Seekest thou the road to, all that's digital and FAIR – the Ballad of the ELN Journey - A PSDI webinar

The Physical Sciences Data Infrastructure (PSDI) aims to accelerate research in the physical sciences by providing a data infrastructure that brings together and builds upon the various data systems researchers currently use. Our webinar series provide updates on our exploratory pathfinder work, and on relevant tools and technologies that have been developed by members of our community. This record contains a more detailed version of the presentation that was presented at the "Seekest thou the road to, all that’s digital and FAIR – the Ballad of the ELN Journey" webinar presented by Dr Samantha Pearman-Kanza on 14th August 2025. https://www.psdi.ac.uk/event/webinar-eln-implementation/

Abstract: With the ever increasing realisation that a majority of scientific research that is published is not “FAIR” (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) there has been a strong push in recent years to implement digital tools within the labs (namely Electronic Lab Notebooks) to combat this. However, implementing an Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) is no mean feat, it is a sociotechnical challenge with a range of barriers and considerations that need to be taken into account if this is to be achieved successfully. Furthermore, we need to understand that implementing an ELN is not the end of the journey; digital tools and digitally produced data are arguably no more FAIR than the original paper based lab book if they are not utilised to their full extent. Through PSDI we have worked on a number of case studies to examine and evaluate ELN implementations, ranging from in-house custom solutions, to fully fledged industrial solutions, across both teaching and research laboratories, which have vastly enriched our insight on these complex matters.