Source: RDM Team RWTH Aachen University
To celebrate Research Data Day in North Rhine-Westphalia (TdF) on November 18, 2025, we would like to give you a sneak preview of our “RDM Practice” and “RDM Services” arenas. These are well worth exploring today on Research Data Management (RDM) Action Day. This article provides an overview of the poster contribution “Life Cycle of Metagenomic Research Data Management” by the data steward Catherine Gonzalez.
Join us on TdF, engage in dialogue with the contributors and enjoy networking opportunities with other RDM enthusiasts!
Brief Description of the Initiative
NFDI4Microbiota is a subject-specific consortium of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) in Germany. It supports the microbiological research community by providing access to data and analysis services, data and metadata standards, and training opportunities. The consortium aims to enhance the accessibility, interoperability, and reproducibility of research data in health, agriculture, and environmental sciences.
Description of the Contributions
The NFDI4Microbiota poster highlights the common challenges that researchers face when trying to share, store, or reuse data. Researchers often struggle with insufficient metadata, which makes datasets difficult to interpret or reuse, as well as limited storage capacity for large data volumes. Data also frequently lacks the findability and accessibility needed to meet the FAIR principles.
The poster illustrates how data stewards can address these issues by connecting researchers with data management solutions that integrate smoothly into their workflows. With proper metadata, data can be safely stored, recontextualized, shared, and reused. The poster shows a specific workflow for managing metagenomic data, demonstrating how collaboration between researchers and data stewards can support effective and sustainable research data management.
Reference to “FAIR Data – FAIR Play: It’s All a Question of Setup”
Just like in team sports, research needs clear rules, transparency, and supportive roles to work well together. The data steward takes on the role of a coach, guiding the research team in preparing and organizing data so that it meets the FAIR principles. The coach helps to overcome obstacles such as missing metadata, unclear storage structures, or limited storage capacity, and point out ways to make data sustainably findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable.
This creates a research process in which all team members benefit from FAIR conditions—and in which good scientific practice becomes the shared game strategy.
Further Information
Meet Catherine Gonzalez, a data steward at NFDI4Microbiota, in person on November 18 in Aachen. Talk to her about her experiences supporting RDM in microbiome research.
Further information and links to afternoon events at other North Rhine-Westphalian locations can be found on the fdm.nrw events page.
If you have any questions about Research Data Day in North Rhine-Westphalia, please contact the organizing team. We look forward to hearing from you!
Responsible for the content of this article is Ute Trautwein-Bruns.
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