Thanks to everyone who joined the Library for the week long inaugural Love Data Week Webinar Series 2025 at ATU. The week was kicked-off in style by ATU President Dr Orla Flynn and Jack Chambers, TD Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, who highlighted the importance of responsible data use and open-access research in Ireland's digital transformation. During his address Minister Chambers said; “It is my great pleasure to welcome you all to the first Love Data Week here in ATU. This event is a good opportunity for us to engage with data and reflect on the central role that data plays in our research, our teaching, and our decision-making in third level education. Data is hugely important for Ireland’s future. We can’t over emphasise the value of data driving informed decision making, making policy development and indeed governance. Our Government is committed to enhancing data literacy, supporting open research and ensuring responsible data use across all sectors of the economy and society. Academic institutions play a huge role in training the next generation of data driven decision makers and innovators and I would like to commend ATU’s commitment to research excellence, innovation and open data.”
Thanking the Minister for launching the first Love Data Week at the university, President of ATU, Dr Orla Flynn added: “We are particularly pleased to have Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development and Reform Jack Chambers TD with us today – virtually – through a special video address. As Minister in the area of Public Expenditure, National Development, and Reform, his department is playing a leading role in promoting open data, transparency, and digital innovation in Ireland."
The first talk of the week was from Helena Campbell, Head of the Open Data Unit in Ireland who platform makes public data available to researchers on data.gov.ie. One of Helena's key points to ATU Researchers was to contact them if there is other data that researchers would like made available to support their current or future research interests - Researchers can impact this issue and should use their voice.
Talks on Tuesday and Wednesday by the Library team offered training on FAIR (Fair, Accessible, Interoperable and Repoducible) Data which is a way of approaching all aspects of research data that supports research integrity and shareability, and training on Data Management Plans, which are a growing requirement from all funders.
Thursday saw the launch of the Library's newest webinar series, ATU Research Data Stories, with Dr Eoghan Furey, ATU Donegal with an insightful talk on Lies, Damned Lies & Data Analytics which is a great listen and sparked lots of discussion.
Friday wrapped up with a national webinar from the National Open Research Forum and the Digital Repository of Ireland on Data Policies. Thanks to everyone for engaging in this week and don't worry if you missed it, check out all of the recordings from the week on the Library's Video Page here: https://atlantictu.libguides.com/supportandtraining/recordings