I joined the Energy Data Centre (EDC), one of UKERC’s capabilities on the 16th March working for Dr Jim Halliday (UKERC Co-Director). My role covers EDC operational management and a remit to develop and innovate the service.
It has been an interesting introduction to a new role as just after I moved into my new office (worryingly numbered room 101!) STFC staff started working from home. I feel fortunate that I already knew the team as I transferred from another role in STFC. Using zoom, email, and slack the EDC team has continued to work effectively and have been very welcoming.
I have worked at STFC in a variety of roles contributing to information discovery and open access to publications, data and software for over thirty years. I have a Computer and Communication Systems degree and am a chartered Librarian. My career has been a combination of research projects in the open access/information discovery/digital preservation sphere and provision of production information management services, all supporting the academic community.
My personal areas of interest are the digital curation of research software & data, the importance of research software as a research output; linking research outputs (data, publications and software) and career paths for Research Software Engineers. Details of my publications are available from https://epubs.stfc.ac.uk/search/result?q=disambiguatedcontributorid%3A43 . I am a member of the Software Sustainability Institute’s Advisory Board and the Research Software Alliance’s steering committee.
I am looking forward to becoming part of a community with the common purpose of energy research. I expect to make new colleagues and friends, learn about cutting edge research, appreciate its impact, and along the way encounter some new terms and acronyms.
The Energy Data Centre is, in my view, a hidden gem and I will be making it a priority to raise its profile within the wider data management community. In UKERC4, the EDC will increase its content as research data becomes available from the UKERC community of researchers.
EDC development plans during UKERC4 include further work on creating research data management plans with the UKERC community, ensuring the EDC service is technically on a good footing, looking at FAIR data (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) assessments and best practices (https://www.force11.org/group/fairgroup/fairprinciples) in an EDC context, and publicising the important of good practices for the creation, use and citation of research software with UKERC.
Energy research has a direct impact on everyday life, and the importance of generating and using energy wisely cannot be underestimated. Understanding how people behave and the impact of this on systems is a fascinating area. I learnt a little about UKERC4 at the General meeting on 4th May and there is so much more to learn.
Contact me on Catherine.jones@stfc.ac.uk, EDC service support from EDCmanager@stfc.ac.uk. I am a regular Twitter user and tweet from @cm_j0nes