Data Trustees for Science

Merging data sets, especially across different data producers and providers, has enormous potential for researching societal issues. At present in Germany, the merging of data for scientific use is often hampered or even prevented by the different legal bases of the institutions involved and by data protection concerns. Concerns about a ‘transparent citizen’ also play a role that should not be underestimated. Data trustee models offer the opportunity to overcome these hurdles and realise the potential of possible data pooling for research. Demands for data trustee models, such as those modelled after the Austrian Microdata Center, are not new. Most recently, the German Council of Economic Experts emphasised the need to pool data via data trustees in its report from 2023.

Against this background, the Working Group “Data Trustees for Science” explored questions concerning different models of data trustees, an ideal-typical data trustee model for the social and economic sciences, and the procedural issues and functionalities associated with it. It also took into account the framework conditions that needed to be considered when developing a data trustee model for science. In particular, the relationship between a data trustee and the existing and successful Research Data Centre (RDC) structure had to be clarified. European legislative developments also played a role, including the emerging data spaces and the European Data Governance Act.

As part of this work, the Working Group organised a workshop and accompanied the legislative developments surrounding the Research Data Act, particularly on the issue of data trusteeship, through statements together with the Task Force Policy and Law.