The Centre for Research Data Management at TU Wien conducted an initial exploratory questionnaire survey in June 2025 as part of the Shared RDM Services & Infrastructure, opens an external URL in a new window project. The aim of the study was to assess the current state of development, organisational embedding, and framework conditions of data stewardship. The study is based on a survey of 20 public Austrian universities. The findings were published last week by Livia Beck (TU Wien), Birgit Söser (TU Graz) and Maria Guseva (University of Vienna) in the VÖB Mitteilungen.
Data stewards are specialists who advise and support researchers in the responsible planning, organisation, and management of research data throughout the entire data lifecycle. They combine subject-matter, technical, and organisational expertise and act as an interface among research, IT, legal affairs, and infrastructure. The survey was aimed at data steward coordinators to gain a more comprehensive overview of funding models, employment arrangements, and strategic development; data stewards themselves were not surveyed.
The results
The findings paint a dynamic yet still heterogeneous picture: Data steward posts have already been established at many universities, but role definitions, responsibilities, and organisational integration continue to vary significantly. Of the 38 data steward positions surveyed, 33 are funded through their universities' global budgets, and at least 14 additional positions are planned for 2026.
The qualitative interviews also show that, whilst the role is becoming increasingly established at universities, it is still interpreted in different ways. Uncertainties exist above all regarding formal classification, for example, as to whether data stewards in a university context should be classified as academic staff or administrative staff.
The organisational structure also varies, whilst some universities rely on central service units, others follow decentralised models linked to faculties or institutes. This diversity highlights that, although data stewardship has taken root in many places, its structural and staffing arrangements are not yet finalised. Decentralisation enables closer subject-specific links with researchers within various faculties and allows discipline-specific requirements to be addressed more effectively; however, it stands in contrast to the standardisation of data stewards’ job profiles.
The remit of data stewards is wide-ranging. Certificate courses provide an important foundation for building competence, but due to the diversity of the different fields of activity, they cannot represent a uniform, universal qualification standard . Particularly for discipline-specific data management within individual faculties, subject-specific differentiation remains crucial; here, the need for flexible training formats that can be adapted to the respective subject-specific and organisational requirements has become apparent.
A key finding of the study is the high demand for networking, which was clearly articulated by the data steward coordinators: many universities would like to see a national data steward network to exchange experiences, develop common standards and further advance the professionalisation of the field. Against this backdrop, the study highlights the need for clearer structures, sustainable funding, further research into the skills required of data stewards, and stronger national cooperation.
Further reading
Beck, L., Guseva, M. und Söser, B. (2026) „Data Stewardship an österreichischen Universitäten: Ergebnisse einer umfassenden Befragung zu Strukturen, Herausforderungen und Netzwerkbedarf“, Mitteilungen der Vereinigung Österreichischer Bibliothekarinnen und Bibliothekare, 79(1). doi: 10.31263/voebm.v79i1.1049, opens an external URL in a new window.
Contact
TU Wien
Center for Research Data Management
research.data@tuwien.ac.at