Tell us a bit about yourself
I am originally from Western Canada (Edmonton) and first moved to Europe in 2012 to pursue a Master’s degree in Ecology at the University of Bremen in Germany. This was followed by a PhD at Wageningen University & Research (2015–2020). While my PhD focused on insect genomics, open science practices also played an important role throughout my project.
After my defence, I explored different types of work as a freelancer, including online event organisation, teaching assistance for undergraduate courses, and even working as a Pub Quizmaster during the COVID period. I was able to bring these different experiences together in my current role at DANS, where I started in February 2022 as a Research Data Management Specialist and member of the DANS Training Team.
Do you have a specialism when it comes to training? If so, what is it?
With my background in life sciences, I often contribute to training activities in this domain. It allows me to translate FAIR principles into practical guidance that fits the specific needs and practices of life sciences researchers.
I also provide training and advice on (web) accessibility and how accessibility can be incorporated into open science practices. In addition, my interest in performance and presenting means that I enjoy the front-facing aspects of training delivery. Being able to engage with an audience is an important, and sometimes underestimated, skill.
What was your first job, and what did you learn from it?
Although it was not technically my first job or a paid position, my role as an elected representative in the student council during my bachelor’s degree taught me many valuable skills.
I held this position for two years and was involved in a wide range of activities, including administrative work, taking minutes, conflict resolution, facilitating meetings, reviewing and drafting policy, and communicating with different groups of people. At the time, I did not realise how many of these skills would still be relevant more than 15 years later.
What kind of training have you been doing recently? Do you have any reflections on how it went?
Recently, I have been developing training together with my DANS colleague Cees Hof, former member of the Training Team and current Data Station Manager for both the Life Sciences and Physical and Technical Sciences Data Stations.
Together, we have been exploring how we can provide better training and guidance for researchers depositing data in the DANS Data Stations. For example, writing a good dataset description may sound straightforward, but it can be subjective and domain-specific. Our aim is to support users in describing their datasets in a way that improves findability and reuse.
We delivered the first version of this training during the DANS Open Day in June. It was a valuable opportunity to test the approach and identify where we can improve. We especially appreciated the willingness of participants to share their own perspectives and approaches to dataset descriptions. Their input helps us develop better training exercises and improve our guidance as a data service provider.
About the DANS Training Team
DANS is the national centre of expertise for research data, and training and workshops are a core part of this work. DANS has a multidisciplinary Training Team that provides training and workshops for researchers, institutions and data professionals on 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. These are highlighted on the DANS website, in the DataLink newsletter, and on social media. To find out more about DANS Training, you can visit the relevant page on the website or contact the team by email.
