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Biomedical research has generated millions of datasets and we are issuing a $500,000 challenge to get the most out of them. The 2024 DataWorks! Prize, a partnership between the NIH Office of Data Science Strategy and the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), invites you to conduct a secondary research analysis project that generates new scientific findings from existing datasets. Data reuse plays a critical role in advancing biomedical research by making it possible to test new hypotheses without duplicating data collection efforts, and this challenge aims to highlight innovative and impactful secondary analysis projects.
The future of biological and biomedical research hinges on researcher’s ability to share and reuse data. The DataWorks! Prize is an opportunity for the research community to complete a secondary analysis project and receive recognition and rewards for these innovative and impactful research endeavors. This is the third iteration of the DataWorks! Prize, a challenge focused on recognizing and rewarding the impact of data sharing and reuse on human health.
To participate, research teams must submit a proposal for a secondary analysis research project that incorporates data from one or more of the Generalist Repository Ecosystem Initiative (GREI) repositories; other repositories including domain-specific repositories can be used as well (. If selected to advance, teams will receive up to a $25,000 award to work on the completion of the proposed project. This year, the DataWorks! Prize will award up to $500,000 across ten awardees, including a Grand Prize winner ($100,000) and up to two Distinguished Achievement Awards ($75,000 each).
Beyond monetary awards, the DataWorks! Prize offers the research community a chance to learn from peers and apply those lessons to their research practices. The innovative approaches and tools from prize winners will be highlighted in a symposium, providing a platform that supports community learning–where researchers can share their methods, lessons learned, and best practices, thereby fostering a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration within the scientific community.
The DataWorks! Prize is part of the NIH Office of Data Science Strategy’s ongoing support for data stewardship and management, in alignment with the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy. This policy promotes the management and sharing of scientific data from NIH-funded or conducted research, establishing requirements for Data Management and Sharing Plans and emphasizing good data management practices. It aims to maximize the appropriate sharing of scientific data, with justified limitations or exceptions.
The DataWorks! Prize will be open for submissions on August 14, 2024. Participants must complete the first round of submissions by October 23, 2024. Visit Challenge.gov for more information and to apply.
This is a terrific idea, but I am troubled by the small size of the awards. It suggests to me a misconception that (re-)analyzing data does not require significant time or effort. Impactful data re-use usually requires the sustained creative effort PhD-level scientists for a year or more. The standard award in this challenge would pay a first-year postdoc for four months (based on an NRSA-level stipend, with fringe benefits). And an NRSA salary isn’t enough to attract PhDs in data science, computation, statistics or AI, given that in industry the median salary of newly-minted PhDs in those disciplines is about three times higher.
Computational research and data re-use are cost-efficient, but not free. Although dry labs are cheaper than wet labs, computing resources still cost money. And the personnel cost of an impactful data-reuse research project should be at least comparable to that of an experimental research project. By some estimates, a typical R01 budget is 65-80% personnel costs. An award more in line with a modular budget – $250K direct costs – could reasonably support a one-year duration data-reuse effort.
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