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.
One prominent topic area in the report that is highly relevant to NFDI is (basic) services. Through its services, NFDI aims to open up new ways of utilising data for science and support researchers in their day-to-day work. The report addresses personnel, structural and financial aspects of RDM services and makes recommendations to facilitate their operation. Artificial intelligence (AI) also plays a role, as there is no scientifically valuable AI without high-quality data.
“Now is the right time to strengthen our own data and AI infrastructures, because data resilience and sovereignty are becoming increasingly important for Germany in our global political structure. NFDI is looking forward to playing a key role here in the future,” says NFDI Director York Sure-Vetter.
A second central point of the report is the governance of NFDI. Here, changes are proposed to reduce structural complexity and create the conditions for service operations.
Sure-Vetter sees the proposed changes as an opportunity for positive change: “The current structures of NFDI were created as part of the development and consolidation phase and have proven their worth here. If we want to realise our full potential in the next phase, adjustments to governance will be necessary.” Sure-Vetter sees the impetus from the evaluation report as a great opportunity.
In the next step, the federal and state governments will discuss the proposals in the Joint Science Conference (GWK, Gemeinsame Wissenschaftskonferenz).
According to the report, the development should start with a transition phase. However, NFDI already wants to start picking up on and analysing ideas now. Sure-Vetter: “We are pleased that we have been given time to implement the changes and to think along with our network. Our contributors throughout Germany are essential to the success of NFDI, which is why we definitely want to involve them.”
Background
In a letter dated 7 November 2022, the GWK asked the WR to carry out the structural evaluation. A working group of the WR chaired by Professor Dr Wolfgang Lehner began its work at the beginning of 2023. The evaluation report has now been approved by the WR and submitted to the GWK. It provides the GWK with the basis for decisions on the further organisation of NFDI. In 2026, the GWK will pass a resolution on the future funding of NFDI from 2029.
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