Data Hunters card game - Digital Services Programme

Gamifying RDM: How Data Hunters card game is sparking interest in the RDM community.

As part of our Personal Data and Human Subjects course for PhD candidates, we introduced an adapted version of the Data Hunters Card Game, originally developed by 4TU.ResearchData’s community, as a fun and engaging way to learn Personal Research Data Management.

The Data Hunters card game is all about teamwork. Participants take on roles like Data Steward, Ethical Advisor, Privacy Expert, and Researchers, working together in real-world scenarios, to identify risks and devise mitigation strategies when working with personal research data. This promotes critical thinking and helps everyone appreciate different perspectives in the research lifecycle.

The game has gained significant attention in the Research Data Management (RDM) community. Along with Alessandra Soro, the community manager of 4TU.ResearchData and one of the game’s creators, we presented the card game at the Research Data Alliance (RDA) and we were also invited to discuss the Data Hunters card game on the IDEA podcast from Massachusetts University, sharing how it can engage researchers and enhance data literacy. Check the podcast here!

The Data Hunters Card Game was recently published on Zenodo to make it openly available for reuse! DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14713230