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MVS Co-creation Approach

Methodology to co-create a MVS Profile

The process followed by Skills4EOSC is a straightforward collaborative authoring and publication process, outlined below as a guide for others interested in applying the approach.

MVS publication steps

Define MVS use cases

The use cases may vary according to the role(s) the MVS are to be developed for, and the intended users of the MVS (e.g., trainers or managers of the roles).

Identify the role’s expected mission and outcomes

For Skills4EOSC, the mission and outcomes relate to Open Science and are expressed in very generic terms. They may also be specified at a more granular level to fit national, regional, sectoral, domain or other organisational requirements.

Analyse skills sources to identify role activities and competences

The MVS design provides a model defining elements and properties (Appendix A in the Annex to the report). These elements provide a minimal classification scheme for analysis literature sources. The Skills4EOSC bibliography 15 is available for reuse and includes competence frameworks, reports on skill requirements and related literature. For other roles, it may also be helpful to collect and review job descriptions, e. g. if there is insufficient recent literature available to describe skills requirements for the role in question.

Establish ‘essential skills’ needed to deliver intended outcomes

Skills4EOSC established an editorial group to draft each MVS, where possible including at least one author who expects to use the MVS in their practice as a trainer or curriculum developer. Successive drafts were reviewed and critiqued, with each iteration broadening the range of actors whose comments were sought. The first target group were intended users of the MVS, in each case a different group of course and curriculum developers within Skills4EOSC Work Packages. The next targets were selected ‘critical friends’ among stakeholders we anticipated would be interested in contributing. Several MVS were also shared publicly, as described below in the next section.

Summarise the MVS using Open Science Skills Terms

Adding classification terms from an Open Science Skills taxonomy, plus standard metadata terms applicable to learning resources, will contribute to the MVS becoming a FAIR resource, i. e. Findable and Reusable by its intended audience.

Applying the taxonomy terms is a straightforward process involving the following steps:

  1. Identify which bullet-point statements the terms are to be applied to. This should be the ‘essential skills and competences’ in the MVS. Optionally the ‘activities’ these relate to can be included, e.g. If they may clarify which terms apply.
  2. For each statement, select up to 5 terms from the list and copy them to columns in a table, each column representing one of 5 dimensions of OS Skills (technology, domain, interpersonal, communication, leadership). The relevant terms will probably be spread across more than one of the dimensions.
  3. Count the number of terms that have been applied in each column (dimension), and based on their relative frequency classify the skillset’s overall relevance to each dimension as ‘high’, ‘medium’ or ‘low’.
  4. Produce a visualisation of the OS skills scope, showing the relevance to each dimension.
  5. Compile a table listing the terms selected for each dimension, copy these terms to the MVS Profile, and include links to the definitions given in the terminology sources (t4FS, or CSCCE Glossary).
  6. Review the selected terms against the MVS Profile ‘essential skills and competences’ statements to consider rewording them, e.g. if selected terms are only implicit and can be made explicit.

Publish in MVS catalogue

The MVS Catalogue is currently a document collection in the Zenodo repository, maintained by the Skills4EOSC project. We encourage interested groups to submit MVS for additional roles (or variations of those already published). Skills4EOSC will add to the collection following a lightweight editorial check that the text fulfils the following criteria.

  • Content accurately reflects one or more dimensions of the OS definition applied by the EC to its Horizon Europe programme
  • Written using clear language,
  • Coherently structured content for all elements of the MVS,
  • Sufficient context for the reader to identify the type of organisation or research community the MVS is applicable to,
  • Contains a reference list of relevant sources used,
  • Has been been reviewed by a user group e.g. trainers or curriculum developers, and considered suitable for the intended use case(s).

List of OS Skills Terms

t4FS: 84 (of 223 in total) 'data stewardship activity' terms, selected for relevance and appropriate level of granularity, mainly from 2nd level of t4FS hierarchy; sorted alphabetically here; italicised terms have been reworded for clarity.

CSCCE Glossary: 45 terms listed according to 5 dimensions, selecting those included in 'skills wheel' for scientific community managers

ResearchComp

Cognitive abilities

1.  Abstract thinking
    - Demonstrate the ability to use concepts in order to make and understand generalisations, and relate or connect them to other items, events, or experiences.
2.  Critical thinking
    - Exercise critical judgement and thinking, develop own assumptions, and establish a way of working based on critical thinking.
3.  Analytical thinking
    - Using logic and reasoning to develop alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems and identify their strengths and weaknesses.
4.  Strategic thinking
    - Develop a vision to turn ideas into action. Obtain and synthesize information to identify and explore trends, opportunities, threats (also based on intuition and creativity) to achieve a long-term goal and to thrive in a competitive, changing environment. Identify alternative paths to turn ideas into action, select the most appropriate approach and adjust where necessary.
5.  Systemic thinking
    - Understand and take account of the characteristics of (inter)national research systems where researchers interact with all relevant stakeholders and of the position of individual researchers and their organisation within the system. Situate research activities within the wider context to improve the understanding of complex issues and identify linkages with related issues.
6.  Problem solving
    - Develop and implement solutions to practical, operational or conceptual problems which arise in the execution of work in a wide range of contexts.
7.  Creativity
    - Develop several ideas and opportunities to create value, including better solutions to existing and new challenges. Explore and experiment with innovative approaches. Combine knowledge and resources to achieve valuable effects.

Self management

8.  Manage personal professional development
    - Take responsibility for lifelong learning and continuous professional development. Engage in learning to support and update professional competence and develop personal skills. Identify priority areas for professional development based on reflection about own practice and through contact with peers and stakeholders. Pursue a cycle of selfimprovement and develop credible career plans.
9.  Show entrepreneurial spirit
    - Demonstrate a proactive mindset and determination to achieve success in business or successfully create it.
10.  Plan self-organisation
    - Identify the necessary tasks and prioritise them in order to develop an individual schedule and perform the work in an autonomous way, ensuring that the requirements are met. Understand how to behave and work in a sustainable way, including from the environmental point of view, and be mindful of impact of own activities on the environment.
11.  Cope with pressure
    - Handle challenges, disruption, and change and recover from set-backs and adversity.

Working with others

12.  Interact professionally
    - Show consideration to others and professional collegial behaviour. Listen, give and receive feedback and respond perceptively to others. Engage effectively and in a goal-directed manner with other people in a professional setting, also involving staff supervision and leadership.
13.  Develop networks
    - Develop alliances, contacts or partnerships, and exchange information with others. Foster integrated and open collaborations where different stakeholders co-create shared value research and innovations. Develop your personal profile or brand and make yourself visible and accessible in face-to-face and online networking environments.
14.  Work in teams
    - Work confidently within a group with each doing their part in the service of the whole.
15.  Ensure wellbeing at work
    - Understand the links between work, physical and mental health and wellbeing. Be adequately informed about health promotion and disease prevention to take responsibility for the personal work situation considering the impact on others to create a healthy work environment.
16.  Build mentor-mentee relationships
    - Mentor individuals by providing emotional support, sharing experiences and giving advice to the individual to help them in their personal development, as well as adapting the support and guidance to the specific needs of the individual and heeding their requests and expectations. Vice versa, as a mentee, seek support and advice provided by the mentor.
17.  Promote inclusion & diversity
    - Promote and ensure equality and diversity management, in words as well as in actions and conduct. Guide and advise colleagues about how to work in diverse teams and contexts.

Doing research

18.  Disciplinary expertise
    - Demonstrate deep knowledge and complex understanding of a specific research area, including responsible research, research ethics and integrity principles, privacy and GDPR requirements, related to research activities within a specific discipline.
19.  Perform scientific research
    - Gain, correct or improve knowledge about phenomena by selecting or developing the appropriate scientific approach and by using scientific methods and research techniques based on empirical or measurable observations.
20.  Conduct interdisciplinary research
    - Work and use research findings and data across disciplinary/functional boundaries, including in collaborative settings.
21.  Write research documents
    - Draft and edit research, academic or technical texts on different subjects.
22.  Apply research ethics and integrity principles
    - Apply fundamental ethical principles and legislation to research and innovation, including issues of research integrity. Perform, review, or report research avoiding misconducts such as fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism.

Managing research

23.  Mobilise resources
    - Identify key relevant funding sources and prepare research grant applications in order to obtain funds and grants. Write research proposals and pitch ideas to convince potential investors (internal or external to the organisation) of the need to fund research initiatives.
24.  Manage projects
    - Manage and plan various resources, such as human resources, budget, deadline, results, and quality necessary for a specific project and for a project portfolio, and monitor the progress in order to achieve a specific goal within a set time and budget using project management tools.
25.  Negotiate
    - Exchange ideas while analysing issues and interests at stake, enabling opposing sides to resolve disputes and reach an agreement, or making decisions to resolve disputes.
26.  Evaluate research
    - Reflect on research activities and learn from successes and failures based on personal experience, feedback from others or monitoring and evaluation. Assess proposals, progress, impact and outcomes of peer researchers.
27.  Promote open access publishing
    - Develop a strategy to publish your research and identify the appropriate publication channel(s) to implement that strategy. Use open publication strategies when possible. Be familiar with the use of information technology to support research, and with the development and management of CRIS (current research information systems) and institutional repositories. Provide licensing and copyright advice, use bibliometric indicators, and measure and report research impact.

Managing research tools

28.  Manage research data
    - Produce and analyse research data originating from qualitative and quantitative research methods. Store and maintain the data in research databases. Support the re-use of research data and be familiar with data management principles, including FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) principles. Make data as open as possible, and as closed as necessary.
29.  Promote citizen science
    - Engage citizens in scientific and research activities and promote their contribution in terms of knowledge, time or resources invested.
30.  Manage intellectual property rights
    - Deal with the private legal rights that protect the products of the intellect from unlawful infringement.
31.  Operate open source software
    - Operate Open-Source software, beyond licensed software, knowing the main Open-Source models, licensing schemes, and the coding practices commonly adopted in the production of Open-Source software.

Making an Impact

32.  Participate in publication process
    - Submit, revise and publish academic research through the most appropriate dissemination means and participate in peer review processes, including open peer review.
33.  Disseminate results to the research community
    - Publicly disclose research results by any appropriate means, including training, conferences, workshops, colloquia and research publications.
34.  Teach in academic or vocational context
    - Instruct students in the theory and practice of academic or vocational subjects, transferring the content of own and others’ research activities.
35.  Communicate to the broad public
    - Communicate about scientific findings to a non-scientific audience, including the general public. Tailor the communication of scientific concepts, debates, findings to the audience, using a variety of methods to different target groups, including visual presentations and various forms of written, spoken and digital communication
36.  Promote the transfer of knowledge
    - Deploy broad awareness and knowledge of processes of knowledge valorisation aimed to maximise the two–way flow of tools, content material, technology, intellectual property, expertise and capability between the research base and relevant stakeholders within the research field.
37.  Increase the impact of science on policy and society
    - Increase the impact and use of research findings in policy making, by providing input to and maintaining professional relationships with policymakers and other stakeholders.
38.  Promote open innovation
    - Apply techniques, models, methods, and strategies that contribute to the promotion of steps towards innovation through collaboration with external people and organizations.