PAN, BBMRI-Omics and OpenINTEL are the winners of the Dutch Data Prize 2018

The Dutch Data Prize is awarded in three categories, which means there are three winners.

PAN: a unique online platform

Portable Antiquities of the Netherlands (PAN), a unique online platform that makes citizens’ archaeological discoveries available for research, is the winner in the category humanities and social sciences. According to the jury, “PAN built bridges between amateur and professional archaeology and is a textbook example of how citizen science can change and improve scientific practice. The data are curated in an exemplary way and available through Linked Open Data. Many thousands of finds by amateur archaeologists are made available for science. This has actually led to important new scientific insights about the history and prehistory of our ancestors.”

The price has been handed over to Stijn Heeren.

BBMRI-omics: a unique collaboration

The winner in the category medical and life sciences is BBMRI-Omics: a unique collaboration of all academic medical research centres in the Netherlands, focused on molecular big data for the discovery of disease mechanisms and biomarkers. From the jury report: “The dataset provides a new dimension to the use of data in medical science. The team has already invested heavily in knowledge transfer and intends to do so even more in the future. Data are continuously being improved and supplemented. Since 2014, BBMRI-omics’ over 60 publications have been cited more than 2,500 times, including in top journals such as Nature, Nature Genetics, Science, Genome Biology and Nature Communications. It is a unique collaboration between the Dutch research centres with biobanks. BBMRI-omics has promissed that it will use the prize money for a training course to enable even more researchers to make optimal use of their data. A splendid initiative which the jury wholeheartedly welcomes!”

The price has been handed over to Bas Heijmans.

OpenINTEL: an exceptionally original dataset

OpenINTEL Active DNS Measurements is the winner in the exact and technical sciences category. The project captures the state of the Domain Names System on a daily basis, thus creating an almost real-time picture of the internet. The jury was impressed by the richness of the dataset, which maps more than 60% of all domains in the world. This exceptionally original collection also distinguishes itself from other submissions because of its live character with daily updates since 2015. It is a great example of how cooperation among researchers and institutions such as SIDN and SURFnet can have an impact on science.

The price has been handed over to Roland van Rijswijk-Deij.

Only winners

The winners went home with a sculpture and a sum of € 5,000 to be spent on making their datasets more accessible. In addition to the fine words for the winners, the jury chairman expressed his appreciation for the contributions of all nominees, and for sharing their research data for further research.

About the Dutch Data Prize

The Dutch Data Prize is a token of appreciation for researchers or research groups that make an additional contribution to science by making their research data available for new or additional research. The prize was initiated by DANS. Today, its organisation is in the hands of Research Data Netherlands (RDNL), which is a partnership of 4TU.Centre for Research Data, SURFsara and DANS.

‘Celebrating Data! What’s next?’

The Data Prize was presented at the ‘Celebrating Data! What’s next?’ event. Researchers, data supporters and data stewards attended the one-day event, which was hosted by Research Data Netherlands (RDNL), the National Coordination Point for Research Data Management (LCRDM), the Research Data Working Group of the alliance of university libraries and the National Library, the Netherlands Federation of UMCs Data4LifeSciences and the National Platform for Open Science. The presentations made during the parallel sessions will be published on the RDNL website as soon as possible.

More information

More information about the Dutch Data Prize can be found on the RDNL website. If you have any questions, please send an email to the organiser of the Dutch Data Prize, Heidi Berkhout: .

Photo: The winners of the Data Prize 2018 from left to right: Bas Heijmans, Roland van Rijswijk-Deij and Stijn Heeren. Credits: Bart van Vliet.