Contributor: Helena Schnitzer
Role: Training Platform coordinator, liaison for RDM related question
Context
In the ELIXIR Germany Node, we realised that a lot of research data management (RDM) work was already happening, but we did not have a clear overview of who was doing what. Different institutes had their own tools, websites and local solutions. The information was spread out and often difficult to find. We wanted to improve visibility of existing activities so people could more easily connect and learn from each other.
The idea started as a way to bring people together and start conversations between teams. We wanted to create a shared overview with links, contacts and existing RDM resources in one place. Collecting the information was only part of the goal. We also wanted to better understand how the work across institutes connected and where people could learn from each other.
We started with a small coordination group. The group included people working on data stewardship, training, RDM tools and project coordination. We did not want to involve everyone immediately. First, we wanted to make a small start ourselves, see what worked and then share it with the wider network for feedback and additions.
We organised several meetings to collect existing tools, contacts and activities. This was more difficult than we expected. Many institutes already had their own local solutions, but it was not always clear who maintained them or who we should contact. In some places, there were no dedicated data stewards or clear RDM contacts at all.
At some point, we got stuck. We had collected a lot of information, but it became difficult to keep the overview and decide how to move forward. What became clear was that a broader coordination perspective, including principal investigators (PIs), would be important to better understand local contexts and structures and to support further dissemination within institutes. However, this step was not fully realised within the initial phase.
The process also made several challenges visible. We saw that coordination roles and RDM support differed a lot between institutes. In some places, there were dedicated people and clear structures, while in others, there were not. At the same time, the work also created opportunities to connect with other national initiatives such as NFDI. We did not have dedicated funding for this work, so collaborating with existing initiatives became important for sharing knowledge and moving forward together.
One idea was to create a shared overview collecting RDM related resources, contacts and existing solutions in one place. We quickly realised that building and maintaining such an overview would not be easy. Still, the discussions helped start a broader national RDM community conversation and created a starting point that could grow further over time.