The Research Documentation Centre (RDC) at the ELTE Centre for Social Sciences (Budapest, Hungary) has participated with two talks at the 20th International Digital Curation Conference (IDCC) in Zagreb. The conference brought together research data stewards and research data infrastructure experts from around the globe. Among other topics, participants discussed solutions to and challenges of using AI in data curation. The discussions and presentations highlighted the crucial role of research data in democratic societies and showed how the core values of open science and evidence-based policymaking can be undermined when data and documentation are not properly maintained and are at risk of being lost.

Anna Horváth and Enikő Meiszterics presented on “The Conception and Development of Data Steward Training Programs in Hungary: The Roles of Collaboration, Necessity, Flexibility and Community-building”. Data stewardship is an emerging professional field that supports researchers in managing, preserving, and sharing research data according to FAIR and open science principles. The presentation focused on the inception and beginnings as well as the present of the HUN-REN Data Steward network (est. 2024), in which the presenters have been actively involved from its planning, now acting as coordinators and mentors for the data stewards involved. The network consists of the data stewards of fourteen HUN-REN and four ELTE research institutions. The presenters highlighted the main forces that impact the dynamics and directions data stewardship as a profession seems to be going in in Hungary: national and international collaborations incl. designated communities for peer-to-peer support.

The presentation is accessible here.