3.1. The FAIRsFAIR Competence Framework and Body of Knowledge for Higher Education

The FAIRsFAIR Competence Framework for Higher Education (Demchenko et al. 2021) was designed to cover all knowledge, skills, and competences relevant to Data Stewardship. It defines Competence Groups for the following domains:

• Data Management (DSDM)

• Data Science Engineering (DSENG)

• Data Science Research Methods and Project Management (DSRMP); and

• Data Science Domain Knowledge (DSDK) as Business Process Management (DSBA).

The most relevant area in relation to the FAIR principles is Data Management which contains nine Competence Groups. For an overview of all Competence Groups, see the Draft Body of Knowledge (taken from Demchenko et al. 2021, pp. 70 et sqq.).

The accompanying Body of Knowledge (BoK) breaks down the Competence Groups of the FAIR Competence Framework into a number of Knowledge Units (with each Knowledge Unit covering a specific aspect or topic), in turn making it easier to translate the framework into content and material for teaching and training. The Knowledge Units are grouped into Knowledge Area Groups (KAG) with a corresponding Knowledge Area Group (in the Body of Knowledge) for each Competence Group (of the Competence Framework).

As mentioned above, the FAIRsFAIR Competence Framework was developed based on the EDISON Data Science Framework, as was the (draft) Body of Knowledge. However, at the time the book sprint took place, the FAIRsFAIR BoK was still a work in progress with only one Competence Group having been updated compared to the original EDISON version: Data Management, the area cover most of the Knowledge Units that are of importance when teaching FAIR in Higher Education Institutions.

The Data Management KAG of the (draft) BoK comprises six Knowledge Areas (KA):

• General principles and concepts in Data Management and organisation

• Data Management Systems

• Data Management and Enterprise data infrastructure

• Data Governance

• Big Data storage

• Data archives and data libraries

For the full version of the KAG (draft) BoK, see here.

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