Intelligence Program
Datasphere Fellowship Program
2021 - 2022
The Datasphere Initiative Fellowship is an interdisciplinary, global and diverse community of academics and practitioners with a mission to responsibly unlock the value of data for all.
Since late 2021, the Datasphere Initiative has brought together leading academics, researchers, practitioners, data activists, and policy specialists to conduct research on data and its relationships to human groups and norms, under the framing concept of the datasphere.
8 fellows from 8 different countries came together as our first cohort (2021-2022) to conduct research on disciplines ranging from data quality, the metaverse, and health data, to new norms emerging from Europe, platform transparency, and Open Data. Blog posts, videos, presentations, events and academic papers, including a large literature review of the term “data governance”, in organic peer-review collaborations are outputs of this cohort.
Additionally, the Datasphere Initiative has focused on ensuring the fellows develop life-long connections and community, supporting each other’s interests in expanding quality knowledge in the data governance field.
The 2021/2022 cohort of fellows presented their research, and showcased the insights they gathered on the concept of the datasphere at a virtual event on October 13, 2022.
The Datasphere Fellowship Report 2021-2022 provides an overview of the fellow’s outputs and key learnings, presenting how their work has contributed to furthering understanding of the concept of the datasphere and the ways in which diverse policy issues are impacting our ability to responsibly unlock the value of data for all.
How can the concept of the “datasphere” be useful for challenging perspectives and behavior towards data?
A key part of the fellow’s work was to explore the concept of the “datasphere” and how it can be useful for designing best practices and frameworks for data governance in a holistic manner, so its value is unlocked to all. The short videos that follow share the first take on their thoughts on the concept of datasphere and why it is useful.
In the videos, recorded at the very beginning of the program, the Fellows highlight the utility of creating common vocabulary to support the data governance field consolidation, naming new research, development, and testing space to consider data and its relationships to human groups and norms, as well as the dynamics of cross-border data flows and interactions with data infrastructure. Breaking silos is crucial to advance the opportunities generated by data to face the greatest challenges in the world today — from climate change to health to innovation.
Exploring the policy areas of the datasphere
In the following blog posts and papers, the Datasphere Initiative Fellows explore how the concept of the datasphere helps drive more responsible and globally compatible data policy approaches while recognizing local needs and challenges.
Why a patient-centric approach is necessary for data governance in the healthcare sector
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Fellows papers
The Rise of European Data. A Kantian Imperative for Global Data Governance – Francesco Vogelezang
Francesco’s research focused on the impact of legislative developments at the European level on the concept of the datasphere with a particular focus on the European Union Data Governance Act and its extraterritorial impact on the emergence of global data governance regimes.
The paper “The Rise of European Data (2022). A Kantian Imperative for Global Data Governance” is an outcome of his Fellowship at the Datasphere Initiative 2021/2022.
Data Governance and the Datasphere – Literature Review
The Datasphere Initiative paper “Data Governance and the Datasphere, Literature Review” provides a preliminary mapping of academic literature on data governance and explores the emerging conceptual framework of the “Datasphere” and how it relates to current research.
The publication offers a baseline for further research in considering how the framework of the Datasphere can be useful for connecting different disciplines increasingly interested and impacted by data.
Interoperability by Design for a Collectively Governed Dataspher
This paper by Kassy Raymond, Datasphere Initiative Fellow 2021-22, presents a database framework using livestock population data from four data sources as a case study.
This study discusses variability in species naming conventions using the datasphere concept and offers suggestions to improve the interoperability of livestock population data from national and international government sources.
