RDM Made in Baden Württemberg: The Federal State Initiative bwFDM

Research data management (RDM) is a key pillar of the open science movement, encompassing "the process of transforming, selecting and storing research data with the aim of making them accessible, re-usable and reproducible independently from the data author" (forschungsdaten.info). Here, the RDM state initiative in Baden-Württemberg bwFDM is currently active in five core areas: Connecting RDM stakeholders in Baden-Württemberg, operating the central German-language RDM information portal forschungsdaten.info, designing an RDM certificate course with a focus on Baden-Württemberg, organizing the biennial E-Science-Tage conference series and offering RDM-related consultations and trainings for Baden-Württemberg research institutions. Our activities thus focus on research management - not only in relation to Baden-Württemberg, but also beyond, e.g. through networking activities with other RDM federal state initiatives or the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI).

In terms of networking, it is a primary goal of the state initiative to expand the existing RDM-related networking activities in Baden-Württemberg to bring together stakeholders from all types of higher education institutions. We are pursuing the goal of supporting and representing, among others, universities of applied sciences, universities of education and non-university research institutions. This is to take place, for example, in the form of a bwFDM forum, which aims at bringing together, for the first time, RDM participants from a wide range of stakeholders in Baden-Württemberg for networking purposes in the second half of 2024.

Beyond that, bwFDM‘s close ties with RDM stakeholders from the entire German-speaking region are reflected in the editorial work on the information platform forschungsdaten.info: Here, around 70 RDM specialists pool their expertise under the editorial coordination of bwFDM in the form of a low-threshold information offering on general RDM topics, discipline-specific RDM, RDM structures in German-speaking countries and compact practical tips. As part of the current project duration, the editorial team has set its own quality standards, including a central review process, which are gradually being incorporated into the editorial work. In addition to the continuous maintenance and successive expansion of the information content, a comprehensive evaluation of the platform is one of the central measures of the current project period. Extensive data has been collected (as of April 29th, 2024), which is currently being evaluated and turned  into a plan about the platform’s development. On this basis, the portal is to be comprehensively developed over the course of the next years. Moreover, we intend to offer the platform fully bilingual in German and English by the end of the project period.

In addition to information provided on forschungsdaten.info, bwFDM is active in conveying information via RDM-related consultations and trainings, which are tailor-made for research institutions in Baden-Württemberg upon request. All research institutions in Baden-Württemberg are welcome to contact us for trainings and consultations - if we feel that we are the right people to provide the desired training,  we are very happy to fulfill the request. Otherwise, we will refer to alternative suitable stakeholders on the basis of our network. All training materials are made available on our website as OER for general re-use.

In addition to continuing and expanding existing activities, the state initiative is involved in a range of new tasks, such as designing and implementing a certificate course tailored to those interested in RDM in Baden-Württemberg. Moreover, bwFDM coordinates the concrete implementation of Baden-Württemberg's future research data strategy with various stakeholders from politics, academia and infrastructure. This involvement will consolidate the state initiative’s relevance as a coordination and information office in the (Baden-Württemberg) RDM landscape and underline the importance of RDM as a whole for the Baden-Württemberg research landscape. Along similar lines, through a hybrid setting, the next E-Science-Tage are intended to gain in appeal and further establish themselves as the central RDM conference in Germany in order to ensure the nationwide exchange of knowledge and experience.