Rodney Appleyard, a Communications and Stakeholder Manager for the UK Data Service, reflects on a recent collaboration with CESSDA’s Communications team at the organisation’s landmark conference, and what he learned from the event’s international speakers.
A landmark conference in Bergen
The four-day event held in Bergen, Norway, was special not only because it celebrated the Consortium of European Social Science Data Archive’s (CESSDA) impact over 50 years on open science and open data in the European Research Area and beyond, but because it also created a forum for discussions about how to strengthen synergies, as well as foster meaningful dialogue about data across disciplines, institutions and borders.
I wrote more about what the day involved on a recent UK Data Service news story.
A number of UK Data Service experts presented at the event and chaired key sessions, alongside other leaders from Europe, the United States of America, Australia, Canada and many other countries.
It was fascinating to hear their reflections on previous successes and how they aim to work across borders in the future, using innovative technology, including AI, to make it easier for researchers to access data internationally from multiple sources.
Throughout the event, many of these experts also spoke about how previous collaborations between nations have led to important Government policy changes in different countries. For example, Slovenia’s Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs used data from the European Social Survey to help shape its new strategy to improve the lives of families in the country.
Working alongside the CESSDA team
My role at the conference was to support Einar Tobias Grude, the Communications Officer for CESSDA, to take high-quality photographs of the speakers and attendees at every session. We also recorded video interviews with many of the leaders from around the world and reported about key developments at the conference on our organisation’s Social Media channels.
Members of CESSDA’ Communications team at their away day in Bergen, just before delivering their presentations. From left to right: Marianne Mathiesen (Sikt), Fransizka Krauss (AUSSDA), Ilona Trítková (CSDA), Julia Geistberger (AUSSDA), Ineta Simonaité (LiDA), Stefán Hilmarsson (SND), Monika Vettovaglia (FORS), Tuomas J. Alaterä (FSD), Sergeja Masten (ADP), and Rodney Appleyard (UKDS).
Sharing best practice with European colleagues
On Day two of the conference, we were also fortunate enough to spend a day with nine other Communications colleagues from across Europe, who shared best practice on the areas of work they specialise in, such as using AI to produce new communication materials.
Members of CESSDA’s European-wide Communications team after sharing knowledge with their presentations during their Away Day in Bergen. From to left to right: Marianne Mathiesen (Sikt), Fransizka Krauss (AUSSDA), Julia Geistberger (AUSSDA), Rodney Appleyard (UK Data Service), Ilona Trítková (CSDA),Stefán Hilmarsson (SND), Einar Tobias Grude (CESSDA), Sergeja Masten (ADP), Ineta Simonaité (LiDA), Tuomas J. Alaterä (FSD) and Monika Vettovaglia (FORS).
Upskilling: improving on the art of conference photography
I was very impressed with Einar’s advanced levels of photography, through using three of his high-end cameras, which meant we could capture the speakers in their best light. The standard of photography he produced and taught me (but not to the same level as him), was the same standard as any paid for professional service.
Combined with my journalism background in storytelling, the visuals and words we used for some of the Social Media updates managed to capture the imagination of people at the conference and interested colleagues catching up on event from the outside.
People were shy about being photographed first – but by the end, once they saw the results, they were asking us to take individual and team photos. Einar had predicted this: professional photography is rare at events like this, so attendees were grateful for it.
Einar Tobias Grude, from CESSDA, and Rodney Appleyard, from the UK Data Service, working together on recording stories at CESSDA’s 50th Anniversary Conference.
The joy of feeling embedded in the CESSDA team
To me, one of the greatest pleasures of this experience was not only about learning from the speakers and sharing it with a wider audience, but also feeling as if the UK Data Service and CESSDA were working as one team for the greater good of the conference’s vision.
I felt embedded in the CESSDA team and enjoyed working alongside their highly skilled experts too, including CESSDA’s Executive Director Bonnie Wolff-Boenisch, to help deliver their objectives for the conference.
It was a great example of what you can achieve together as a united ecosystem if you join up skills across organisations and have your audience in mind at the heart of all your work, to make sure they benefit from this high-level of concentrated productivity.
It is also important to remember that as much as the cross-collaboration between communication teams in Europe is a wonderful story, it has to have a deeper meaning at its core for the benefit of the worldwide data community.
Einar and I never lost sight that the speakers’ work had to be properly captured and shared as widely as possible – not just to do it justice, but to help the wider community and think collectively about improving services for researchers.
Off the back of the potential for this, CESSDA is now looking to broaden its partnerships beyond Europe and involve other organisations from around the world within its orbit of influence.
Highlights from the key sessions
Please find below some of the main highlights from the key sessions, which we covered on LinkedIn during the conference:
- Discussions on the Interoperability Ecosystem
- Trust & Landscape – CoreTrustSeal Support: CESSDA’s Common Evidence
- Sensitive Data Access – Advancing Access to Sensitive Data within CESSDA
- CESSDA Dataverse – Multilingual Dataverse Services: Models, Solutions, and Workarounds
- Data Citation – Data Citation and Tracking: Practical Solutions for CESSDA
- Data Expert Colleagues from Around the World Reunited
- AI Today – Real-world Implications in CESSDA
- Day 3 from the conference – Part 1
- Day 3 from the conference – Part 2
- People – Skills for Open Science: From National Priorities to Global Collaboration
- Social Science Data for Societal Change
- Landscape – Future-ready Together: Bridging Research and Policy
- At the End of the Conference, Executive Director Bonnie Dr. Wolff-Boenisch Coined the Phrase “CESSDA Forever!
- Discussions About AI Over Lunch
- Reflective Conclusions on the Final Day of the Conference
Wider UK Data Service involvement
Other colleagues from the UK Data Service, including Deputy Director, John Sanderson, Senior Metadata and Ontologies Officer, Jeannine Beeken, Senior Training and Support Officer, Beate Lichtwardt and Research Fellow, Sarah King-Hele, were also involved in the workshops and enjoyed high-level meetings at the conference.
Experts from the UK Data Service, who attended CESSDA’s 50th Anniversary Conference. From left to right: Beate Lichtwardt, Hervé L’Hours, Sarah King-Hele, Steve McEachern, Jeannine Beeken, John Sanderson and Rodney Appleyard.
Additionally, the event provided an opportunity for colleagues to network with leaders from CODATA (Committee on Data of the International Science Council) and other partners working on two new Horizon Europe projects, which we are also involved with.
These projects will drive the development of new AI-augmented tools and services, making it easier for researchers to integrate datasets between different repositories and across multiple countries.
Overall, the experience was hugely valuable on many levels and I am looking forward to the relationships continuing to grow as the partnerships develop across the world to improve services for researchers.
Einar, myself and other communication professionals working across these multiple partnerships will keep sharing useful updates on the progress of them all. In the meantime, you can view all of the photographs from the conference here.
About the author
Rodney Appleyard has been working as a Communications and Stakeholder Manager for the UK Data Service since 2020.
He is also a prominent charity sector professional, communications strategist, and journalist, widely recognised for his leadership roles in local non-profit health organisations, his extensive background in media, and his active involvement in the arts scene.
Previously, he has worked for the BBC, Channel 4, Amnesty International, Christian Aid, The Big Issue and Changing Faces. He has also worked as a newspaper columnist, magazine editor and radio presenter.
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