Deutsch Intern
IZKF Core Unit RDM

RDM Organizations

Various institutions offer support for research data management on their websites. These contain interdisciplinary or discipline-specific information, tools, and services. Below are some relevant research data management (RDM) websites listed.

The German National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) and its consortia represent a key pillar in organizing and enhancing RDM across a wide range of scientific disciplines, including specialized fields like imaging, neuroscience, infection, health, and data science. These consortia, integral parts of the 26-strong NFDI network, are tailored to address the unique data management requirements of different scientific domains. The overview highlights important NFDIs for our use cases:

Specialized NFDI Consortia

  • NFDI4-Bioimage: Focuses on scientific imaging, facilitating the management and exchange of imaging data across various research areas.
  • NFDI4-Neuro: Specializes in neuroscience, enhancing the organization, accessibility, and integration of complex neuroscience data.
  • NFDI4-Microbiota: Concentrates on the deep understanding of microbial species and their interactions and improving data handling in pathogen research.
  • NFDI4-Health: Aims to optimally support the clinical and epidemiological research community in sharing their data in compliance with data protection and ethical principles while creating new data analysis opportunities within the NFDI to improve public health.
  • NFDI4-DataScience: Facilitate every phase of the multifaceted and interdisciplinary research data lifecycle in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence

Other important organizations

  • The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) plays a supportive role in the NFDI initiative, which is particularly crucial for advanced fields like bioinformatics and health sciences.
  • Fraunhofer FOKUS is extending its reach to specialized areas and emphasizing transparency and reproducibility.
  • de.NBI (German Network for Bioinformatics Infrastructure) aims to offer high-quality bioinformatics resources, training and cloud computing in Germany while fostering academic-industry collaboration and integrating with international networks like ELIXIR Europe.
  • ELIXIR is an international network that "coordinates and develops life science resources across Europe so that researchers can more easily find, analyze, and share data, exchange expertise, and implement best practices. This makes it possible for them to gain greater insights into how living organisms work."
  • The European Open Science Cloud  (EOSC) is a comprehensive project aimed at creating a shared virtual space for accessing and sharing research data across Europe, featuring a portal with information on diverse projects, a glossary, and details on collaborative partnerships that drive its mission to advance open science.
  • Forschungsdaten.info is the German-language information portal for research data management.

In conclusion, these consortia are central to addressing the challenges of RDM in specialized scientific fields. They provide infrastructure, expertise, and collaborative frameworks for managing, preserving, and sharing data, adhering to global RDM standards, and fostering advancements in these critical research areas.