YERUN-verkoston henkilöstöpäivien teemana kestävä kehitys | SDGs as the theme of YERUN staff days 2021

(Please, scroll down, under the word cloud, to read in English.)

Syddansk universitet (SDU) järjesti 7.-8.4.2021 YERUN-verkoston (Young European Research Universities) jäsenille interaktiiviset verkostoitumispäivät, joissa käsiteltiin YK:n kestävän kehityksen tavoitteita (SDG) yliopistojen kehittämisessä. Tiiviissä, mutta hyvin jäsennellyssä ohjelmassa oli sekä yhteisiä osuuksia että pienryhmätyöskentelyä eri teemojen parissa, taukojumppaakaan unohtamatta. Päivät järjestettiin Teams-yhteyksin. Ohjelma, joka kesti kumpanakin päivänä nelisen tuntia, koostui luennoista ja pienryhmätyöskentelystä sekä pienistä aktivoivista osuuksista ja lyhyistä videoista.

kestävän kehityksen tavoitteet värillisinä kuvakkeina
17 tavoitetta maailman muuttamiseksi

Keskiviikon ohjelmassa oli alkuseremonioiden jälkeen kaksi puolen tunnin luentoa. Hans Bruyninckx (Executive Director of the European Environment Agency) puhui yliopistojen johtamisesta kestävyyden aikoina (Managing universities in times of sustainability). Hän on kansainvälisen ympäristöpolitiikan sekä ilmastonmuutoksen ja kestävän kehityksen asiantuntija, joka on tutkinut globaaleja tuotanto- ja kulutusjärjestelmiä sekä oikeudenmukaisuuteen liittyviä kysymyksiä. Hän puhui yliopistojen käytännön johtamisesta, muutosten kiireellisyydestä, Euroopan vihreän kehityksen ohjelmasta, tutkimuksen yhteiskunnallisesta merkityksestä muuttuvassa kontekstissa ja siitä, miten viestiä monimutkaisista ja epävarmoista asioista yksinkertaisesti ja vaikuttavasti.

Janne Liburdin (Professor, Centre for Tourism, Innovation and Culture, Department of Design and Communication, University of Southern Denmark) aiheena oli Kohti kestävän kehityksen tavoitteita ja yhteisöllistä yliopistoa (Towards the SDGs and the Collaborative University). Liburd pohti, miten yliopistot voivat edistää kestävän kehityksen tavoitteita. Ei riitä, että yksilöt muuttavat omaa käyttäytymistään, vaan muutos syntyy välittävien ihmisten vuorovaikutuksessa, pienissä yksityiskohdissa. Liburdin mukaan ihmisiä ja toimintaa voi johtaa kestävämmän tulevaisuuden edistämiseksi, kun vain ymmärretään yhteistyön, yhteisöllisyyden ja eettisyyden voima.

Torstain luennon (Nudging, Behavioural Insights & the SDGs) piti käyttäytymisen ja etenkin sen talousvaikutusten tutkija Pelle Guldborg Hansen (Roskilden yliopisto; iNudgeyou, Danish Nudging Network; TEN – The European Nudge Network, ) ja hänen teemansa oli suostuttelu (nudging). Koska ihmisten käyttäytyminen ei ole rationaalista, on kestävän kehityksen tavoitteiden edistämiseksi tunnettava, miten ihmisten käyttäytymistä voi ohjata. Ihmisten käyttäytyminen on perustavanlaatuinen osa organisaatiota, mutta se ymmärretään usein väärin. Suostuttelu on tapa muuttaa ihmisen käyttäytymistä sopivaan suuntaan aika- ja kustannustehokkaasti. Se voi toimia tehokkaasti yliopistoissa, kun on kyse positiivisen käyttäytymisen ja kestävämpien päätösten edistämisestä.

Osallistujat (noin 150) oli jaettu 16 ryhmään ilmoittautumisen yhteydessä valittujen kiinnostuksen aiheiden mukaan. Osallistuin viestintäaiheiseen pienryhmään. Ennakkotehtäväksi olimme saaneet kukin miettiä kysymyksen omasta kestävän kehityksen teemaan liittyvästä aiheesta. Pienryhmässä muodostimme eri kysymyksistä keskustelemalla yhden yhteisen kysymyksen, joksi viestintänäkökulmasta muodostui: “Miten voimme edistää tutkijoiden työn näkyvyyttä?” Toisena päivänä pienryhmätyöskentely jatkui siten, että vierailimme yhdessä muussa ryhmässä, ja päädyin koulutusaiheiseen ryhmään kommentoimaan heidän kysymystään opiskelijoiden kestävän kehityksen tavoitteita edistävän toimijuuden mahdollistamisesta. Kolmannessa pienryhmäsessiossa palasimme omaan ryhmäämme käsittelemään vierailijoiden kommentteja kysymykseemme. Pienryhmässä toimiminen ennestään tuntemattomien ihmisten kanssa oli yllättävän helppoa, kun tunnelma oli välitön ja ystävällinen.

Päivien videoita

Kestävän kehityksen tavoitteet ovat laajat ja kattavat kaikki elämänalueet. UEF on sitoutunut tavoitteiden edistämiseen kaikessa toiminnassaan. Kestävyys ja vastuullisuus ovat keskeisenä periaatteena myös yliopiston kampusten kehittämisessä. Lue lisää: Kestävyys ja vastuullisuus UEFissa.

sanapilvi
Osallistujien yhdessä luoma sanapilvi. | Word cloud created by the participants.

The University of Southern Denmark (SDU) organised YERUN Staff Days on April 7-8 2021 on working with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in developing our universities. The founding goals of YERUN are to strengthen and develop cooperation in the areas of research, academic education and service to society among the network of universities. Programme of the two 4-hour staff days, organised in Teams, was tight but well-structured with keynote talks and group activities as well a break exercise.

UN SDG goals as icons
UN Sustainable Development Goals

On Wednesday, after the opening words, there were two lectures. Hans Bruyninckx (Executive Director of the European Environment Agency) talked about Managing universities in times of sustainability. The second keynote called Towards the SDGs and the Collaborative University was given by Janne Liburd (Professor, Centre for Tourism, Innovation and Culture, Department of Design and Communication, University of Southern Denmark). She asked how the university can make everyday sense of SDGs, and stated that intentionally transforming human behaviour of such magnitude may arise in the micro details of interactions between people who care.

Thursday’s lecture “Nudging, Behavioural Insights & the SDGs” was given by Pelle Guldborg Hansen (behavioural scientist at Roskilde University; Chairman of the Danish Nudging Network; founder of TEN – The European Nudge Network, board member of the Global Association of Applied Behavioural Scientist, and CE of iNudgeyou – The Applied Behavioural Science Group)Human behaviour is the fundamental component of any organization and it is often misunderstood. We are not the super rational people who make cool decisions every day that we otherwise like to imagine. Nudging is a method of changing human behaviour in an appropriate direction and can be very cost-effective and time efficient. The use of Nudging and Behavioural Insights can be a powerful tool at universities, especially when it comes to creating positive behaviour and more sustainable decisions.

As the SDG’s cover a wide range of areas, the participants (about 150) were divided into 16 groups based on the interests were had expressed when registering for the event. I had the chance to discuss the SDGs as part of the university communications. We had all been asked to prepare a “how might we” question. In our group, we discussed them and formed one question, which, from our communication perspective, became “How might we make researchers’ work more visible?” On Thursday, group work continued so that we visited another group, and I ended up in an education group where we visitors were asked to comment on their question “How can universities enable student agency around SDGs?” In the third group session, we returned to our own group to discuss our visitors’ comments to our question. Though I did not know or had not met any of the group members before it was surprisingly easy to work together as the atmosphere was open and friendly.

YERUN 2021 staff days videos

The UEF has agreed to promote the SDGs in all its operations. Sustainability and responsibility are also the key development principles for the university campuses. See Sustainable development (UEF).

Tuulevi Ovaska, erityistietoasiantuntija | Senior Information Specialist
Opetus- ja tietopalvelut | Training and Information Services

Towards research data sharing – what does the RDA offer?

Highlights of a seminar What does the Research Data Alliance offer for Finland?, held on the 10th of February 2015 at CSC Finnish IT Center for Science, Espoo.

Today’s scholarly research is characterized by digitalization and production of huge amounts of diverse data. At the same time, society confronts grand challenges, such as environmental pollution, climate change and public health issues. Solution of these problems is by nature international, requiring large and dynamic networks. Efficient cooperation depends on effective sharing of data. To achieve shareability and reusability, data must be findable, accessible, combinable and interpretable in various contexts.

Unfortunately, the idea and practices of data sharing are not always appreciated in research organizations. Every project defines its own strategies without thinking interoperability in wider context. Poorly documented data formats, missing metadata and obsolete software hinder or prevent retrieval and reuse of data. The concept of data entropy is used to describe this situation. The data becomes useless little by little and finally it is impossible to extract knowledge from the data.

In addition to technological questions, there are also societal and cultural issues in collaboration. Gateways are not hardware or software alone, they are more like technical solutions with a social choice. According to anthropologist Anna Tsing, “actual existing universalisms are hybrid, transient and involved in constant reformulation through dialogue” (1). There is usually a kind of friction between the parties. The collaborators might not have common goals at all, but it is important to reconcile the local with the global. The concept “glocal” may help in understanding both global and local needs. To work out through friction, a “neutral place” is needed. System theory can also provide tools for addressing collaboration problems. Well-known Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety states that “only variety absorbs variety” (2).

Research Data Alliance (RDA) is an initiative founded in 2013 to support data sharing activities. The founders of RDA include European Commission, the US National Science Foundation and the Australian Government’s Department of Innovation. The RDA vision (3) states that researchers and innovators openly share data across technologies, disciplines and countries to address the grand challenges of society. RDA builds the social and technical bridges and infrastructure that enable open sharing of data. Infrastructure in this sense is relations, interactions and connections between people, technologies and institutions. It is a process of consolidation characterized by gateways that allow dissimilar systems to be linked into networks (4). The RDA doesn’t do “architecture”, but it provides a level of unity, fostering relationships, interfaces, and connections.

The RDA is “bottom-up” organization, playing locally and globally. Participation in the RDA is open to anyone who agrees to the RDA principles (7):

Openness
Membership is open to all interested individuals who subscribe to the RDA’s guiding principles. RDA community meetings and processes are open, and the deliverables of RDA Working Groups will be publicly disseminated.

Consensus
The RDA moves forward by achieving consensus among its membership. RDA processes and procedures include appropriate mechanisms to resolve conflicts.

Balance
The RDA seeks to promote balanced representation of its membership and stakeholder communities.

Harmonization
The RDA works to achieve harmonization across data standards, policies, technologies, infrastructure, and communities.

Community Driven
The RDA is a public, community-driven body constituted of volunteer members and organizations, supported by the RDA Secretariat.

Non-profit
The RDA does not promote, endorse, or sell commercial products, technologies, or services.

The RDA Council is responsible for RDA strategy and leadership, including mission, vision and sustainability. The Technical Advisory Board (TAB) is responsible for technical roadmap, the Secretariat takes care of administration and operations, and the Organizational Advisory Board (OAG) is responsible for process and strategic advice (6).

Persons supporting RDA principles may join RDA as individual members. Organizations can join as Organizational Members paying a nominal fee, or as Organizational Affiliates to support jointly sponsored efforts. It is also possible to initiate or join an Interest Group or propose or join a Working Group (5). These groups are formed of experts from around the world, from academia, industry and government. At present there are about 2500 members from 92 countries (3). RDA also organizes Plenary Meetings every six months in different places around the world.

What can libraries do regarding research data management and sharing? Libraries are certainly familiar with many aspects related to research data, at least in conceptual level. Libraries create and manage standardized metadata on daily basis, in order to build databases for national and international use. Libraries are also well versed in user guidance and instruction. The issue at stake is how to apply all this knowledge to research data domain (8). To begin with, libraries have to learn about research data management. It is necessary to encourage library staff and offer opportunities to develop new professional skills. Expertise is reshaped by joining existing training programmes for data librarians or by initiating new programmes. New expertise can be recruited, but this is difficult in today’s economic situation. It is also necessary to initiate collaborative projects with researchers. Libraries cannot do anything alone. For example, participating in relevant RDA Working Groups and Interest Groups (5) offer opportunities to build relationships. Mutual understanding of library’s role and setting realizable goals helps to overcome the friction.

References

  1. Tsing AL. Friction : an ethnography of global connection. Princeton [N.J]: Princeton University Press; 2005.
  2. Ashby WR. An introduction to cybernetics. London: Chapman & Hall; 1956. Available at: http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/books/IntroCyb.pdf
  3. About Research Data Alliance. Available at: https://rd-alliance.org/about.html
  4. Edwards PN, Jackson SJ, Bowker GC, Knobel CP. Understanding Infrastructure: Dynamics, Tensions, and Design. Available at: http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/49353
  5. RDA Working and Interest Groups. Available at: https://rd-alliance.org/groups
  6. RDA Organisation. Available at: https://rd-alliance.org/organisation.html
  7. RDA Get involved. Available at: https://rd-alliance.org/about/get-involved.html
  8. LIBER Scholarly Communication and Research Infrastructures Steering Committee – Work Plan 2013-2015. Available at: http://libereurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/LIBER_SCRI_SC_implementation_plan.pdf

Heikki Laitinen
Information specialist