Knowledge-intensive human work in the age of digital transformation

Over the last decades, the Open Science movement has gained considerable traction in both the scientific community and in policy circles. Through encouraging researchers to openly share the products of their labour, proponents of Open Science claim, we can make science better. But what originally applied to books and article publications now also includes research data. Large funding bodies and policymakers at the national and international level increasingly require research data to be FAIR – Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. But what does this mean?

Rasmus’ research project, FAIR - from principles to policy to practise, works to explore the different ways in which "FAIR" is interpreted and enacted by different actors as it moves from principles to policy to practice. What happens as this concept travels across and between these domains? Acknowledging the power that concepts like FAIR have to shape our future, this project aims to answer the question, "a FAIR future, for whom?".

Engaging with actors in the fields of science, technology and policy, with a focus on the European context, this project touches upon topics of governance, knowledge production and data in contemporary society. Combining document analysis, interviews and observation, with the theoretical lenses of Critical Data Studies and Science and Technology Studies, this project seeks to better understand how the FAIR principles are thought and acted into being. By doing so, Rasmus’ project seeks to contribute to a much-needed critical engagement with the FAIR principles.