(This post is also available in Spanish / Este post también está disponible en castellano: Preparando el camino hacia la Gestión de Datos de Investigación en América Latina y el Caribe: El rol de la CEPAL en el Proyecto LEARN)
As a Project partner, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has actively been promoting LEARN and pursuing efforts to advocate the advancement of Research Data Management (RDM) throughout the region. In this blog we would like to share some of the activities we have been working on:
Orthographic projection – Wikimedia CCBYSA
RDM in Latin America and the Caribbean: A survey of people and organizations
When we started working on LEARN we were faced with several questions, for example: Are organisations in Latin America and the Caribbean aware of RDM issues? Which ones are working on RDM, and which ones are just starting to think about it? Who are the key stakeholders in each country? Do they know each other? What are the main challenges they are facing, and what strategies have they been following to tackle them?
In order to begin to find answers to these questions, we worked on the identification of people and organisations currently involved in RDM or who are interested in taking the first steps towards its implementation. ECLAC has been meeting people from research funding agencies, universities, libraries and other institutions. Thanks to the information they shared with us, we now have a better understanding of the state of the art of RDM in the region and have moved forward to create a LEARN community in Latin America and the Caribbean, in which the collaboration of all the stakeholders is key. We are still looking for more people and institutions to join this community, so if you want to be one of them be sure to contact us! Should you want to know more about our findings, we invite you to read our previous blog posting.
LEARN-CEPAL Mini-workshops on Research Data Management issues
One of the goals of creating a LEARN community in Latin America and the Caribbean, is to provide a place in which people and organisations are able to share their knowledge, experiences and find avenues of collaboration for the development of RDM. To further this aim, we have now planned a series of online mini-workshops on common RDM issues that organisations in Latin America and the Caribbean are facing. With the collaboration of the LEARN team at the University of Vienna, the first mini-workshop will take place on April 20th and will cover basic Research Data Management concepts and issues. We will very soon publish information about this online event and the future mini-workshops.
LEARN Workshop in Santiago, Chile: Save the date!
CEPAL Building by John Zacherle (Flickr). CCBYSA
We are very pleased to announce that the 4th LEARN Workshop will take place on October 27th in Santiago, Chile. This event will be hosted by ECLAC and will bring together experts from different countries. The main purpose will be to raise awareness of RDM issues, to advocate for its implementation, and to provide a forum for the discussion of strategies and creation of alliances among stakeholders. We are currently working on the workshop planning and will share news about it soon. Stay tuned!
In the next months we will keep working on these activities and the dissemination of LEARN. If you have further information about RDM projects in the region, would like to receive news about the project or have any questions about the activities that we are planning, contact us. Spread the word and join the LEARN community in Latin America and the Caribbean!
Gabriela Andaur
Gabriela Andaur is Consultant for the LEARN Project at the UN Economic Conmission for Latin America and the Caribbean
