As science advances and research evolves to address environmental health challenges, there is a growing demand to share scientific data openly. In response to this need, the National Institutes of Health released a new Policy for Data Management and Sharing , which outlines how sharing data is a fundamental component of scientific discovery. The policy encourages researchers to follow the FAIR principles - making data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable - to guide data management and sharing. Data sharing is also a principal component of the 2018-2023 NIEHS strategic plan , which encourages researchers to translate scientific data into knowledge that will inform actions to improve public health.

The Superfund Research Program (SRP) encourages data sharing among its grantees, and we are poised to meet the latest NIH data management mandates. Over the last two years, we engaged SRP researchers working on data science projects to understand how to best support this effort. For example, we held a workshop as part of the 2020 SRP annual meeting in which researchers shared lessons learned and best practices to enhance communication and collaboration within their centers, among the SRP, and with stakeholders.

SRP-funded research is interdisciplinary. By combining the diverse data generated by SRP researchers, we have a unique opportunity to better understand the complex interactions between exposures and health. SRP research teams are well positioned to combine data from a variety of fields, leverage previous research findings, accelerate the pace of research, and answer new questions that could not be answered before.

SRP also supports coordination and data management infrastructure to enhance the integration of diverse data from multidisciplinary research projects. For example, we added a Data Management and Analysis Core (DMAC) as a requirement to Center grants in 2018 along with supplemental funding to expand and enhance SRP data integration, interoperability, and reuse. Our goal is to advance SRP Center research to take full advantage of the breadth and complexity of SRP datasets. Working towards this goal also creates an opportunity to guide NIEHS staff in improving data management and sharing and to inform best practices moving forward.

To enhance and understand the needs for data sharing, SRP provided supplemental funding to support Use Cases. Spanning the SRP, these Use Cases involved multiple collaborations that were focused on combining distinct datasets to provide new insights on research questions. These transdisciplinary teams made great advances to accelerate the translation of data into knowledge to improve human and environmental health. They also developed tools and infrastructure to make previously and newly produced datasets more findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable to other SRP researchers and SRP stakeholders.

These Use Cases are being featured during a Risk e-Learning webinar series, which provides a wide-reaching audience of environmental health researchers, engineers, and technology vendors, to highlight lessons learned, successes, and recommendations for integrating SRP data moving forward from several of these Use Cases. This edition's feature highlights the breadth of the science Use Case teams tackled, and the broad spectrum of readiness for data interoperability they navigated to make data more FAIR. If you missed the first two webinars, you can access the recordings from the SRP Risk e-Learning website . The third and final session will be held August 3, 2 - 4 p.m. EDT. I encourage you to attend if you are able, or to access the recordings when they become available.

SRP is committed to pushing the boundaries of science through data sharing and integration, an ongoing and ever-evolving effort. As science develops and new challenges arise, SRP researchers are adapting to develop cutting-edge initiatives to keep advancing the pace of research.

Kind regards,

William A. Suk, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Director

Superfund Research Program