Research Data Alliance/US Call for Fellows

I'm a co-PI on a project that provides a great opportunity to the early career researchers and professionals to engage with the Research Data Alliance and help to improve data practices and make data management and data sharing easier and more transparent. Below are the details from the call for fellows:

The Research Data Alliance (RDA) invites applications for its newly redesigned fellowship program. The program’s goal is to engage early career researchers in the US in Research Data Alliance (RDA), a dynamic and young global organization that seeks to eliminate the technical and social barriers to research data sharing.

The successful Fellow will engage in the RDA through a 12-18 month project under the guidance of a mentor from the RDA community. The project is carried out within the context of an RDA Working Group (WG), Interest Group (IG), or Coordination Group (i.e., Technical Advisory Board), and is expected to have mutual benefit to both Fellow and the group’s goals.

Fellows receive a stipend and travel support and must be currently employed or appointed at a US institution.

Fellows have a chance to work on real-world challenges of high importance to RDA, for instance:

• Engage with social sciences experts to study the human and organizational barriers to technology sharing
• Apply a WG product to a need in the Fellow’s discipline
• Develop plan and disseminate RDA research data sharing practices
• Develop and test adoption strategies
• Study and recommend strategies to facilitate adoption of outputs from WGs into the broader RDA membership and other organizations
• Engage with potential adopting organizations and study their practices and needs
• Develop outreach materials to disseminate information about RDA and its products
• Adapt and transfer outputs from WGs into the broader RDA membership and other organizations

The program involves one or two summer internships and travel to RDA plenaries during the duration of the fellowship (international and domestic travel). Fellows will receive a $5000 stipend for each summer of the fellowship. Fellows will be paired with a mentor from the RDA community.

Through the RDA Data Share program, fellows will participate in a cohort building orientation workshop offering training in RDA and data sciences. This workshop is held at the beginning of the fellowship. RDA Data Share program coordinators will work with Fellows and mentors to clarify roles and responsibilities at the start of the fellowship.

Criteria for selection: The Fellows engaging in the RDA Data Share program are sought from a variety of backgrounds: communications, social, natural and physical sciences, business, informatics, and computer science. The RDA Data Share program will look for a T-shaped skill set, where early signs of cross discipline competency are combined with evidence of teamwork and communication skills, and a deep competency in one discipline.

Additional criteria include: interest in and commitment to data sharing and open access; demonstrated ability to work in teams and within a limited time framework; and benefit to the applicant’s career trajectory.

Eligibility: Graduate students and postdoctoral researchers at institutions of higher education in the United States, and early career researchers at U.S.-based research institutions who graduated with a relevant master’s or PhD and are no more than three years beyond receipt of their degree. Applications from traditionally underserved populations are strongly encouraged to apply.

To apply: Interested candidates are invited to submit their resume/curriculum vitae and a 300-500 word statement that briefly describes their education, interests in data issues, and career goals to datashare-inquiry-l@list.indiana.edu. Candidates are encouraged to browse the RDA website https://rd-alliance.org/ and pages of interest and working groups to identify relevant topics and mutual interests.

Important dates:
April 16, 2015 – Fellowship applications are due
May 1, 2015 – Award notifications
June 18-19, 2015 – Fellowship begins with the orientation workshop in Bloomington, IN

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RDA Data Share, funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation under award G-2014-13746, engages students and early career researchers in the Research Data Alliance. This engagement builds on foundational infrastructure funded by the National Science Foundation grant # ACI-1349002.