The publication appears in the peer-reviewed journal “Frontiers in Marine Science”. The perspective article is part of the Special Issue "ICYMARE - Early Career Researchers in Marine Science Vol. II", which includes contributions by early-career scientists and researchers who participated in the ICYMARE Conference.
The publication titled “No data literacy, no ocean protection? A perspective on lowering barriers to data literacy in marine environmental sciences”, was co-authored by DSC Data Scientists Sarah Büker and Annika Nolte, along with DSC coordinator Lena Steinmann and DSC spokesperson Rolf Drechsler. The text was published as open access and is available in full here.
The article addresses the importance of data literacy for developing rapid and efficient measures to protect the marine environment in the context of human-induced climate change. Analyzing complex marine processes requires reusable data as well as effective methods suited to the complexity and scale of these datasets. Hence, the article highlights data literacy as a central component of ocean literacy.
Drawing on experiences of the interdisciplinary team at the Data Competence Center DataNord the article discusses current challenges and needs related to research data management (RDM), data literacy, and the marine environmental sciences. These challenges include, for example, social and structural barriers, interdisciplinary (mis)communication about data, and uneven and shifting data literacy backgrounds. In addition, the article also presents approaches in the context of the Ocean Decade to make data literacy and RDM more accessible and practical for researchers.
Although the article focuses on marine environmental sciences and the German research landscape, the issues discussed should also be relevant for other scientific disciplines and research contexts.
Additional Links:
Journal article: 10.3389/fmars.2026.1870001/ (DOI)
If you have any further questions, please contact:
Sarah Büker
DSC Data Scientist
Phone: +49 (421) 218 59855
E-Mail: sbuekerprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
Annika Nolte
DSC Data Scientist
Phone: +49 (421) 218 59856
E-Mail: anolteprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
