Intermediate Specialist, Data Support (RDM)
University of Ottawa
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Job Type:
EmployeeDuration in Months (for fixed-term jobs):
10Job Family:
Library and Archives# of Open Positions:
1Faculty/Service - Department:
Research SupportCampus:
Main CampusUnion Affiliation:
SSUODate Posted:
February 03, 2025Applications must be received BEFORE:
February 14, 2025Hours per week:
35Salary Grade:
SSUO Grade 10Salary Range:
$77,637.00 - $98,070.00The University of Ottawa—A crossroads of cultures and ideas
The University of Ottawa is home to a dynamic community of over 50,000 students, faculty and staff, who live, work and study in both French and English. Our campus is a crossroad of cultures and ideas, where bold minds come together to inspire game-changing ideas. We believe in the power of representation, and that increasing the diversity of our faculty and staff supports this objective. Our goal is to provide students with the best possible learning experience, in an environment that reflects the diversity of its people, their ideas, and their identities.
We are one of Canada’s top 10 research universities—our professors and researchers explore new approaches to today’s challenges. One of a handful of Canadian universities ranked among the top 200 in the world, we attract exceptional thinkers and welcome diverse perspectives from across the globe. Our employees come together around the shared purpose of constant improvement, personal development, service excellence, teamwork and a passion for learning with a desire to make uOttawa and the world a better place. Everyone's contributions are valued, we all play a part in making uOttawa a world-class institution. Most importantly, we make it possible for you to achieve your full potential. Because at uOttawa, you belong!
About the Library
In alignment with the ambitious vision and core aspirations of Transformation 2030, the University of Ottawa Library advances cutting edge research and supports transformative learning by connecting the uOttawa community to expertise, services, collections and technology in a welcoming and supportive environment.
The University of Ottawa Library is composed of 3 main libraries - the Morisset Library (Arts and Science), the Brian Dickson Law Library and the Health Sciences Library - in addition to a number of specialized research collections. It has approximately 150 employees, including 55 librarians, serving the students, faculty and employees of the University.
Position Purpose:
The Intermediate Specialist, Data Support (RDM) supports users through specialized consultation services that enable researchers to effectively manage, curate, publish, and preserve their primary source research data. The incumbent contributes to the goals of the University of Ottawa Research Data Management strategy to uphold principles and best practices in research data management such as TCPS2 and FAIR Data principles, which ensure high-quality and securely and ethically stored research data, and where possible, continued accessibility and reusability of this data.
In this role, your responsibilities will include:
Curation services: Takes a user-centred approach to assist researchers in the preparation and deposit of primary source research datasets into institutional data repository infrastructure. Tracks data curation workflow using appropriate tools.
Research data quality assurance: Reviews and assesses researcher-prepared primary source data sets to identify potential threats to data security; and monitors compliance with institutional, national and international standards (eg. FAIR data) for deposit in institutionally supported data repository infrastructure (eg. Borealis (Dataverse).
Research data management planning support: Identifies and recommends potential disciplinary-specific data repositories, or the institutional data repository for data deposit. Provides expert consultation on best practices, national and disciplinary standards, and technical requirements for research data management, general and disciplinary-specific metadata description, and data documentation.
Workshops and training: As the lead contact or key support person for research data curation services, the incumbent provides direct one-on-one or group training to users, such as students, researchers, and research teams, in the adoption and adaptation of best practices and infrastructure, for the management of research data.
Procedure development and awareness raising: Sets up consistent and ongoing procedures for research data deposit and curation and leads the development of tutorials, guides, documentation, and other self-learning tools to enable users to effectively access and fully utilize research data and related information resources for teaching, learning, and research activities.
Infrastructure: Contributes to the ongoing design, development, maintenance, and improvement of infrastructure for research data curation services. Explores the use of applications and automated scripts to simplify workflows or solve problems.
Data analysis and communication of results: Analyzes RDM services data downloaded through appropriated sources and identifies notable patterns and comparisons.
What you will bring:
- Graduate degree in data science, science, social sciences, or in a research data-intensive discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
- Minimum of four years' experience with data collection, data analysis, or research data management, including techniques such as deidentification and anonymization, preferably in an academic or research-intensive setting.
- Knowledge of and experience with different qualitative and quantitative data types and formats including numeric, geospatial, image, and video, etc
- Knowledge of Indigenous data sovereignty and the application of equity, diversity and inclusion principles in the management of research data is an asset.
- Demonstrated experience with or understanding of scripting languages and/or tools for data manipulation (such as R, Python, CSS, HTML, Excel, OpenRefine)
- Demonstrated ability to exercise judgement when verifying the quality of data, and use computer systems and software for the manipulation and clean-up of data.
- Ability to communicate effectively with researchers from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds
- Demonstrated ability to work independently, manage multiple projects at once, to set priorities, meet deadlines, and work in teams
- Familiarity with database or repository structure and development
- Familiarity with metadata standards to describe both data sets and variables
- Demonstrated ability to identify and vet resources and tools for data sharing, analysis, and preservation.
- Attention to detail
- Ability to problem-solve through independent learning
- Ability to make public presentations in both official languages
- Bilingualism – French and English (spoken and written)
Key Competencies at uOttawa:
Here are the required competencies for all or our employees at uOttawa:
Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realize an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.
Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.
Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.
Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.
The University of Ottawa embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are passionate about our people and committed to employment equity. We foster a culture of respect, teamwork and inclusion, where collaboration, innovation, and creativity fuel our quest for research and teaching excellence. While all qualified persons are invited to apply, we welcome applications from qualified Indigenous persons, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, women and LGBTQIA2S+ persons. The University is committed to creating and maintaining an accessible, barrier-free work environment. The University is also committed to working with applicants with disabilities requesting accommodation during the recruitment, assessment and selection processes. Applicants with disabilities may contact hrtalentmanagement@uottawa.ca to communicate the accommodation need. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.
Note: if this is a union position: The hiring process will be governed by the current collective agreement related to the union affiliation noted above; you can click here to find out more.
If this is a front-line position with responsibilities to interact with students, selected candidates must be rated at the Low Advanced proficiency level or higher for both oral comprehension and reading comprehension in their second official language. The rating is determined by a proficiency test designed by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute.
Prior to May 1, 2022, the University required all students, faculty, staff, and visitors (including contractors) to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as defined in Policy 129 – Covid-19 Vaccination. This policy was suspended effective May 1, 2022 but may be reinstated at any point in the future depending on public health guidelines and the recommendations of experts.