Arguments for the FAIR (Findable, Accesible, Inter-operable and Reusable) principles of science have mostly been based on appeals to values. However, the work of onboarding diverse researchers to make efficient and effective implementations of FAIR requires different appeals. In our recent effort to transform the institution into a FAIR University by 2025, here we report on the experiences of the Community of Data Driven Insights (CDDI), a interfaculty initiative where all university-wide research data service providers are joined together to support researchers and research groups (e.g. see research showcase example here) with all aspects concerning research data management. CDDI aims to turn all digital objects within Maastricht University (UM) into FAIR Digital Objects (FDO) and by disclosing the progress and challenges of implementing FDOs (e.g. see CDDI OSF repo: https://osf.io/398cz/), we hope to shed light on the process in a way that might be useful for other institutions in Europe and elsewhere. We initially identified 5 challenges for FDO implementation. These challenges were first a matter of reshaping the culture of science making practices to fit the FAIR principles. Additionally, it required an educational awareness within the scientific communities, and finally financial and technical tools to actually facilitate the transition to FAIR practices of science making. These perspectives show the complex dimensions of FAIR principles and FDO implementation to researchers across disciplines in a single university.

FAIR principles, FDO implementation, Research Data Management, Research showcases, Cultural Change.

Carlos Utrilla Guerrero

Maria Vivas-Romero

First International Conference on FAIR Digital Objects, presentation