PhD Project Folder Template for the Life Sciences
Authors/Creators
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1.
Institute of Molecular Biology
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2.
Technische Universität Dresden
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3.
Leibniz Institute on Aging - Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI)
Description
This repository (https://github.com/RDMJeanne/FolderStructure) contains
- A template folder structure for PhD work in the life/natural sciences, a one-stop-shop for an organised approach.
- A collection of all the lower-level templates (zipped folder structures and READMEs)
- A collection of all lower-level guidance READMEs
- Illustrative figures (folder map and the four steps to create a folder structure)
TL;DR
- Download the "PhD.zip" file and unzip it to your desired location.
- Review the guidance (G_*_READMEs) to understand the purpose and best practices for each folder. (For quick access, find the collection of Guidance_READMEs)
- Add your files to the structure (adjust to your needs if necessary)
- Edit the metadata templates (M_*_READMEs) to document your metadata as you progress.
Aim
This folder structure is intended to support individual research data management practices related to your PhD. Your PhD may comprise multiple projects, experiments, and / or methods, which is mirrored in the structure. Researchers from other disciplines and stages are also very welcome to use and adapt the template according to their needs. Additionally, we attempted to include as much best practice and advice as possible implicitly and explicitly to help you stay organised during your journey. If you would like to read more about research data management best practices, please have a look at the section References for RDM. For easy-to-read and easy-to-write experience we use Markdown (*.md) files enriching plain text documents with some formatting syntax.The folder structure aims to be:
- comprehensive
- self-explanatory
- supporting best practices with templates and guidance
- modular & flexible
Each folder in the structure contains a guide G_*_README.md that explains what this folder is about and the recommended use. Additionally, folders can hold a metadata M_*_README.md that is ready to be filled with your own metadata, as appropriate for the respective folder.
You will probably not need all of the provided parts and maybe need something else in addition. Feel free to modify the structure to your needs, once you copied it to your working station. Accordingly, we intend this folder structure to be a working example.
Feedback
Feedback is very welcome! Just create a new issue!Use cases are also very welcome - show us how you use it!
How to cite
This project is licensed under CC0 v1.0 Universal and made public available free of charge. The project can be distributed, used, or modified in any way without acknowledgement of the original authors. If you find the resource useful and need citation in academic context, please use the following:- Files / Project: Demerdash Y, Dockhorn R, Wilbrandt J (2025) PhD Project Folder Template for the Life Sciences. Zenodo, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15835126
- Paper: Demerdash Y, Dockhorn R, Wilbrandt J (2025) Data Organization Made Easy: Comprehensive Folder Structure Template for Early Career Life/Natural Science Researchers. Data Science Journal, 24: 35, pp. 1–19. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2025-035
Notes (En)
Related Resources
Feedback Survey
Small survey of 6 questions on your general impression of the Folder Structure (part of the talk below): https://cloud.leibniz-fli.de/apps/forms/s/Q7dQob5Cm3mTE6pLKZe32j6b
Talk
Love your Data! Kickstarting Data Organization with a Dedicated Folder Template. 117th Annual Meeting of the German Zoological Society (DZG 2025), Berlin. Zenodo. 10.5281/zenodo.17106007
Wilbrandt, J. Data Organization Made Easy: Comprehensive Folder Structure Template for Early Carrer Life/Natural Science Resaearchers. Presented at Coffee Lecture Series organizied by Thuringian Competence Network for Research Data Management (2026, April 29), Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20119397
Paper
Demerdash, Y., Dockhorn, R. and Wilbrandt, J. 2025 Data Organization Made Easy: Comprehensive Folder Structure Template for Early Career Life/Natural Science Researchers. Data Science Journal, 24: 35, pp. 1–19. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2025-035
Files
RDMJeanne/FolderStructure-v1.0.zip
Files
(2.0 MB)
| Name | Size | Download all |
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md5:5260a902880b5667da1ca31e23445403
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2.0 MB | Preview Download |
Additional details
Software
- Repository URL
- https://github.com/RDMJeanne/FolderStructure