2026-05-19 –, On Air
Are you looking for a practical way to make your organization ready for the European Health Data Space (EHDS) and ensure that internal datasets are consistently registered and FAIR? Many organizations struggle to keep track of which datasets exist, how they relate to each other, and how to make them transparently available. In this session, you will learn how a structured metadata collection and validation process improves data findability and reusability, which in turn increasing research efficiency and strengthening both internal and external research collaborations.
You will explore how an open‑source workflow based on Data Stewardship Wizard (DSW) guides researchers step‑by‑step through essential metadata elements. You will also see how this process becomes truly effective once it is embedded in internal policy and connected to a findability platform for searchable metadata.
After this session, you will understand:
- How to design a future‑proof metadata registration process that supports your organization’s EHDS readiness.
- Which core elements make datasets consistently discoverable, FAIR, and usable across projects.
- How to combine tooling, workflows, and internal policy into one scalable and transferable approach.
In summary, this session offers a practical blueprint you can use to enhance data discoverability, boost research efficiency, and accelerate your path towards the EHDS era.
Data stewards, IT-specialists
What is the key take away of your session?:Introducing a metadata backbone for research: a practical approach for a FAIR by design and EHDS-ready methodology.
I’m Pieter Broere, an information management advisor focused on improving how organizations use and manage information. I enjoy turning complex challenges into clear, practical solutions and helping teams make smarter, future‑proof decisions. With a calm, analytical approach, I work at the intersection of strategy, digital transformation, and collaboration.
Menno de Vries is an information management advisor at the Princess Máxima Center, where he plays a key role in strengthening the organization’s research data and Research‑IT landscape. With a background in biomedical sciences, he works closely with researchers, data stewards, and IT‑Research specialists to improve data governance, streamline workflows, and support the adoption of FAIR and secure data‑handling practices across the institute. He is implementation lead of the findability infrastructure for research, enabling researchers to easily locate and explore distributed datasets across the organization and beyond.
Jet Zoon works as a Data Steward Research at the Big Data Core of the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology. Here she raises awareness of good RDM practices by developing and providing training and support, and coordinating a community of local data stewards to help good data practices reach researchers at every level. With a background in neuroscience, she brings a researcher's perspective, helping teams understand and apply the FAIR data principles in their day-to-day practice.
As part of a broader data governance project, Jet was responsible for developing a core metadata standard tailored to research needs. At the SURF Research Day, she will share the process of arriving at a standard that strikes a pragmatic balance — concise and researcher-friendly, yet robust enough to make data meaningfully findable and reusable — without overburdening the researchers it's meant to support.