Source: Own illustration
Did you miss the Research Data Day 2023 in Aachen? Too bad! Around 80 RDM activists and RDM enthusiasts from Aachen and Forschungszentrum Jülich met on November 14, 2023 for a successful lecture and networking event. After we have already informed you about the morning program of the state-wide action day in NRW, we now report on the joint afternoon event of RWTH Aachen University and Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZ Jülich) “From Data to Diamonds – Empowering Research with AI and RDM”.
From Data to Diamonds – Empowering Research with AI and RDM
RDM activists, those interested in RDM and AI experts were cordially invited to spend the afternoon of Research Data Day (TdF) in NRW together on site at the SuperC of RWTH Aachen University or online via Zoom. At the event “From Data to Diamonds – Empowering Research with AI and RDM”, RDM pioneers from Aachen and Jülich presented their perspectives on the topic in five exciting talks or presented their ideas and solutions for discussion on the 20 posters.
Dr Johannsen, Head of the University Library at RWTH Aachen University, and Dr Mittermaier, Head of the Central Library at FZ Jülich, welcomed the attendees punctually at 1pm. They emphasised the great importance of the topics for the locations as well as the good cooperation between the two institutions, which is reflected not least in this joint event.
One Keynote and Four Exciting Presentations
In her keynote speech on “Ethics and Reserach Data Management”, Prof Nagel (RWTH) highlighted the most important ethical issues that need to be clarified for the responsible handling of research data. Above all, she emphasised the responsibility that every researcher must take: for their research data and for the consequences of their actions in research! Following the keynote, there were exciting questions and discussions about how much ethics is still acceptable in research in order to avoid the risk of over-regulation. It became clear that “good enough solutions” must be found in order to maintain the balance between regulation and non-regulation.
The second lecture “Is Your Data Ready for AI? A Practitioner’s Perspective” was presented by Stefan Kesselheim from FZ Jülich.
He emphasised the importance of data sets that “significantly advance a scientific field if they are clearly visible and of high quality”, according to Kesselheim. Data sets must be made visible for AI methods/experts in order to contribute to success.
Dr Volker Hofmann (FZ Jülich) continued the programm with his presentation “Structured Data and Ontologies: Semantic Interoperability as the Key in Today’s Research”. Hofmann, who unfortunately was unable to attend on site, was streamed into the SuperC via Zoom. In his presentation, he explained how semantic technologies can be used to achieve an unambiguous meaning of metadata and semantic interoperability.
“Unlocking the Potential: LLMs Transforming Research Data Management” was the title of the penultimate presentation in the programme, given by Prof. Geisler (RWTH) and Soo-Yon Kim (RWTH). How can Large Language Models (LLMs) support stakeholders in research data management? This and other aspects were illustrated by the speakers using application examples. The fact that LLMs can support RDM stakeholders in many ways, e.g. in the creation of data management plans, was emphasised.
The presentation by Prof Schmitt (RWTH) on the topic of “Elevating Insights: Empowering AI with Effective Research Data Management”. As spokesperson for NFDI4Ing, Prof Schmitt presented selected data management tools from the engineering sciences that AI can benefit from, such as Cosine, RDMO, GitLab, Jupyter Hub and Metadata Hub. He emphasised that AI and RDM form a strong team that supports each other. On the one hand, RDM can provide AI with managed data sets and data management methods, while on the other, AI can support RDM in automating manual tasks.
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- Source: Own illustration
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- Source: Own illustration
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- Source: Own illustration
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- Source: Own illustration
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- Source: Own illustration
Posters and Networking
For the networking part, researchers, data stewards, data officers and other data managers were invited to present their work and use cases for RDM from their projects on posters. First, all active participants took to the stage to briefly introduce themselves and their poster in a one-minute teaser. All participants, whether contributors or interested parties, guests or responsible organisers, then gathered around the posters. With a drink or finger food in hand, contacts were made, topics discussed and ideas collected.
The third Research Data Day in NRW ended with a good atmosphere and stimulating conversations. All participants were pleased to have the opportunity for personal dialogue. For some, it was the first face-to-face meeting after a long period of online collaboration. The event helped to strengthen the RDM network at RWTH Aachen University and the cooperation with FZ Jülich.
Satellite Event for Research Data Day
On January 10, 2024, colleagues from the Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration (HMC) in Jülich will offer the workshop “Fundamentals of scientific metadata: why context matters” on site at the University Library of RWTH Aachen University from 9am to 5pm. The one-day workshop introduces the basics of scientific metadata and helps to understand technologies and concepts of structured, machine-readable metadata with practical and motivating examples. The workshop concept was presented at the Research Data Day as part of the poster “Fundamentals of Scientific Metadata – Didactic Course Design for a Hands-on Training Course on Metadata”.
We Say Thank You
The RDM team at RWTH Aachen University would like to thank the approximately 80 participants of the TdF for coming from near and far, the about 40 or so Zoom participants who joined in and for the fascinating questions and discussions. Special thanks go to the team at FZ Jülich for the excellent cooperation at the first joint face-to-face event on Research Data Day and for the successful dialogue.
As soon as the presentations and posters for the events have been published, you will find them at RWTH Publications or linked in the programme flyer on the event website.
Responsible for the content of this article are Lina-Louise Kaulbach and Ute Trautwein-Bruns.
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