“Supporting your academic goals”, that is what we as the University Library stand for. We are closely connected to the academic world and within this community we are crucial for students, teachers and researchers in the digital transition. We contribute to the UM Open Science policy, the movement that increases the impact of science even more, by focusing our service on opening up and making scientific information transparent. In line with the idea of Open Science, managing research data and software according to the FAIR principles is one of the academic goals we support. The Data Steward plays an important role in making FAIR data use and FAIR software the norm for research within Maastricht University (UM).

Research Data Management (RDM) concerns all data-related activities in any phase of the data lifecycle (e.g., making a data management plan, data storage). Every UM faculty has a FAIR action plan in place, and you as Data Steward will be in close contact with researchers, data managers of research projects and PhD candidates to put these plans into practice. The main task for you as Data Steward is to facilitate researchers to store their research data securely and handle their research software in a FAIR way (video).

Your work focuses on:

• Supporting, guiding and advising the research community with FAIR data use and FAIR software through skills support (e.g. training and workshops, providing support materials via RDM portal) and services on ‘how to use’ (e.g. crafting data management plans, submitting data in appropriate repositories). You support researchers in planning the collection, management and sharing of their data in a FAIR way.
• Developing and disseminating FAIR ways of data & software management tailored to the types of research data generated, while acting as spokesperson within the research community for creating awareness and explain the added value of good data & software management.
• Consulting on creating reproducible data-driven scientific workflows. Part of the Open Science strategy is to create research outputs that are reproducible by default. Therefore, you will guide researchers on the use of technologies for data manipulation and wrangling including the use of ontologies and vocabularies; and ultimately pinpoint how to generate FAIR research software;
• Collaboration with multiple experts, faculty based (e.g. research staff, information managers, database administrators, software engineers) and from central service units (e.g. University Library, ICT Service center, DataHub) and national organisations (e.g. SURF, NL-eScience Center, LCRDM) to support researchers.
• Following trends and developments in the field of research data, research software, linked data, research infrastructure, cloud services, and data analysis.

We are looking for you if you have an Open Science mindset, are interested in the process of academic research and eager to support researchers in applying the FAIR principles in this process, preferably for multiple scientific disciplines. You have experience in FAIR research data management, moreover in designing, documenting, developing and testing software applications and particularly web applications or web services (e.g. APIs). You are proactive, able to work independently, manage your time and activities properly, and have experience in collaborating in multidisciplinary teams.

Furthermore, you have:

• a master degree and a broad understanding of how research works and how data and software underpin reproducible research;
• a strongly service-oriented mindset, consultancy skills are a plus;
• a good command of the Dutch and English language and strong interpersonal skills;
• demonstrable knowledge of programming languages commonly used in research (e.g. R, Python, Matlab) as well as fundamental knowledge of concepts related to web development (i.e. Git, CI/CD, web services, and database architectures);
• familiarity with data governance topics such as compliance, security and privacy-preserving methodologies.

Fixed-term contract: 1 year.

As data steward, you will work at the most international university of the Netherlands in the beautiful city of Maastricht. Furthermore, we offer you:

• An interesting and challenging job for 30.4 hours per week (0.8 FTE).
• A position that is classified in the UFO profile Data Steward, level 3. Depending on experience, you will be classified in scale 10 of the CAO NU (€2,960,- - €4,670,- gross per month, based on a fulltime position of 38 hours per week). In addition to the monthly salary, an 8.0% holiday allowance and an 8.3% year-end bonus apply.
• Space and facilities to develop yourself: personally and in the latest technology. This partly takes place in-house, but also with external (online) partners.
• In addition to good primary employment conditions, there is also a nice package of secondary employment conditions. You can think of: flexible working hours, 232 holiday hours per year with a full-time appointment, a good pension scheme, the possibility of hybrid working (incl. facilitation of home office), possibility to use sports facilities, and Collective Labour Agreement á la carte.

The terms of employment of Maastricht University are set out in the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO). Furthermore, local UM provisions also apply. For more information look at the website www.maastrichtuniversity.nl > About UM > Working at UM.

Maastricht University

Maastricht University is renowned for its unique, innovative, problem-based learning system, which is characterized by a small-scale and student-oriented approach. Research at UM is characterized by a multidisciplinary and thematic approach, and is concentrated in research institutes and schools. Maastricht University has around 22,000 students and about 5,000 employees. Reflecting the university's strong international profile, a fair amount of both students and staff are from abroad. The university hosts 6 faculties: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Faculty of Law, School of Business and Economics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience. For more information, visit www.maastrichtuniversity.nl.

The University Library (UB)

The Maastricht University (UM) Library aims to be an inspiring partner in research and education within the UM community. Our professional staff focusses on new types and forms of knowledge resources. We invest in state-of-the-art learning, research and meeting environments, both on campus and online. Our main target groups are students, teachers and researchers. 

Do you want to learn more about the UM Library? Watch our video. While you are there, you can navigate through our website - the Online Library - and discover all the services and information we offer.