Would you like to educate yourself in FAIR data stewardship? Do you like to work in an international setting? Then, this is the job for you. As a data steward, you become the expert in the field of data management and interoperability for scientific research.

Our ideal candidate for this position has experience with the FAIR principles and metadata schema developing to meet the requirements and standards set for and from the scientific domain as well as by the organization. You will work in a stimulating medical environment and will actively participate in an international network of experts who collaborate on best data stewarding practices for rare disease data.

The work focuses on the FAIRification of multi-omics data. It is now widely acknowledged that understanding the mechanisms underlying health and disease requires the concerted study of different molecular (-omics) levels (DNA, RNA, proteins, metabolites). Moreover, a transition from static simplified views to dynamic comprehensive views on molecular pathways encompassing (e.g. genomics, proteomics and metabolomics) is needed.

Currently, this is not simple nor scalable. There is an increasing need to combine -omics data from different sources, but the data and their associated metadata are not always FAIR. For that reason, the Netherlands X-omics Initiative has developed a multi-omics data infrastructure that facilitates FAIR-compliant multi-omics data storage and analysis.

To help make data FAIR, the consolidation of metadata across omics is necessary. In X-omics, the ISA metadata schema is used as a standard metadata schema to capture metadata about (-omics) experiments.

Would you like to contribute your expertise to design and develop a consolidated ISA metadata schema over multi omics? Please don't hesitate to start your application.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Collaborate with X-omics omics researchers, align with Health-RI omics working group, and FAIRification stewards in Radboudumc to ensure FAIR data principles adherence.
• Receive formal training on FAIR principles through tutorials and mentoring by colleague data stewards.
• Represent the onboarding team at events related to -omics metadata.
• Familiarize with data management, including drafting data validation and management plans.
• Develop shared work processes and standards for FAIR data.
• Raise awareness at national, regional, domain, and local levels about the importance of FAIR data.
• Engage with clinicians and researchers, providing support and training in FAIR data management.
• Co-develop software, tools, services, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and policies for FAIR data capture and publication.
• Participate in national and international data stewardship discussion groups and initiatives.

Our ideal new colleague has an MSc in a relevant discipline (public health, medical informatics, data science, biology, bioinformatics, computer science, artificial intelligence) and endorse the FAIR principles and Open Science. You have experience with (meta)data modelling and knowledge of formal data representations and frameworks (e.g. FHIR, ODHISI, ODL, SIO, DCAT). Ontology, Thesaurus, Semantic web / linked data skills are preferred (e.g. OWL, RDF, ShEx, RML). Excellent verbal communication in English is required, Dutch is a plus. You have passion for training of professionals.

What do we offer in this position?

• Ability to work in multidisciplinary teams.
• Diverse and multicultural work environment very open to international colleagues.
• Flexible / Hybrid work possibilities.
• Opportunities to career development and specialisation / learning.
• Access to great network of experts in FAIR principles.
• Empowerment and independence at your own responsibilities.
• Possibility to research and develop / learn at the job.

Fixed-term contract: 1 year with prospect of extension.

At Radboud university medical center, you build on your future. We are committed to providing the best care, education, and research. And we are true to our word, because we help you develop and seize opportunities and give you the room to grow. As an employer, we believe that employees should feel vital and happy at work in all stages of life. We are also committed to creating a healthy and safe working environment. Our employment conditions contribute to that. What we offer:

• A gross monthly salary in scale 9 between €3,514 and €4,817 (for a full-time appointment). You will also receive an 8% holiday allowance, an 8.3% end-of-year bonus, and a 47% to 72% bonus for working unsocial hours.
• Plenty of opportunities for personal development. You can take a variety of courses in our online learning environment. You can also share knowledge with colleagues through digital learning spaces – perfect for getting inspired and inspiring others.
• Your well-being and vitality are our priorities. For instance, you can enjoy a 40% discount on a sports subscription at the Radboud Sports Center along with access to the Healthy Professionals program designed to assist you in managing your energy. If you are going through a life-changing event, our Company Support Team and a personal coach are there to help you.
• If you are going through a life-changing event, our Company Support Team and a personal coach are there to help you.
• Support in achieving a good work-life balance at every stage of your life. This includes advice and training courses (from ‘Millennial Dilemmas’ to ‘Your Career After 57’), activities at our own mindfulness center, and informal caregiving consultations if you have questions about juggling work and caregiving responsibilities at home.
• 168 holiday hours per year (23 days) based on a 36-hour working week.
• 26 weeks of parental leave, nine of which are paid.
• You build up a pension by ABP Pension Fund, and Radboudumc pays 70% of the pension premium.
• Discounts on health insurance and ten other types of insurance, from home insurance to legal assistance.
• An allowance for your travel expenses or a working-from-home allowance of €2 per day.

Radboudumc

The Department of Medical BioSciences focuses on basic and translational research in the medical biosciences, from molecules to humans, to better understand disease and health and improve diagnostics and treatment. The active group of data stewards in the department is committed to the reusability of data, tools, and services, and puts the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interpretable, Reusable) data principles into action. We are advancing Open Science practices in the -omics field (e.g. large-scale genome, proteome and metabolome data) through the FAIR Data Cube (FDCube). The FDCube enables researchers to make their -omics data ready for reuse and integration with other data sets and data types, by making (meta)data FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) by design.

The project with the title "Professionalisation and wider adoption of the FAIR Data Cube, a FAIR data infrastructure for integrated multi-omics data analysis", which is funded by the NWO Open Science program and the Netherlands X-omics initiative, aims to make the FDCube widely available through implementing harmonised metadata schemas, preparing a scalable production version and develop promotional and training material. Our goal is to empower researchers and foster collaboration within the -omics community through widespread adoption of FDCube.