By Carlos Martinez-Ortiz, Jeremy Cohen, Marta Teperek, Martine de Vos, Paula Martinez Lavanchy, Thomas Pronk
DOI: doi.org/10.61686/pyrfg72916
This post has also been published on the Open Science NL blog.
What does research look like in a world where data, software, and AI are an integral part of the research process? This post explores why closer collaboration between research software engineers, data stewards, and other digital Research Technical Professionals is essential for enabling robust, reproducible, and future-ready research.
It is 2030,
Meet Isabella, a first-year PhD candidate in Integrative Psychology and Sports Science. She is part of Project ADAPT — Adaptive Data-Driven Approaches to Performance and Training, a collaboration between nutritional genomics and exercise physiology.
Her research aims to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of athletes by tailoring diet and training to individual needs. This involves combining genetic data, biometric data from wearable devices, and contextual information such as environmental conditions. The project integrates existing datasets with newly collected data, applies advanced algorithms to generate personalised recommendations, and ensures that all outputs are reproducible, responsibly managed and securely processed. At the end of the project, all relevant research data, software, and workflows are published with persistent identifiers with a click of a button.
To a reader in 2026, the breadth of expertise required for such a project could seem overwhelming. Isabella is not expected to be a specialist in software engineering, data stewardship, artificial intelligence, and domain science all at once. What makes her work possible is the environment in which she operates.
Isabella is supported by a digital competence centre at her university — a coordinated ecosystem of research software engineers, data stewards, and other digital Research Technical Professionals (dRTPs) who work alongside researchers as collaborators. This integrated support allows her to focus on scientific questions while developing essential skills in collaboration, critical thinking, and digital research practices and reproducible research.
This vision illustrates what modern research increasingly requires: holistic, coordinated collaboration with digital Research Technical Professionals who are embedded within the research process.
The current reality: recognised roles, fragmented support
The scenario described above is not yet the norm. But as research becomes increasingly digital, the need for such an approach will continue to grow.
Across research performing organisations, roles such as research software engineers (RSEs) and data stewards are increasingly recognised, as most contemporary projects rely simultaneously on robust data practices and well-engineered software. Artificial intelligence provides a clear example of this interconnection. Training predictive algorithms, fine-tuning large language models, or developing computer vision systems requires both advanced software engineering and data stewardship skills. Responsible AI depends on transparency in model design, documentation of data provenance, ethical compliance, bias mitigation, and reproducibility. The challenges cannot be addressed by either data stewards or RSEs alone — model behaviour depends equally on software quality and data integrity.
However, despite the growing recognition of the importance of dRTPs, these professionals are often organised in fragmented ways across organisations. Expertise is distributed across libraries, IT departments, research support offices, high-performance computing units, and other organisational structures. Each operates with its own processes, priorities, and entry points.
For researchers, this creates unnecessary complexity. Identifying what expertise is needed — and where to find it — can be difficult, especially in interdisciplinary projects. For dRTPs, siloed structures can limit collaboration, reduce visibility, and in some cases create competition for resources.
As a result, the full potential of these roles is not realised.
To enable effective and accessible support, stronger collaboration between digital Research Technical Professionals is essential — particularly between RSEs and data stewards. A more integrated, holistic approach is needed, where expertise is connected rather than compartmentalised.
Emerging practices: building collaborative support ecosystems
Encouragingly, a number of initiatives already demonstrate how such collaboration can be strengthened in practice.
Digital competence centres
At Utrecht University, long-standing collaboration between the library and IT services has evolved into a coordinated approach to digital Research Technical Professional support. What began as a joint programme has developed into distributed teams of data managers and research software engineers working with researchers across faculties. Efforts are currently underway to integrate this work into a university-wide digital competence center, which will provide a network structure for collaboration and serve as a more unified point of contact for researchers.
A similar model exists at Amsterdam UMC, where a digital competence centre brings together expertise in research data management, software, infrastructure, and policy. Support is adapted to the needs of different research contexts. Basic skills are strengthened through local data steward networks and contributions in nationally coordinated training such as the Health-RI FAIR Data Stewards Basics course. More advanced projects are supported through collaboration between research software engineers and infrastructure specialists.
The Digital Competence Centre (DCC) model
The Digital Competence Centre (DCC) model has been initially developed in the Netherlands, with DCCs set up at multiple Dutch universities. However, similar models are increasingly emerging at universities and research-performing organisations in other countries, under various names. These groups, teams and centres bring together a combination of research software, research data and research computing infrastructure professionals. They may also include technical training professionals and even research project and community managers among their staff to help enhance the support their organisation is able to offer to digital research and, ultimately, to underpin more impactful, effective and sustainable research.
Collaborative training and community building
At TU Delft, joint efforts between library staff, faculty data stewards, the digital competence centre team and other expert teams have led to coordinated training programmes in research data and software management. Collaborative delivery of workshops such as Software Carpentry, Data Carpentry and CodeRefinery has not only strengthened researchers’ skills but also fostered closer working relationships between different support roles.
While a dedicated training team has since been established to meet growing demand, collaboration with data stewards and research software engineers remains central to course design and delivery.
Towards integrated professional communities
In the United Kingdom, the concept of “digital Research Technical Professionals” (dRTPs) is gaining traction as a way to recognise and connect communities working across research software, research data, and research computing infrastructure. This recently developed term is growing in use, both within the UK and now internationally, helping to build shared identity, improve visibility, and encourage collaboration across traditionally separate domains.
The role of funders
Funders are also playing an important role. In the Netherlands, the Dutch Research Council and Open Science NL support the development of digital competence centres as organisational hubs. These initiatives encourage collaboration between RSEs, data stewards, and infrastructure specialists, while providing researchers with clearer access points to relevant expertise.
Together, these examples show that a more integrated model is both feasible and beneficial.
Call to action for strengthening holistic support
A shift towards holistic, collaborative support is not simply an organisational improvement. It is a prerequisite for conducting robust, reproducible, and innovative research in an increasingly data- and AI-driven world. To move from isolated examples to common practice, coordinated action is required across research performing organisations, funders, and professional communities. Each of these players should recognise that they are part of the same ecosystem.
Research performing organisations
Research performing organisations shape the local environment where both researchers and digital Research Technical Professionals are rooted. The quality of this environment — recognition, career paths, time and space to collaborate, and sustainable investment — determines the quality of their work.
Research performing organisations are called to:
- Foster holistic dRTP teams: invest in the development of local communities that connect dRTPs and provide opportunities for regular interaction, shared initiatives and collaborative projects.
- Map and clarify existing roles and responsibilities to reduce fragmentation and improve accessibility for researchers.
- Develop policies and guidance that recognise research software and data as key research outputs, and that support sustainable career paths for dRTPs.
- Introduce local recognition mechanisms — such as awards, fellowships, or promotion criteria — that value expert professional contributions to research.
- Ensure sustainable investment in and recognition of key contributions of dRTP roles to research, underpinned by joining key initiatives that recognise and advocate for shifts in approaches to research assessment, e.g. DORA (Declaration on Research Assessment) and COARA (Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment).
Research funders
Research funders can stimulate recognition of the essential contributions of dRTPs by embedding their roles, expertise, and career development into funding policies and grant evaluation criteria.
Funders are called to:
- Encourage and prioritise collaborative approaches that integrate research software, data, and infrastructure expertise within research projects.
- Ensure that funding schemes explicitly support the inclusion of research software engineers, data stewards, and related dRTPs in grant applications.
- Support the development of organisational structures that provide coordinated access to digital research technical expertise.
Communities of digital research technical professionals
Communities foster the growth of collective knowledge and expertise, and foster resilience through diversity and advocacy.
Communities are called to:
- Foster mutual understanding and respect across roles, recognising the complementary expertise of Research Software Engineers, data stewards, and other dRTPs.
- Actively seek opportunities for collaboration where shared challenges and goals exist.
- Contribute to building open, inclusive communities that support knowledge exchange, shared learning, collective visibility and provide the strength to advocate for and drive change.
Conclusions
The research landscape is continuing to evolve rapidly alongside the changes we are seeing in digital research infrastructure and the growing capabilities offered by technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models. Ensuring a professional, holistic and research-led approach to digital research technologies, skills and practices is vital if we are to be able to effectively support research in the future, keep pace with rapid technological shifts and capitalise on the opportunities that they present.
In this article we began by looking ahead to the challenges that researchers are increasingly being faced with through the story of our fictional researcher, Isabella. We then looked at some examples of how research-performing institutions are developing their research environment and supporting infrastructures to meet this challenge. These developments are helping to ensure that research organisations can take advantage of the opportunities available through embracing modern digital research practices. Our call to action highlights a number of ways that different stakeholders can engage and take action to help address the challenges that digital research presents as well as the wealth of opportunities it offers.
AI statement: This blog post was revised with support from AI tools used for correcting grammatical issues and improving clarity.