Love your Data! Kickstarting Data Organization with a Dedicated Folder Template
Description
Context
This presentation was given on 2025-09-12 in the context of the 117th annual meeting of the German Zoological Society (DZG) 2025 in Berlin.
Abstract
It is essential for researchers to create findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) data and metadata. To achieve this, effective research data management (RDM) is crucial -- as increasingly acknowledged by policies and funders. FAIRness and good management of research (meta)data hinge upon being organised and documented in an understandable manner, which includes consciously storing files in a clear folder structure.
It is a good idea to establish a sensible folder structure early in a project, however little knowledge about upcoming needs and potential struggles often thwart especially junior researchers from deliberate planning. Here, ready-made templates can provide a standardized starting structure, saving time and resources that would usually be required to lay out and expand or restructure a folder structure as a (thesis) project unfolds.
We recently developed* a folder structure template (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15835125) that comprehensively covers the storage needs of early career researchers in the life sciences beyond data production for a single work package; i.e., comprising space for administrative documents, presentations, etc. Additionally, the template is enriched with RDM best practice guidance and metadata recording prototypes to promote informed, sustainable RDM habits.
This talk will cover the basics of RDM -- repetition never hurts -- and present our folder structure template and its features. It aims to encourage researchers, students, and PIs to talk about RDM, review their habits, and collectively shift academic culture towards more love for data.
* Demerdash, Dockhorn & Wilbrandt (in rev.) Data Organization Made Easy: Comprehensive Folder Structure Template for Early Career Life/Natural Science Researchers
Training Information
Learning Goals
- Know Research Data Management (RDM) goals and general considerations
- Know where to look for RDM tools, resources, and help
- Be aware that the Folder Structure Template (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15835125) exists
Duration
20 min
Target Audience
- Life Science researchers of all career stages
Prerequisites
- None
Tools
- For the presenter: Ability to play video with audio
Upload Content
| File | Description | Format |
| 2025-09-12_DZG_FolderStructure.key | Presentation slides | .key |
| 2025-09-12_DZG_FolderStructure.pdf | Presentation slides |
Notes (En)
Copyright
The presentation includes an xkcd Comic by Randall Munroe. The license for these can be found here: https://xkcd.com/license.html. The permanent link is as follows:
If not stated otherwise, illustrations were drawn by Jeanne Wilbrandt.
Funding
The presentation was devised and executed during an employment of Jeanne Wilbrandt by the Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute (leibniz-fli.de). Additional partial funding was provided by The German Network for Bioinformatics Infrastructure – de.NBI (denbi.de).
Files
2025-09-12_DZG_FolderStructure.pdf
Files
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Additional details
Related works
- References
- Software: 10.5281/zenodo.15835125 (DOI)
- Video/Audio: 10.6084/m9.figshare.8061722.v1 (DOI)