Final STAIRS Report Published

In August 2024, thanks to generous funding from the National Institutes of Health Office of Data Science Strategy and the support of MITRE, the DCN hosted the Summit for Academic Institutional Readiness in Data Sharing (STAIRS). Held at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus with the support of the University Libraries, this event drew more than 100 representatives from 32 institutions. Over the course of two days, participants discussed:

• Training, consulting, and education
• Technologies, metadata, and repository platforms
• Building community internally within the institution
• Building community externally across institutions

Following the summit, the team consolidated and analyzed notes and discussions. This has been synthesized into the final report, which is published through the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing Services: ​​https://doi.org/10.24926/2024.70098 

In general, our recommendations to funding agencies, academic institutions, and other collaborators in the research data publication process include:

• Encourage and support additional opportunities for institutional data service providers and collaborators to build shared standards, norms, and structures across institutions.
• Develop or maintain communal spaces for shared resources, templates, and case studies that are well-known and can be accessed, modified, and reused.
• Further define, articulate, and promote the role of institutionally based data services across disciplines and funding agencies.
• Invest in research relevant to understanding and responding to data sharing requirements at academic institutions.

There is certainly more work to be done, but we are grateful for the support to have this first conversation. 

Thanks to Kate Sheridan and Laureen Boutang for their help in the editing, design, and publication process.