Skills Development for Managing Longitudinal Data for Sharing: A Showcase of Training Resources Created for the Longitudinal Population Studies Data Managers Community

The project Skills Development for Managing Longitudinal Data for Sharing aimed to improve skills and practices for sharing and managing Longitudinal Population Studies (LPS) data across the social, economic, and biomedical sciences. The initiative, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Medical Research Council, as part of the wider PRUK work in the UK, built on a prospectus published by Health Data Research UK in 2021, which highlighted the need to maximise the use of LPS data.

Our poster will showcase the interactive training workshops we designed and delivered to over 300 data managers and associated data professionals. We will highlight the cross-collaborative approach that underpinned the project to inform the content and delivery of the training. Additionally, we will emphasise the role of outstanding facilitation in creating engaging, practical workshops and the importance of following up with participants to reinforce learning and provide continued support.

The tiered training approach we employed ranged from foundational skills to advanced topics such as the creation and dissemination of synthetic data and the use of semi-automated tools for harmonisation. We will also discuss how continuous feedback and evaluation were collected to ensure the training met the evolving needs of the LPS data managers community. Furthermore, this will further allow us to present our freely available, open-licensed training materials developed as part of this project, which can be used, shared, and adapted by the LPS community and broader data professionals.