Michelle, tell us a bit about yourself…
When I was 4 years old and taking swimming lessons, my dream was to be the instructor on the pool side, not the little girl struggling in the water. Years later, I could see my being part of the DANS Training Team as that dream come true.
I have a background in the humanities, but I am also confident teaching courses that aim at FAIR Research Data Management (RDM) and/or data management planning in sciences. Before joining DANS, I worked at Leiden University Libraries providing RDM related courses, advice, and support to a wide range of researchers and research support staff.
Next to my work for the Training Team, I am a project leader at the RDNL project, which aims to create a training and community platform for research data professionals.
What do you think makes a good training workshop?
My ideal workshop strikes the right balance between theory and practical exercises to an audience that is not afraid to talk and engage with each other. High level FAIR research data can be a daunting topic, and I like to present it in a way that provides sufficient information for my audience to dare make a start and no to overwhelm them with things that they need not necessarily apply in their own work.
In a nutshell: I would like to explain something that can be quite difficult in such a way that it may just seem easy.
What would you take with you to a desert island?
This is a hard choice: I have been trying for years to improve my French, so I would like to think that I could spend my time fruitfully, if I were to bring my homework, some books. On the other hand, it would be much more fun to bring a horse and go riding on the beach…this desert island had better have beautiful extensive beaches.
However, I honestly do not think that I am the right person to be secluded on a desert island. Can I just take a boat to help me plot my escape? That will keep me sufficiently busy.
What are you doing for this month’s DANS Training Team theme of ‘FAIR and open science?’
Together with my colleagues René van Horik and Loek Brinkman I delivered two sessions on exactly this topic for the Open Science Day at our KNAW sister institute NIDI on 2nd March. As a follow up, NIDI aims to award a prize for open science related efforts in April and I have been asked to be in the jury, I really look forward to seeing what they have achieved.
About the DANS Training Team
DANS is the national centre of expertise for research data, and training is central to this. DANS has a multidisciplinary Training Team that works on training researchers, institutions, and data professionals in making research data sustainably findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable. The team is led by Training Coordinator Dr. Deborah Thorpe.
The Training Team has identified a series of thematic areas to focus on in each month of 2026 which will be highlighted every month on the DANS website, in our DataLink newsletter, and on social media – so watch this space! To find out more about DANS Training you can visit our page on the website, or contact the team via email.
