What will you be doing?

Historically-collected, long-term datasets are some of the most valuable assets in ecology and environmental science. Their preservation is of paramount importance, especially in light of ongoing environmental change. Yet many such datasets remain effectively inaccessible because they are not publicly shared or, more concerningly, only exist in non-digital or obsolete formats. The urgency of these issues increases with the age of the data. Indeed, FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) and Open data biodiversity data from prior to the mid-20th century or exceedingly rare.; further reason to preserve those data that do exist.

This position forms part of the NESKAST 1.0 project, with funding provided by the Netherlands Biodiversity Information Facility (NLBIF). In this project, we seek to apply best practices in data management to digitise and FAIRify historical (1922 - 1950) data on the breeding ecology of hole-nesting birds, which are currently stored as paper ledgers in the archives of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW). The data, spanning a nearly 30-year time period in the early professionalisation of ecology and biodiversity monitoring, were rigorously collected and stored by amateur naturalists. The data are especially valuable given their duration and coverage of a time period that is not well-represented by existing long-term studies.In particular, these data, in combination with those from the long-term nest box studies conducted by NIOO-KNAW and its predecessors since 1955, will extend our ability to understand how recent environmental change is impacting the ecology and population persistence of wild birds.

In this short-term position, the prospective applicant will focus on three primary tasks:

1. Digitisation of the historical nest box data — automated data extraction, manual data entry and cross-checking
2. FAIRification of the data — generate metadata, apply standard data vocabularies, and map tabular data
3. Prepare outreach materials — summarise project results for presentation to NESTKAST 2.0 community

What will you be contributing?

As part of a team working on data rescue and FAIRification, you will apply your knowledge and skills to digitise and archive the historical data described above. You will develop and implement a script for automated data extraction using script-based approaches in R (or other relevant languages), wrangling the extracted data into tidy, tabular data frames, and evaluating and correcting errors in the compiled datasets. Subsequent work will include the extraction of relevant metadata from the legders, creation of a data dictionary, and application of common data standards to ensure the data meeting FAIR practices. This work will be carried out in close collaboration with team members well-versed in these standards and their application to ecological data, and researchers actively collecting similar data from our long-term studies. You will be involved in preparing a summary presentation on the outcomes of this initiative.

Desired qualifications, skills and competences:

• Basic experience with script-based data wrangling, standarisation, and visualisation, with a preference for the R programming language
• Experience with or knowledge of automated processes for extraction of tabular data from PDF scans of hand-written documents
• Experience with data validation, including assertative programming techniques
• Basic knowledge of or strong interest in data standards and metadata schema relevant in ecology and related disciplines (e.g., DarwinCore, Ecological Metadata Language)
• Strong interest in Open and FAIR research practices, and transparent and reproducible science
• Profiency in English, both written and verbal

Fixed-term contract: 5 months.

What are we offering?

This technical/research support position will be hosted in the Department of Animal Ecology at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) in Wageningen. The work will be carried out in collaboration with research personnel in the Department spearheading efforts in data rescue and FAIRification, and will link closely with the LTER-LIFE large-scale infrastructure project hosted at the Institute. The employee will work in a vibrant research group and have the opportunity to create strong links with collaborators and partners involved in national Open and FAIR Science initiatives.

Terms of employment
Depending on education and experience the minimum salary is 2.618 and the maximum salary is 3.298 gross per month for a full-time appointment (scale 6 cao Nederlandse Universiteiten/KNAW). This is exclusive of 8% vacation allowance, 8.3% year-end bonus, travel allowance, internet allowance, home working allowance and pension accrual with ABP.

The KNAW offers its staff an excellent package of secondary benefits. A package that meets the different needs of employees depending on their stage of life, lifestyle or career ambitions. For example, by working an extra two hours a week, it is possible to increase the number of days off from 29 to 41 days a year (with full-time employment).

For a complete overview of the terms of employment, please refer to the web page: werken bij de KNAW.

Applying for a Certificate of Good Conduct can be part of the employment procedure.

The Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO)

The Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO) is a national research institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). NIOO performs leading ecological research on biodiversity, climate change and sustainable use of land and water, stimulates ecological research of the Netherlands and shares its ecological knowledge with society. Based on our core values, NIOO strives to be a collaborative, inclusive, innovative, impactful, and responsible organization.

Animal Ecology

For more information about the department, please visit: https://nioo.knaw.nl/nl/afdelingen/dierecologie