Network of Experts

The Council of Chairs brings together the Chairs of all the Expert Groups and members of the Digital Research Alliance of Canada’s Research Data Management (RDM) staff. The Council of Chairs advises on and contributes to the planning and development of RDM-related initiatives in Canada, coordinates the work of Expert Groups and designated Working Groups, and works with the Alliance to identify and address gaps, areas for collaboration and other potential synergies. The group identifies and prioritizes resources and supports required to advance the work of each Expert and designated Working Group and shares this with the Alliance RDM team to inform their efforts in support of the RDM Network of Experts. 

Terms of Reference for the Council of Chairs

Members 

Jennifer Abel, University of Calgary, National Training Expert Group 

• Lucia Costanzo, University of Guelph, Research Intelligence Expert Group 
• James Doiron, University of Alberta, Data Management Planning Expert Group 
• Jonathan Dorey, Institut national de la recherche scientifique, Data Management Planning Expert Group 
• Grant Gibson, Canadian Research Data Centre, Sensitive Data Expert Group 
• Laurence Horton, Digital Curation Centre, Research Intelligence Expert Group 
• John Huck, University of Alberta, Dataverse North Expert Group 
• Amber Leahey, Scholars Portal, Dataverse North Expert Group 
• Steve Marks, University of Toronto, Preservation Expert Group 
• Kevin Read, University of Saskatchewan, Discovery and Metadata Expert Group 
• Nicholas Rochlin, University of British Columbia, National Training Expert Group 
• Robyn Stobbs, Athabasca University, Preservation Expert Group 
• Kristi Thompson, University of Western Ontario, Sensitive Data Expert Group 
• Reyna Jenkyns, WDS-ITO, Data Repositories Expert Group 
• Lee Wilson, Digital Research Alliance of Canada 

Data curation is a fundamental component of good research data management and a requisite to creating FAIR datasets. By implementing practices, techniques and tools to improve the quality of data and metadata, data curation makes data transportable across systems; facilitates its dissemination, reuse and preservation; and enables interoperability with other products. Through its application to all stages of the data lifecycle, data curation connects the researchers, data professionals and stakeholders who strive to create open and reproducible scholarship. 

The Curation Expert Group (CEG) works to build, connect and work with communities to promote the value of curation, and identify, evaluate and promote good practices in preparing data and metadata for research, dissemination and preservation in Canada. Current areas of interest include:

• Developing a central, community-supported resource for data curation information, guidance and reference materials.
• In collaboration with the Alliance Training Expert Group, identifying curation training needs across Canada and organizing training resources and events to address them.
• Collaborating with the FRDR development team to streamline and automate curation tasks for datasets submitted to the repository.
• Realizing the vision of a national approach to data curation services, support and network development in Canada articulated in the Canadian Data Curation Forum Report.
• Developing and maintaining a set of basic documentation and reference materials that communicate best (and “good enough”) practices for curating datasets, such as the Dataverse Curation Guide.

Terms of Reference for the Curation Expert Group 

CEG Roadmap

To become a member, please complete the Expression of Interest Form.

Members

• Jay Brodeur, McMaster University (Co-Chair)
• Alicia Cappello, Queen’s University (Co-Chair)
• Omid Aghaei, Ocean Networks Canada
• Carrie Breton, University of Guelph
• Erin Clary, Digital Research Alliance of Canada
• Melissa Cuthill, Kwantlen Polytechnic University
• Comfort Eboigbe, Canadian Integrated Ocean Observing System, Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland
• Laura Gerlitz, Digital Research Alliance of Canada
• Meghan Goodchild, Queen’s University, Scholars Portal
• Lina Harper, Digital Research Alliance of Canada
• Shahira Khair, University of Victoria
• Beth Knazook, University of Dublin
• Amber Leahey, University of Toronto, Scholars Portal
• Neha Milan, University of Saskatchewan, Federated Research Data Repository
• Tamanna Moharana, Digital Research Alliance of Canada
• Ève Paquette-Bigras, Université de Montréal
• Bhaleka Persaud, University of Waterloo, Water Institute, Global Water Futures
• Michael Steeleworthy, Wilfrid Laurier University
• Robyn Stobbs, Athabasca University
• Qian Zhang, Digital Research Alliance of Canada

Active Working Groups

Curation Events Working Group (Terms of Reference): With support from and reporting to the Alliance’s Curation Expert Group (CEG), and with input from the Borealis Community Facilitation Team and the National Training Expert Group (NTEG), the Curation Events Working Group (CEWG) will plan and organize a series of bilingual curation-related events. Events may include community forums, speaker series, webinars, panels and other skill-building or knowledge-sharing opportunities for researchers, RDM professionals and curation practitioners.

Data management planning is recognized as one of the key pillars of research data management, and data management plans (DMPs) are increasingly required by funders, including the Canadian Tri-Agencies as outlined in their Research Data Management Policy. The Data Management Planning Expert Group (DMPEG) works to promote and nurture a strong data culture in Canada, and to support researchers and institutions in their data management planning needs. 

The DMPEG develops and makes available guidelines, best practices and training resources in support of data management planning writ large, as well as guidance materials for the Alliance national DMP service, DMP Assistant, including the standards underlying the structure and management of, and content for, DMP templates and exemplars. The DMPEG’s work ultimately

• facilitates the sharing of research administrative information across research organizations and agencies;
• improves coordination among local and national research service organizations; and
• reduces administrative burden on researchers.

Current areas of interest include

• Developing Exemplar DMPs and other guidance and training resources to assist researchers in developing high quality DMPs;
• Maintaining and developing further guidance for discipline- and methodology-specific DMP templates implemented through DMP Assistant;
• Developing and implementing a DMP repository where researchers can deposit, curate, discover and access Canadian DMPs; and
• Supporting the ongoing development and sustainability of the DMP Assistant platform and service, including identifying and recommending new features to support both administrators and end users.

For more information, or to inquire about becoming a member, please see the Terms of Reference and/or complete the Expression of Interest Form.

Members

• James Doiron, University of Alberta (Co-Chair)
• Jonathan Dorey, Institut national de la recherche scientifique (Co-Chair)
• Marcus Closen, Digital Research Alliance of Canada
• Mathilde Couturier, Saint-Lawrence Global Observatory
• Marc-Olivier Croteau, Université de Montréal
• Dylanne Dearborn, University of Toronto
• Carla Graebner, Simon Fraser University
• Jasmine Hoover, Cape Breton University
• Isaac Pratt, McMaster University
• Lily Ren, York University
• Chantel Ridsdale, Ocean Networks Canada
• Janet Rothney, University of Manitoba
• Robyn Stobbs, Athabasca University
• Alexander Thistlewood, University of Calgary

Data repositories are recognized as foundational to good research data management. The Canadian data repository landscape is rich and diverse, with over 200 data repositories in operation at national, regional and local/institutional levels. The Data Repositories Expert Group (DREG) brings together representatives from key repository stakeholder communities to provide high-level coordination for platform-specific working groups and to foster a broad and cohesive approach to repository development in Canada.

Current areas of interest include repository certification and national repository infrastructure.

Terms of Reference for the Data Repositories Expert Group

To become a member, please complete the Expression of Interest Form.

Members

• Reyna Jenkyns, World Data System International Technology Office (Co-Chair)
• Kate Davis, Scholars Portal
• Natasha Fee, Canadian Space Agency
• John Huck, University of Alberta
• JJ Kavelaars, National Research Council of Canada
• Neha Milan, University of Saskatchewan, Federated Research Data Repository
• Mike Smit, Dalhousie University
• Sean Tippett, Ocean Networks Canada
• Amanda Tomé, Digital Research Alliance of Canada
• Lee Wilson, Digital Research Alliance of Canada

Dataverse is an open-source data repository application. The establishment of a national Dataverse service (Borealis, the Canadian Dataverse Repository) has seen an increase in the number of post-secondary institutions using the Dataverse data repository platform in Canada. The primary goal of the Dataverse North Expert Group (Dataverse North) is to foster and sustain a community of practice for administrators and institutional practitioners who support Dataverse repositories, collections and services in Canada, and to help coordinate activities of interest to that community. 

Dataverse North sponsors working groups to advance its goals. Projects currently being undertaken by Dataverse North working groups include: a survey of Canadian Dataverse administrators and institutions, and a set of revisions to the Dataverse North Metadata Best Practices Guide. 

Dataverse North sponsors a standing working group — the Borealis Community Facilitation Team — which plans monthly meetings for the community of administrators using the Borealis service and coordinates other community activities. 

Past Dataverse North working groups have produced instructional materials, a metadata best practices guide, recommendations for a policy framework for the Borealis service, and materials to help institutions using the Borealis service develop local Dataverse policies. 

Terms of Reference for the Dataverse North Expert Group

To become a member, please complete the Expression of Interest Form.

Members

• John Huck, University of Alberta (Co-Chair)
• Amber Leahey, Scholars Portal (Co-Chair)
• Alexandra Cooper, Queen’s University
• Corey Davis, Council of Pacific and Prairie University Libraries, University of Victoria
• Siobhan Hanratty, University of New Brunswick
• Christie Hurrell, University of Calgary
• Sacha Jerabek, Université de Québec à Montréal
• Daniel Manrique-Castano, Digital Research Alliance of Canada
• Tanya Nguyen, Athabasca University
• Michael Steeleworthy, Wilfrid Laurier University
• Lee Wilson, Digital Research Alliance of Canada

For research data to be effectively shared and re-used, researchers must first be able to find, access and interpret those data. The main purpose of the Discovery and Metadata Expert Group (DMEG) is to support data creators, curators and other professionals in planning, producing, managing and disseminating descriptive metadata to enable the effective discovery and reuse of research data across a wide range of disciplines. Through national and international consultation and collaboration, the group promotes standards for metadata and data that support discoverability by both humans and machines.

The DMEG works closely with the Federated Research Data Repository (FRDR) team to facilitate the effective discovery of and appropriate access to Canadian research data by scholars and general audiences around the world. This includes setting up appropriate alerting services, evaluating standards for metadata quality and connecting data to other scholarly resources and outputs available on the web using authoritative sources.

Other current areas of interest include improving geospatial discovery of Canadian research data, investigating how to improve the discovery and indexing of licensed and restricted access data, crosswalking metadata from a wide array of data sources, and identifying data producers and systems both within and outside of academia.

For more information, or to inquire about becoming a member, please see the Terms of Reference and/or complete the Expression of Interest Form.

Members

• Kevin Read, University of Saskatchewan (Co-Chair)
• Clara Turp, McGill University (Co-Chair)
• Eugene Barsky, University of British Columbia
• Cyndie Found, National Research Council Canada
• Laura Gerlitz, Digital Research Alliance of Canada
• Mark Goodwin, Digital Research Alliance of Canada
• Amber Leahey, Scholars Portal
• Dany Savard, University of Toronto
• Chantelle Verhey, Ocean Networks Canada
• Peter Webster, Saint Mary’s University
• Lee Wilson, Digital Research Alliance of Canada

Active Working Groups (WGs)

Access Limited Data Discovery Working Group (Terms of Reference): The Access Limited Data Discovery Working Group works to scope the landscape of Canadian access-limited data locations, platforms and/or tools; identify the challenges associated with increasing the discovery of access-limited data; and make recommendations for improving the discovery of access-limited data based on challenges identified. Access-Limited Data is data that is not immediately accessible or for which access or discovery is limited. Such data includes data that can be made available under certain conditions, and data that lacks the appropriate infrastructure to be accessible or discoverable more broadly. Examples include but are not limited to licensed, restricted, human health or embargoed data.

Canadian Data Repositories Landscape Working Group (Terms of Reference): The Canadian Data Repositories Landscape Working Group seeks to survey the Canadian data repository landscape. The goals of this project are to develop a sustainable method for tracking Canadian data repositories; identify established, emerging and dormant data repositories for monitoring; describe identified repositories according to a standard set of criteria (e.g., domain, platform); promote Canadian data repositories through established registries (re3data, FAIRsharing); and to evaluate gaps in the Canadian data repository landscape.

As the research data management landscape continues to evolve, it is crucial that researchers and data professionals have the information and training they need to stay up to date with the latest developments and best practices. The National Training Expert Group (NTEG) oversees a range of specific projects that collaboratively develop and deliver both training and training resources to support all aspects of RDM skill development for a variety of stakeholders across Canada.

Current areas of interest include developing and implementing a national RDM training strategy, supporting initiatives such as webinars and “workshops in a box,” and working with the Alliance’s Expert and Working Groups to develop domain-specific, researcher-focused training.

Terms of Reference for the National Training Expert Group

To become a member, please complete the Expression of Interest Form.

Members

• Jennifer Abel, University of Calgary (Co-Chair)
• Nicholas Rochlin, University of British Columbia (Co-Chair)
• Alexandra Apavaloae, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
• Ernie Boyko, Canadian National Committee of CODATA
• Shannon Cobb, Canadian Institutes of Health Research
• Phillipe Deprés, Université Laval
• James Doiron, University of Alberta
• Jane Fry, Carleton University
• Isabelle Laplante, Centre de documentation collégiale
• Ariel Lisogorsky, University of Waterloo
• Jeff Moon, Compute Ontario
• Jaime Lee Orr, University of Winnipeg
• Marie-Eve Ruest, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi
• Felicity Tayler, University of Ottawa
• Wendy Watkins, Carleton University, Emerita
• Ian Wereley, Canadian Association for Graduate Studies
• Rachel Zand, University of Toronto, Canadian Association of Research Ethics Boards

Active Working Groups

Maturity Assessment Model in Canada Working Group. The MAMIC (Maturity Assessment Model in Canada) WG was created in 2021 to develop an RDM Maturity Assessment Model specific to the needs of the Canadian research landscape. It is available to all Canadian research institutions to aid in the completion of their RDM Institutional Strategy. The current version of the MAMIC can be viewed here.

Training Materials Review Working Group. The Training Materials Review Working Group will pilot a process to solicit, select, review and make available Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI)-related training materials developed within the Canadian DRI ecosystem. To support future training material collection, assessment and dissemination within the broader DRI community, the working group will document their processes and workflows and make recommendations for future work in this area.

The preservation of research data is essential to ensure that it remains accessible and usable in the long term. The purpose of the Preservation Expert Group (PEG) is to advance the Alliance’s capacity in developing infrastructure and best practices for preserving research data and metadata. This includes working with relevant stakeholders on software development projects that add platforms and preservation services to the RDM infrastructure in Canada. PEG also advises the RDM team at the Alliance in its participation in regional and national initiatives to provide key components of preservation infrastructure, as well as working to maintain and foster a community of practice for research data preservation in Canada.

Current areas of interest include working with other Expert Groups to increase awareness of preservation issues, liaising with FRDR and Scholars Portal Dataverse on preservation functionality in repositories, and working with FRDR, SciNet, Scholars Portal and University of Toronto Libraries on a preservation pipeline project that will facilitate researcher access to a robust long-term digital preservation environment.

Terms of Reference for the Preservation Expert Group
 

To become a member, please complete the Expression of Interest Form.

Members

• Steve Marks, University of Toronto (Co-Chair)
• Robyn Stobbs, Athabasca University (Co-Chair)
• Kate Cawthorn, University of Calgary
• Corey Davis, University of Victoria 
• Émilie Fortin, Université Laval
• Meghan Goodchild, Queen's University, Scholars Portal
• Kayla Lar-Son, University of British Columbia
• Y.G. Rancourt, Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries
• Alisa Rod, McGill University
• Mary Catherine Shea, University of Ottawa
• Julie Shi, University of Toronto
• Amanda Tomé, Digital Research Alliance of Canada
• Lee Wilson, Digital Research Alliance of Canada

Research data management policies, practices, systems and infrastructures are constantly developing and evolving, both nationally and internationally. The Research Intelligence Expert Group (RIEG) gathers evidence to guide the development of best practices in RDM in Canada and informs stakeholder communities about existing and arising issues in related policies and practices. RIEG conducts and analyzes results from independent studies and surveys in order to provide evidence-based recommendations regarding RDM to the Alliance.

Current areas of interest for RIEG include

• Institutional preparedness to support RDM, in the areas of strategies, policies, capacity and resources,
• Emerging RDM support services outside of research institutions, and
• Researcher practices for managing and sharing research data.
   

Terms of Reference for the Research Intelligence Expert Group

To become a member, please complete the Expression of Interest Form.

Members

• Lucia Costanzo, University of Guelph (Co-Chair)
• Laurence Horton, Digital Curation Centre (Co-Chair)
• Alexandra Cooper, Queen’s University
• Dylanne Dearborn, University of Toronto
• Louise Gillis, Dalhousie University
• Reyna Jenkyns, World Data System International
• Elizabeth Lartey, Digital Research Alliance of Canada
• Mark Leggott, Digital Research Alliance of Canada
• Marjorie Mitchell, University of British Columbia, Okanagan
• Jean-Baptiste Poline, McGill University
• Tracy Sallaway, Trent University
• Subhanya Sivajothy, McMaster University
• Gail Thornton, University of Alberta
• Minglu Wang, York University
• Lee Wilson, Digital Research Alliance of Canada
• Tatiana Zaraiskaya, University of New Brunswick

Active Working Groups

Data Repository and Storage Working Group (DRSWG). (Terms of Reference) The purpose of this DRSWG is to document, implement and promote these storage solutions within the NOE. This group will also work to develop associated supports to enable the effective use of these solutions and ensure access to data over time. These efforts are intended to ensure NOE-generated data are appropriately stored and available for immediate and future needs.

The collection, analysis, use and reuse of research data takes place in a complex legal, policy and societal context involving privacy, intellectual property rights, commercial concerns, working with Indigenous communities and data, and other key ethical issues. The Sensitive Data Expert Group (SDEG) is composed of a broad membership from research communities – including research ethics professionals, representatives of funding agencies, and members of Indigenous organizations – with direct interests in this subject. The group works together to develop practical guidance and tools for the management of sensitive research data in the Canadian landscape. This work helps the Alliance and other organizations develop both practical and policy responses to the RDM needs of Canadian researchers and contributes to the expertise of the broader RDM community of practice in Canada.
 

Current areas of interest include

• Developing materials to assist researchers in understanding the impacts of research ethics on research data management, including a glossary of terminology, a risk matrix and examples of deposit-friendly language for consent forms.
• Supporting the development of DMP templates for use in research contexts related to Indigenous peoples and communities.

The Terms of Reference for the Sensitive Data Expert Group are under review.

To become a member, please complete the Expression of Interest Form.

Members

• Grant Gibson, Canadian Research Data Centre Network (Co-Chair)
• Kristi Thompson, University of Western Ontario (Co-Chair)
• Sheila Chapman, Canadian Institutes of Health Research
• Shannon Cobb, Canadian Institutes of Health Research
• Melissa Dane, First Nations Information Governance Centre
• Philipe Després, Université Laval
• Aaron Franks, First Nations Information Governance Centre [observer]
• Brenda Gagné, Mount Saint Vincent University, Canadian Association of Research Ethics Boards
• Alex Garnett, Simon Fraser University
• Jeremy Geelen, Canadian Institutes of Health Research
• Mark Leggott, Digital Research Alliance of Canada
• Suzanne McMurphy, University of Windsor
• Scot Nickels, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
• Bobby Nikkhah, University of British Columbia
• Catherine Paquet, University of Ottawa, Canadian Association of Research Ethics Boards
• Victoria Smith, Digital Research Alliance of Canada
• Berenica Vejvoda, University of Windsor
• Karen Wallace, Secretariat on Responsible Conduct of Research