At the end of 2022, the United Nations announced a new milestone for humanity–we’d reached a population of 8 billion on earth. Important context around our new reality is that according to the World Economic Forum, more than half of the global population lives in cities. This inevitably forces our collective attention around the role of data in specific urban environments.  

The Data Stewards Academy is excited to present the latest iteration of its Executive Education Course, focused on leaders of data re-use in cities. This new course offering builds off of the success of the Open Data Policy Lab’s City Incubator in 2022 and numerous Data Stewards Academy Executive Education Courses since the Open Data Policy Lab’s launch in 2020. Applications are open now through April 5th.  

Our focus on city data innovation stems from the growing importance of cities everywhere. Urbanization is increasing across much of the world; according to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 68% of the global population is projected to live in urban areas by 2050. These facts, coupled with findings from the Open Data Policy Lab’s report on the Third Wave of Open Data, make one thing clear: there is an urgent need to build data-driven capacity in our cities and to empower leaders to use data strategically, ethically, and for a good purpose. 

Course Overview

This new Data Stewards Academy course offering will build on the foundational curriculum about data stewardship and data re-use in prior Executive Education courses, inviting guest faculty with experience working in cities and urban contexts. Course participants will develop a data re-use strategy for the city or cities they work in throughout the course, with coaching and support from the Open Data Policy Lab team. Questions this course will seek to address include: 

• How has data and data re-use evolved over the last few decades? What new challenges and opportunities lie ahead? 
• What is the role of a data steward and how can they promote the responsible, systemic and sustainable re-use of data? 
• Which methods can help with need identification, especially in the context of urban environments? 
• Where can data be procured and how? 
• Understanding the value proposition of data re-use for the public good is key–what are key tools for doing this in cities? 

The Executive Education Course for Data Re-Use in Cities spans eight weeks, meeting virtually for five hours per week across two days between 9am–12pm ET. 

This is a free education program thanks to the support of Microsoft through collaboration with the Open Data Policy Lab. This course seeks to attract and develop highly talented aspiring data stewards who are interested in better incorporating data re-use into their operations for the benefit of a city or cities that they work with. To kickstart the course, participation will be limited to a small cohort of twenty participants who already work on data collaboration issues or serve individuals tasked by their organization to act as data stewards. Ideal applicants will have several years of experience in a leadership role and demonstrate the capacity to work across sectors. 

All course participants will be invited to join the Data Stewards Society upon successful completion of the course—a network of dozens of leaders in their respective fields who meet monthly to network and discuss curated programming developed by the Open Data Policy Lab team. 

Learn more about criteria for applicants and the details of the program on the Data Stewards Academy website and apply for the course by April 5th 11:59pm ET.  

Testimonials

“Data stewardship is a critically important role for the future use of data for public benefit. The program is world class and provides learnings from the global leaders in the field.” 

- Kristi Mansfield, CEO & Co-founder, Seer Data & Analytics

"The course allowed me to improve my knowledge about open data and especially how to connect data needs with resources, as well as to develop a data stewardship strategy to apply in the projects that I manage…It was also an opportunity to expand my network of professional contacts with the possibility of exploring future collaborations." -- Eduardo Béjar Feijoó, Executive Director, Fundación de Ayuda por Internet (FUNDAPI)

"This course is a wonderful resource for any organization considering creating, expanding or refining data use strategies and processes…The course combines methodology and application for an immediate ‘return on investment’ at all stages of data use strategy and implementation." -- Karen Hampton, All Payer Claims Program Manager, Oregon Health Authority

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