well as new directions. One of the points of discussion related to potential proposals for new RDA Working Groups or Interest Groups, such as exploring the environmental impact of various RDM strategies and procedures. If you’re interested in this topic, see the collaborative notes for more details and get in touch if you’re interested in exploring this further!
RDA-NL Community Showcase
Five RDA-NL members gave important updates on the RDA initiatives that they are involved, including Interest Group (IG), Working Groups (WGs), and Birds of a Feather (BoA) applications that are in process. For all of the RDA activities, more collaboration or involvement is more than welcome and desired, so make sure to check out the linked material.
Yan Wang (TU Delft), Professionalizing Data Stewardship Interest Group:
This WG has been active since 2019, for the next RDA Plenary (October 13-16, 2025; Brisbane, Australia and online), the IG will co-host a session titled, “Creating Personas: Workshopping the Data Steward persona methodology” on 15 October 2025.
Carla Strubbia (Health-RI), Education and Training of Handling Research Data Interest Group: This IG has existed for about 10 years, and for the next RDA Plenary, they will host a session titled, “Evolution of RDM Training to empower communities” 15 October 2025.
Andrew Hoffman (Leiden University), Infrastructure for Non-Traditional Research Outputs and Processes (Infra4NTROs) Interest Group: With this presentation, Andrew walked the community through the process of initiating a new group within the RDA via a Birds of a Feather (BoF) session, including the team effort and time required. With some good timing, the proposed IG will be able to host a kickoff session during the Plenary in October.
Kim Ferguson (DANS), BoF on “Equity, diversity and inclusiveness in and for RDA activities”: The freshest BoF of the initiatives today, the session was held at the 24th RDA Plenary back in April 2025 and is still working through the process for further work, but first the organisers are looking for more feedback and support to see where to take their first findings.
Carlos Martinez (eScience Center) & Pedro Hernandez Serrano (Maastricht University), RDA & ReSA: Policies in Research Organisations for Research Software (PRO4RS) Working Group: This WG is a joint effort of the RDA and the Research Software Alliance (ReSA) and have recently published their first output – four case studies of implementation policies that support research software in research organisations. Find out more about this WG at their group meeting at the upcoming 25th RDA Plenary on October 13, 2025.
Turning Local Action in Global Connection
After a collaborative lunch with RDNL, the meet-up shifted into a panel discussion on the importance of community and research data management professional organisations. First, each speaker introduced their organisation and the role that community plays. These slides can be found in the collaborative notes.
- Hilary Hanahoe, Secretary General, Research Data Alliance
- Rosie Hicks, CEO, Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC)
- Morane Gruenpeter, Head of Open Science, Software Heritage
- Margriet Miedema, Coordinator, National Coordination Point Research Data Management (LCRDM)
From these introductions, several questions from the audience were fielded, touching upon aspects such as the importance of community collaboration and co-development, as well as promising developments related to aligning with Strategic Development Goals and sharing existing infrastructures rather than (re-)building what already exists. Detailed questions and answers are in the collaborative notes.
From the RDA-NL perspective, the advice from our panel of experts was clear – to keep communities involved and supported, community managers and developers should not sacrifice the personal touch when it comes to engagement. Hosting in-person events and meet-ups is important but so is maintaining consistent contact through the various ways that we communicate – it's also newsletters and message boards and online or hybrid meetings to make sure that all members of the community can engage and contribute. And with that, the day ended with a networking borrel to wrap up a successful community meet-up.
RDA-NL – how to become involved and what’s next
There are several ways to keep up with the RDA-NL community, including the RDM mailing list maintained by LCRDM, the RDA in the Netherlands community board on the RDA website, and through direct contact with Kim Ferguson (kim.ferguson@dans.knaw.nl).
For the next community meet-up, RDA-NL and LCRDM are hoping to partner with local community members and institutions to put on the next meet-up. If you’re a member of the RDA-NL community and want to become more involved, get in touch with Kim Ferguson - whether it’s a space to meet, a theme to explore, or expertise to lend, let’s strengthen this community together!
Special thanks to Open Science Netherlands for funding this meeting through the Open Science Meetings 2025 fund, and for the NWO for hosting us at their Den Haag location.
