Description:

Data stewardship has been a relatively new concept in the international statistical community. The UN Working Group on Data Stewardship, the UNECE Task Force on Data Stewardship, EU/ EFTA Chief Statisticians, and Colleagues from different countries and continents have been seeking to frame it by referring it to notions of data governance, data management, data reuse, data privacy, data strategies and policies, as well as by recognizing new roles in the national statistical systems. 

However, the number of discussion forums, conference sessions, the proliferation of workshops, webinars, articles, and papers do not seem to align with a unanimous understanding of this concept. But are we obliged to define it unanimously? Indeed, it will be helpful to provide some conceptual framework involving common elements for all of us. Nonetheless, considering that our statistical systems are not entirely unified, are we in a position to strive to expand our remit? Do we need it? And why?

The panel will be discussing several questions and challenges in this respect.