As both the Director of Research Data Management Strategies with the University of Alberta (U of A) Library, and the Academic Director of the U of A Research Data Centre, James Doiron’s dedication and contributions toward a cultural shift via research data management practices directly benefit researchers and the research lifecycle.
In this week’s spotlight, James reminds us how extending respect to others and creating space for team comradery can lead to great outcomes when identifying and assessing complex problems and solutions.
How do you describe your work to people who don’t work in your field?
I find that the easiest way for me to describe my work is as ‘supporting research’. It really all comes down to that. Research data management (RDM) is a large umbrella with components spanning across the research lifecycle, and so I approach my work with that mindset. This could include helping to ensure that optimal RDM strategies are meaningfully built into proposals and funding applications, to data management planning, and on into data deposit and the long term stewardship of data. Whether I am supporting faculty researchers, graduate students, and/or research staff, and whether the activities involve teaching, collaborating on their projects, providing guidance, or supporting platforms such as our institutional data repository (Dataverse) or the Data Management Planning (DMP) Assistant tool, it always comes back to supporting research.
What’s one big problem you want to solve through your work?
Helping to support real and meaningful culture change in respect to research data management. Having been involved in RDM for many years now it seemed for so long to be a side conversation and missing the top level support that is really required in promoting culture change. However, we have a very different landscape today, including a Tri-Agency RDM Policy that was released in March 2021. And so, I am very much enjoying playing an active role in supporting the culture shift that is occurring now both here on campus as well as at the national level and witnessing RDM increasingly moving towards being recognized as an essential part of the research process.
What does the word “innovation” mean to you?
For me, innovation is about identifying and assessing real world problems, brainstorming and developing ideas, and implementing them into practical solutions. They don’t have to necessarily be perfect solutions — and rarely they are right out of the gate — but that is ok, and improving on ideas and solutions based on real world experiences and evolving user needs is all part of the innovation process.
What’s been your biggest a-ha moment — in life or work — so far?
I’ve had many ‘a-ha’ moments throughout my life, and I suspect that there are many more to come still. A huge and ongoing one for me has been both recognizing and better understanding the privilege that I have, and that I was born with. I know that I have worked hard in my life, but I also know that I was born very privileged and that means that my starting line was and still is much further ahead than it is for many others that were not born with the same privilege. This process of recognizing can be difficult at times, but I truly believe in the importance of it. I want to try to be a good ally and to use my privilege to meaningfully support fairness and equity.
How do you or your team come up with your best ideas?
I work with a lot of different teams, both here at UofA and beyond, and while I don’t think that there are any specific rituals or habits that are part of the idea generating process, I do know that there are some common elements across them all in that there is a genuine feeling of comradery, respect, and a valuing of everyone’s time and contributions. This inherently creates a very open and positive atmosphere, which is a must for me. We also have a lot of fun, and try to keep things lighthearted while we work through what are often very complex and detailed problems and solutions — this goes a long way I think, and ultimately leads to some great outcomes.
What’s your favourite thing about working at the U of A?
There are so many things that I love about working at U of A, and so I am going to have to cheat here and pick two things that stand out to me. First, it is the community of people — from my immediate colleagues, to all of the researchers, students, and staff across campus. We have such an amazing and diverse campus community, and I feel really fortunate to be in the position that I am in where I am constantly connecting and creating relationships with others. Second is the impact I feel my work has, and that is very important to me. Whether I am working directly to support a research project, providing guidance to researchers and students, working on developing and improving technical solutions, or supporting the U of A Research Data Centre, I know that it is all going towards supporting important research that is potentially having a positive impact on our world and people’s lives. That is a pretty good feeling to have and is a big reason why I love my work so much.
Do you have a role model at the U of A? How have they influenced you?
I have been very fortunate to have had a number of mentors and role models over the years. One that immediately comes to mind is Chuck Humphrey, who was my predecessor in my current position, and retired a few years ago after close to 40 years on campus. Chuck is recognized not just here at U of A, but also both nationally and internationally, as being a champion of all things RDM related, as well as a key early architect of many of the national supports that we are seeing come to fruition now, including the Portage Network, a national RDM focused organization of which he was the inaugural Director. Chuck gave me a lot of guidance throughout my career, and he very much led by example. Among the many lessons that he taught me were two important things: there is no such thing as a dumb question, and to not be afraid to think big. These are lessons that I feel are so important when working in a relatively young and rapidly evolving discipline such as research data management.
What’s next for you? Do you have any new projects on the horizon?
There is quite a lot happening across the research data management landscape, and I am involved in more than a few things both here on campus and beyond. Starting right here on campus, I am currently involved in a project that is focused upon obtaining gold-standard ‘Core Trust Seal’ certification for our institutional data repository, Dataverse. It is really interesting but also complex work, and definitely an ongoing process and a group effort. I am also very much involved in the work relating to the development of the university’s institutional RDM strategy, which is an impending requirement for all post-secondary institutions in Canada seeking to hold Tri-Agency funds. Going beyond campus, I Co-chair the Digital Research Alliance of Canada’s Data Management Planning (DMP) Expert Group and we host nationally their DMP Assistant tool right here at the U of A Library, and so there is lots of work happening right now to support all things DMP related including the development of supportive resources, outreach and education, and supporting the development and sustainability of the DMP Assistant.
This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.
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About James
James Doiron is the Research Data Management Strategies Director, University of Alberta Library, and the Academic Director of the U of A Research Data Centre. He has an educational background in the social sciences along with extensive applied research and data management experience across a wide range of disciplines, areas of focus and data types. James actively sits on a number of local, national and international advisory and working groups, including as chair of the U of A’s Institutional RDM Strategy Working Group, as well as a member of the Indigenous Research Strategy Task Force, Health Research Ethics Board, the Statistics Canada Data Liberation Initiative (DLI) External Advisory Committee, Canadian National Committee for CODATA, and the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) Council. James is co-chair of the Digital Research Alliance of Canada’s Data Management Planning (DMP) Expert Group, and is additionally a member of both its National Training and Dataverse North Expert Groups.