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Minimum Viable Skills for Research Infrastructure Professionals

Introduction: Open Science mission for this role

Research Infrastructures (RIs) support "research communities to conduct research and foster innovation" and constitute a major component in building an OS environment in so far as they aim at both "skilling researchers" and providing a wide range of "supporting staff". RIs pool together tools, Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and good practices to monitor and make accessible the entire research process.

The Minimum Viable Skillset (MVS) for Research Infrastructure (RI) professionals therefore considers the specificities of the functions represented in such organizations with regard to Open Science (OS). The functions can be diverse and correspond to many function titles, however, as these functions are in great part defined by the organization's role, the content, context, and prospect of the missions are common to all RI professionals. The MVS for RI professionals proposes therefore a generic description of the role, which can be applied with adjustments to various functions. More detailed descriptions of specific functions can be found in other MVS, e.g. in the MVS for data stewards operating in RIs.

The OS missions of RI professionals therefore entail: spreading a Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) and OS culture; managing the RI; providing, handling and maintaining services, resources, and tools; harmonizing and improving a common EU OS space; supporting and monitoring FAIRification; providing training, sharing best practices, and building a research community.

Research Infrastructures professionals

Research Infrastructure (RI) professionals contribute to open science development by being "operators who have experience and insights into scientific or technical issues whilst also being a professional manager". RI professionals also play a specific role in coordinating and engaging the scientific community.

Associated function titles: Infrastructure manager, Project manager, Service manager, Chief Technology Officer, Data manager, Data steward, Researcher.

Essential skills and competences

  • Expertise and competence in RRI, OS and research governance, as well as diverse EU research policies and systems

  • Technical knowledge and skills needed for service development and provision, including data use agreements, information security and risk management

  • Expertise in innovation and business development

  • Staff management and project management skills

  • Ability to empower people to implement OS by establishing transparent, accountable and sustainable processes

  • Ability to plan and implement FAIR and open science principles and meet the requirements for reproducible research.

  • Ability to identify and meet scientific communities' needs[pr1] 

  • Expertise in developing guidelines in multidisciplinary areas

  • Fostering a common vision among various stakeholders

  • Ability to understand ethical and legal implications of research: Intellectual property rights and non-personal data Management, Knowledge of the Ethical principles, frameworks and codes of conduct, Legal issues related to personal data governance, Responsible use of data-driven technologies

  • Ability to create, plan, coordinate public events, public in-formation pathways

Soft/ transversal skills

  • Networking in inclusive/pluralist/participatory environments

  • Community engagement expertise

  • Team building and teamwork

  • Leadership and coordination

  • Sharing knowledge and processes

  • Pedagogical skills

  • Analytical and research skills

  • Flexibility and adaptability

  • Proactiveness and responsiveness

Main activities

Service

  • Provide knowledge-related facilities and resources such as collections, archives or scientific data infrastructures; computing systems, communication networks, and any other infrastructure

  • Provide technological alignment, standards implementation

  • Provide guidance about FAIR principles and FAIR implementation

  • Ensure technical policy consistency throughout projects and activities of the RI

Support

  • Coordinate and engage the research community's relevant stakeholders with a special attention to young generation

  • Set up and offer foundational and specialized digital skills training for scientific community, data professionals, ELSI experts, Data Protection Officers;

  • Facilitate in-person and online training and development of communities of practice

  • Support the application of RRI principles through the anticipation of impact and the consideration of inclusiveness and transparency dimensions of research

  • Instruct researchers on open licensing and open software according the legislation on the reuse of public funded research data

Coordination

  • Foster new partnerships and innovative services through internal and external collaboration

  • Share knowledge to address socio-economic challenges, and take care of users' needs.

  • Position the RI in the local, national and international environment; identify regional research priorities and set consistent strategies

  • Identify and negotiate with potential funders; identify new funding tools (private-public partnerships, special projects, commercial funding, fee for service, consultancy)

Contributes to which Open Science outcomes?

The European Commission describes the main objectives of RIs and these represent OS outcomes provided by the RI professionals:

  • Generalize OS practices and reduce fragmentation of the research ecosystem

  • Avoid duplication of effort

  • Facilitate and support research outputs sharing

  • Produce open,usable and accessible research data and publications

  • Boost innovation and research projects

  • Facilitate cross-disciplinarity and cooperation with industry

Further information

Contributors: Karla Avanço, Arnaud Gingold, Irakleitos Souyioultzoglou, Elena Sokolova, Angus Whyte

Open Science skills terms

OS skills terms match the essential skills in this MVS to competence definitions from relevant taxonomies. The selected terms offer further information to help identify the learning objectives for skills development. Sources: European Skills, Competences and Occupations ontology (ESCO), ResearchComp, terms4FAIRskills, Center Scientific Collaboration and Community Engagement.

ESCO Research Skills: Communicate with a non-scientific audience; Conduct research across disciplines; Develop professional network with researchers and scientists; Draft scientific or academic papers and technical documentation; Increase the impact of science on policy and society; Interact professionally in research and professional environments; Manage findable accessible interoperable and reusable data; Manage intellectual property rights; Manage open publications; Manage personal professional development; Manage research data; Mentor individuals; Negotiate compromises; Operate open source software; Perform project management; Promote open innovation in research; Promote the transfer of knowledge; Show entrepreneurial spirit; Teach in academic or vocational contexts; Think analytically; Work in teams.

ESCO Transversal Skills: Adapt to change; Address an audience; Advise others; Assume responsibility; Attend to detail; Build networks; Build team spirit; Communicate with a non-scientific audience; Cope with stress; Delegate responsibilities; Demonstrate curiosity; Demonstrate intercultural competence; Instruct others; Keep an open mind; Lead others; Make decisions; Manage financial and material resources; Manage time; Moderate a discussion; Motivate others; Organise information, objects and resources; Plan; Promote ideas, products, services; Resolve conflicts; Respect the diversity of cultural values and norms; Show commitment; Show confidence; Show determination; Show empathy; Show entrepreneurial spirit; Show initiative; Think analytically; Think holistically; Think innovatively; Think quickly; Use communication and collaboration software; Work in teams.

ResearchComp: Analytical thinking; Apply research ethics and integrity principles; Communicate to the broad public; Cope with pressure; Creativity; Critical thinking; Develop networks; Ensure well-being at work; Interact professionally; Manage intellectual property rights; Mobilise resources; Negotiate; Operate open source software; Problem solving; Promote inclusion and diversity; Promote open access publishing; Promote open innovation; Promote the transfer of knowledge; Systemic thinking; Teach in academic and vocational contexts.

Terms4FAIRskills: Change management; Community building; Data access risk assessment and mitigation; Data costs management; Data governance; Data policy; Engage innovation partners; Ethical application of patents, licenses; Information governance; Knowledge to contextualise fair principles to domain; Meeting/conference organisation; Mentoring on open and fair methods; Open access publishing; Privacy governance; Project management; Research governance; Research integrity process design; Research integrity, attribution, impact awareness; Securing networks for data integrity; Selecting appropriate data handling methods; Strategic/long-term planning; Training in open and fair methods.

CSCCE: Advancement, growth and sustainability; Advocacy; Business modeling; Change management; Collaboration; Community governance; Consultation and listening; Cultural competence; Emotional integration; Engagement; Event planning; Financial management; Knowledge brokering; Landscape analysis; Meeting facilitation; Moderation, mediation and intervention; Networking; Operational planning and implementation; Outreach; Proposal development; Record-keeping; Speaking and presenting; Strategy development; Teaching and training.

Link to any other MVS that this MVS is based on (from those in Skills4EOSC D2.1)

Reference sources

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