CERN is a key partner in STARDAST, a new €8 million Horizon Europe project that will build a pan-European training ecosystem for data stewards and equip researchers with open science skills. CERN will lead the project's knowledge dissemination work package and contribute to capacity-building activities across disciplines and sectors.

Research data is only valuable if it is managed properly, curated and shared. To ensure this, a new profession has emerged over the past years within research institutions: data stewards. Yet, these professionals often work without standardised career paths, consistent training or formal recognition. A new Horizon Europe project, co-ordinated by the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), sets out to change that.

STARDAST – STewardship And Recognition for DAta Science Talent – is a four-year Coordination and Support Action bringing together 19 partners from nine countries across Europe. The consortium spans the life sciences, particle physics, linguistics, translational medicine, biodiversity, digital humanities and industry R&D. Set to begin in September 2026, the project will develop a co-ordinated, cross-disciplinary curriculum for data steward training, support competence centres across Europe, and embed open science and FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles throughout the research workforce.

The project pursues three long-term goals: to establish sustainable pan-European infrastructure for FAIR and open science data practices, to improve research quality through standardised data stewardship, and to drive a cultural shift in which data curation and open science roles are formally recognised and rewarded within research careers.

“A distinctive feature of the project is that we as data stewards are not merely the target audience but active co-creators of the curricula, tools and policy frameworks that STARDAST will develop,” Antonia Winkler, data steward at CERN and situated in the Scientific Information Service, emphasises.

What CERN brings to STARDAST

CERN will lead the work package on data stewardship knowledge dissemination. This work package has three objectives: to co-create a training curriculum on open science for researchers at all career stages, to translate the project's outputs and messages for cross-sector stakeholders, and to communicate results across sectors and to the wider public. The work builds on CERN's high visibility as the largest physics laboratory in the world, its long track record in practising open science, experience in collaboration of various different stakeholders and serving as hub for a global scientific community. It will ensure that the curricula, tools and best practices developed in the project reach the communities that need them.

CERN will also make a major contribution to the work package on capacity building, where it will lead the task on train-the-trainer and capacity-building programmes. This task will develop structured programmes that enable trainers across institutions and disciplines to deliver high-quality data stewardship training, multiplying the project's reach well beyond the consortium itself.

Through the membership networks of CERN, EMBL, Euro-BioImaging, CLARIN and DARIAH, STARDAST's impact will extend to more than 25 European countries and over 70 countries globally. This reach reflects the international nature of modern research and highlights the shared need for professional data stewardship across disciplines.

Open science starts with people

CERN has been at the forefront of open science for decades: from the birth of the World Wide Web to pioneering open access in particle physics and contributing to the development of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). But infrastructure and policies are only part of the picture. Open science ultimately depends on the people who put it into practice, which is where STARDAST focuses its efforts.

“Open Science goes beyond policy - it is a mindset centred on  people.” explains Alex Kohls, Head of the Organisational Support and Improvement Department at CERN, of which the Scientific Information Service is a part. “By investing in the skills and empowering those who support researchers, we   advance research excellence by fostering a culture of collaboration and transversal impact.”

STARDAST will bring together data stewards from various communities, disciplines and geographic contexts. The project therefore offers the unique opportunity to identify synergies and recognize differences across disciplines and contexts, enabling collaborative progress toward more responsible and equitable research practices.

STARDAST is funded by the European Union under Horizon Europe Grant Agreement No. 101268773. Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency.