News about NFDI
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Love Data Week 2023: Campaign week for a loving interaction with data
Research and data simply belong together. Extensive data sets provide the basis for understanding interrelationships and promoting new insights. However, storing data securely and describing it in a comprehensible way can be challenging. Why it is worthwhile nonetheless, how sustainable research data management works and what tips and tricks researchers can use will be shown during the “Love Data Week” from 13 to 17 February 2023. German-language initiatives and advice centres on research data management will offer an extensive programme during the international campaign week around Valentine’s Day.
The NFDI Year in Review 2022: Highlights and Changes
2022 brought expansion, further development and strengthening for NFDI. In the second year of the association, the first four sections took off, the consortia successfully launched Base4NFDI, the third-party funded project Data Literacy started and NFDI formed connections with other relevant actors. Overall, a very positive balance can be drawn. We present the biggest highlights and cuts of the NFDI year 2022 here.
Connecting the communities at the first EOSC Tripartite Event in Germany
The first EOSC-A Tripartite Event in Germany was hosted by the German National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) on 24 November 2022 in Karlsruhe. The event was designed to strengthen and broaden the links between the NFDI and EOSC. It was organized as a hybrid event with contributions online and a panel discussion in Karlsruhe. The audience could join the event via livestream.
Funding decided for eight more NFDI consortia
The Joint Science Conference (GWK) has decided on 4 November to include eight more consortia in the federal and state funding of the German National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI).
NFDI in dialogue with politicians of the German Bundestag
The second NFDI Parliamentary Event on 22 September 2022 in Berlin focused on “Health, Climate, Economy”.
Use cases from the three areas were presented to the politicians, highlighting the opportunities for good research data management. Members of the Bundestag and their office staff were present.
Making research data FAIR for business and science
In order to fully exploit the potential of data, trust between the various actors is needed as well as practicable technical and legal requirements. Representatives of the Association German National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Federation of German Industries (BDI) had an open exchange on this topic on 20 September.
Project „Data Literacy in NFDI“ has started
The project “Data Literacy in NFDI” started in mid-July. It is funded for two years by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). For the duration of the project, 1.5 positions for scientific officers were created at the NFDI office in Karlsruhe.
Review: Material of the NFDI Satellite Event @JCDL2022
NFDI offered its own Satellite Event at the Joint Conference of Digital Libraries (JCDL) 2022 on 23 June. A total of five groups from different consortia organised workshops on the topic of research data management. The event was rounded off by a panel discussion on “Everything FAIR and Open? Restrictions on data publications” and a keynote speech by NFDI Director Prof. Dr. York Sure-Vetter.
NFDI comments on the EU Open Data draft
The European Commission has presented a draft implementing regulation regarding the availability of public datasets. As part of a feedback process, the sections Ethical, Legal & Social Aspects (ELSA), Common Infrastructures (infra) and (Meta)data, Terminologies and Provenance (meta) commented on the EU draft. The statement is the first that several sections have jointly drafted.
NFDI Satellite Event @Joint Conference of Digital Libraries 2022
We invite you to the virtual NFDI Satellite Event at the Joint Conference of Digital Libraries (JCDL) 2022 on 23 June 2022.
The JCDL 2022 will bring together researchers and practitioners from the research data and the digital libraries communities. Different consortia give an insight into their work and show challenges and solutions.
One year FAIR Data Spaces
The project FAIR Data Spaces celebrates its first anniversary this week. The project application was submitted to the Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) at the beginning of April last year and the funding already started on 17 May 2021. Since then, the FAIR Data Spaces community has been built up and the first milestones have been reached together.
NFDI publishes statement on the EU Data Act
The Data Act of the European Union is to regulate the accessibility of data in the future. As part of a feedback procedure, the ELSA (Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects) section in the NFDI association has submitted an opinion on the draft law. This statement at EU level is the first of an NFDI section.
New FAIR Data Spaces community newsletter published
The community newsletter kicks off with a special edition containing information about our second FAIR Data Spaces project workshop on 15 March 2022. Our workshop was part of the BMBF event “Leitbild einer fairen Datenökonomie in Deutschland und Europa” (Model of a fair data economy in Germany and Europe), organised by Fraunhofer-Verbund IUK-Technologie and under the patronage of German Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger.
Chair of the Consortia Assembly elected
At the Consortium Assembly on 1 April 2022, the speakers of the consortia unanimously elected a new chair for the association body. Prof. Dr. Andreas Witt (Text+) replaces Prof. Dr. Christoph Steinbeck (NFDI4Chem) as chairman, Dr. Dirk von Suchodoletz (DataPLANT) was re-elected as deputy chairman.
Speakers elected for three sections
The work in the sections started. This week and last week, the sections Common Infrastructures (section-infra), Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects (section-ELSA) and (Meta)data, Terminologies and Provenance (section-metadata) elected their spokespersons and deputies in their first official meetings.
NFDI supports Saving Ukrainian Culture Heritage Online (SUCHO)
The war in Ukraine is causing terrible destruction. Every day, digital data treasures of Ukrainian scientists and cultural workers are lost forever. NFDI wants to help preserve these data. We have made direct contact with the organisers of SUCHO (Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online) and enquired about current needs. At the moment helping hands and especially skilled web experts are needed.
Important links for scientists from Ukraine
The attacks by the Russian military on Ukraine leave us deeply dismayed. Our thoughts are with the Ukrainian people who are currently enduring tremendous sufferings.
As a large network of research institutions in Germany, NFDI is collecting links, contact addresses and services that can help affected scientists from Ukraine. We hope that we can show our solidarity in this way.
NFDI consortia publish statement on basic services
At the Consortia Assembly of the Association German National Research Data Infrastructure on 14 January, the consortia represented in it approved the publication of a collective statement on the topic of basic services without any dissenting votes. Read the published statement here.
NFDI easily explained: Watch the NFDI Science Slam online
As part of the Berlin Science Week, five young scientists contributed to the NFDI Science Slam and vividly explained what their work in the consortia looks like. You can now watch the talks in slam format on YouTube.
More than 200 members – NFDI Association grows
203 institutions are officially part of the NFDI Association as of this week. The Board of Trustees voted unanimously to accept further members at its meeting on Tuesday, 7 December.
DFG publishes timetable for basic service consortia
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) has published a timetable for the decision-making process for funding basic services in the German National Research Data Infrastructure.
The final decision on funding for basic service consortia will be made by the Joint Science Conference (GWK) in November 2022.
New NFDI newsletter
The latest information about the NFDI Association and our consortia is now available once a month as a newsletter. Subscribe to the NFDI newsletter and stay up to date.
Members elected for Board of Trustees
Representatives for the member institutions of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) e.V. met today, Wednesday 10 November, in a digital meeting. At the virtual Members Assembly, three scientific members were elected to the Board of Trustees for a four-year term.
GWK decides on funding for the NFDI Directorate
The directorate of the German National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) e.V. association will be funded by the federal and state governments with a sum of 17.5 million euros from 2022 to 2028. The decision on funding was made by the Joint Science Conference (GWK) at its meeting on 22 October.
All four section concepts published
At the beginning of October, the first four sections were established in the association. In the meantime, all of them have published their section concepts.
You can find all four concepts on our zenodo community page.
EOSC study on coordination at national level
The EOSC secretariat has published a study that gives an overview of the national structures that were established by European countries to coordinate EOSC activities.
Working together on cross-cutting topics: Start of four sections
Although the NFDI consortia cover a wide variety of scientific fields, many topics also overlap. These cross-cutting topics will be addressed in so-called sections. The first four sections are now starting their work. The Scientific Senate approved their establishment at its meeting on 29 September.
Ten new NFDI consortia take off
Funding for ten more NFDI consortia began at the beginning of October. The decision had already been made by the Joint Science Conference (GWK) on 2 July. The GWK followed the recommendation of the German Research Foundation (DFG).
First Parliamentary Lunch
Members of the German Parliament (Bundestag) and their employees had the opportunity on Wednesday, 16 June, to learn about the major challenges in research data management as well as about solution strategies through NFDI. The association presented itself during a virtual parliamentary lunch.
Start of the FAIR Data Spaces project
The FAIR Data Spaces project started in May 2021. It is planned for three years and is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, BMBF. In this project, the federated safe data infrastructure Gaia-X and the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) are developing a joint cloud-based data space for industry and research.
Bausteine FDM: Special issue on NFDI published
A special issue of the journal Bausteine-Forschungsdatenmanagement was published online at the end of July. The publications of the NFDI office (Geschäftsstelle) and the consortia are available online.
Establishment of first sections
In several strategy workshops together with the consortia of the first round, four sections were identified. These sections will be prioritised and established in the National Research Data Infrastructure: (Meta)data, Terminologies and Provenance; Common Infrastructures; Training & Education; and Ethical & Legal Aspects. In order to make these concepts public at an early stage and provide an opportunity for feedback, an overview of the abstracts is provided in a shared document.
First ToolTalk on 8 September
At the NFDI ToolsTalk, scientists report on tools that are intended to make effective research data management easier. The consortia provide insights into their work and the development of innovative services and tools. The first ToolsTalk on the topic “DataPLANT – Tools and Services to structure the Data Jungle” is on 8 September.
