NFDI: Data as a common good for excellent research, organised by the scientific community in Germany.
NFDI: Data as a common good for excellent research, organised by the scientific community in Germany.
Our network
The non-profit association Nationale Forschungsdateninfrastruktur (NFDI) e.V., based in Karlsruhe, was founded in October 2020 to coordinate the activities to develop NFDI. More than 300 institutions are now members of NFDI. Science organisations, universities, higher education institutions, non-university research institutions, scientific societies and associations are all involved. The future of research data management in Germany is being jointly shaped by a strong network.
Our structure
The individual scientific disciplines are involved in the NFDI in consortia. In each of these, numerous institutions are organised and work together on internal and interdisciplinary topics.
Many topics are relevant for all or several consortia. These are jointly identified and addressed in sections. The network of consortia, Base4NFDI, develops basic services for NFDI.
The association’s statutes also provide for five organisational bodies: The General Assembly of members, the Board of Trustees, the Scientific Senate, the Consortia Assembly and the Directorate. Together they shape NFDI.
Our vision und mission
The vision of NFDI is data as a common good for excellent research, organised by the scientific community in Germany.
Step by step, we are improving the possibilities for utilising data for science and society. Our collaboration in the NFDI Association is creating an overarching organisation for research data management in all branches of science. In collaboration with national and international partners, we are creating the framework conditions for legally compliant, interoperable and sustainable data infrastructures that are easily accessible for researchers in their day-to-day work. We provide training, strengthen expertise in handling data and open up new career paths.
Our international engagement
NFDI represents Germany as a mandated member of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). NFDI is also a member of the internationally active Research Data Alliance (RDA).
News
What’s next for NFDI after 2028? German Science and Humanities Council presents evaluation report.
At its meeting on 11 July 2025, the German Council of Science and Humanities (Wissenschaftsrat, WR) adopted a report on the structural evaluation of the German National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI). This is highly relevant for the future design of NFDI.
NFDI would like to thank the Council for the numerous valuable impulses that emerged from the report and very much welcomes the recommendation for the further funding and organisation of the network.
Good news for NFDI: GWK decides to continue funding all consortia of the first round
All nine consortia from the first funding round will continue to receive funding. This was decided by the Joint Science Conference (GWK) on 4 July. The new funding period for the second project phase will begin in October for DataPLANT, GHGA, KonsortSWD, NFDI4Biodiversity, NFDI4Cat, NFDI4Chem, NFDI4Culture, NFDI4Health and NFDI4ING. The federal and state governments are providing a total of around 92 million euros until the end of 2028.
Speaker election in the section Industry Engagement
The NFDI section Industry Engagement held its speaker election on Friday, 16 May, after a two-year period.
Learn more ⟶
Sections
Many topics are relevant to all or several disciplines. These cross-cutting topics are jointly identified and dealt with in sections, which are thematic departments.
- Common Infrastructures (section-infra)
- Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects (section-ELSA)
- Industry Engagement (section-industry)
- (Meta)data, Terminologies, Provenience (section-metadata)
- Training & Education (section-edutrain)
Consortia
The individual disciplines are organised in NFDI consortia. There are currently 26 funded consortia and the joint network of consortia, Base4NFDI. Up to 80 institutions are connected in each consortium and work together on internal and interdisciplinary topics.
Basic services
- Base4NFDI: Basic services for NFDI (joint network of consortia)
Humanities and Social Sciences
- BERD@NFDI: NFDI for Business, Economic and Related Data
- KonsortSWD: Consortium for the Social, Educational, Behavioural and Economic Sciences
- NFDI4Culture: Consortium for Research Data on Material and Immaterial Cultural Heritage
- NFDI4Memory: The Consortium for the Historically Oriented Humanities
- NFDI4Objects: Research Data Infrastructure for the Material Remains of Human History
- Text+: Language and text-based research data infrastructure
Engineering Sciences
- NFDI4DataScience: NFDI for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
- NFDI4Energy: National Research Data Infrastructure for Interdisciplinary Energy System Research
- NFDI4Ing: NFDI for Engineering Sciences
- NFDI-MatWerk: National Research Data Infrastructure for Materials Science and Materials Engineering
- NFDIxCS – National Research Data Infrastructure for and with Computer Science
Life Sciences
- DataPLANT: Plant research data
- FAIRagro: FAIR Data Infrastructure for Agrosystems
- NFDI4Immuno – National Research Data Infrastructure for Immunology
- GHGA: German Human Genome-Phenome Archive
- NFDI4Biodiversity: Biodiversity, Ecology and Environmental Data
- NFDI4BIOIMAGE: National research data infrastructure for microscopy and bioimage analysis
- NFDI4Health: NFDI personal health data
- NFDI4Microbiota: NFDI for Microbiota Research
Natural Sciences
- DAPHNE4NFDI: Data from PHoton and Neutron Experiments for NFDI
- FAIRmat: FAIR Data Infrastructure for Condensed-Matter Physics and the Chemical Physics of Solids
- NFDI4Cat: NFDI for sciences related to catalysis
- MaRDI: Mathematical Research Data Initiative
- NFDI4Chem: Chemistry consortium for the NFDI
- NFDI4Earth: NFDI Consortium Earth System Sciences
- PUNCH4NFDI: Particles, Universe, NuClei and Hadrons for the NFDI
Directorate and Office
As the association’s board of directors, the directorate – consisting of Prof Dr York Sure Vetter and an administrative director (n.n.) – coordinates the association’s bodies, provides support for strategic, cross-consortia cooperation and represents the association externally.
Prof. Dr. York Sure-Vetter
Director
The directorate is supported by the staff of the NFDI office. This is where the threads of the organisation come together. The office is the contact point for internal and external enquiries and is located in Karlsruhe.
Adress
Nationale Forschungsdateninfrastruktur (NFDI) e.V.
NFDI-Direktorat
Albert-Nestler-Straße 13 | 76131 Karlsruhe
info[at]nfdi.de
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