Source: Own Illustration
The RDM Network Meeting on April 23, 2026, focused on the creation, organization, and use of data management plans (DMPs) in collaborative projects using the Research Data Management Organizer (RDMO).
The RDM Network Meeting is a monthly forum for data management officers, practitioners, and interested parties. It combines thematic presentations with open discussion on current practical issues and provides a space for networking and discussion.
Organizing Large Projects – RDMO Parent Projects
Sabine Schönau from the RWTH RDM team provided insights into the development of DMP templates and the use of RDMO. She also discussed the support options available to researchers at RWTH.
RDMO is a tool designed to assist researchers in creating a data management plan. The use of templates ensures that all relevant aspects and requirements of a research project are addressed in its data management plan. The RDM team at RWTH provides support for the project-specific customization of DMP templates.
The “Parent Project” feature in RDMO allows project managers and data stewards to organize the data management plans of all project participants under an overarching project, thereby providing a better overview of data management within the collaborative project. Using role management, the specific rights that researchers have in the respective sub-projects can be individually customized. At the same time, they all have access to the parent project. This ensures that all researchers within a large-scale project have access to the relevant requirements and guidelines.
RDMO in Practice
Following Sabine Schönau’s overview, Marianna Cafiero from the Institute for Technical Combustion (ITV) and Raymond Langer from the Fuel Science Center (FSC) presented how they use RDMO in practice. They provided insights into their projects and highlighted the motivations, benefits, and practical experiences associated with using the tool.
Different Instances – RDMO at the ITV
RDMO is open-source software that can be operated via local or multi-site instances. The various instances differ in terms of the implemented templates, layout, and access management. Research projects should decide individually which instance is best suited for their collaboration.
The ITV now uses the NFDI4Ing-RDMO tool, which is hosted by the ULB Darmstadt via the DMP4NFDI base service. Due to the diversity of the project members and their affiliated organizations, switching from the local RWTH-RDMO instance to the open NFDI4Ing-RDMO instance was a logical step to simplify collaboration.
Advantages and Suggestions for Improvement – RDMO at the FSC
The FSC particularly highlighted the advantages of RDMO: Its use provides a central location where data management plans are created. Furthermore, it facilitates the RDM onboarding of new employees and the handover of projects.
Finally, the two researchers presented suggestions for improvement on how RDMO could better support them in the future: overall, RDMO needs to become more flexible to adapt to different project structures. Furthermore, the process for creating a data management plan should be more focused, and irrelevant steps should be easily removable.
Save the Date – May RDM Network Meeting
The next RDM network meeting will take place on May 28, 2026, from 10am to 1pm on-site at the IT Center (Kackertstr. 10). Data stewards and other active members of the RDM network are invited to report on their current RDM projects.
Registration is not required. Details about the meeting will be communicated via the “DataStewards@RWTH” mailing list.
Learn More
Are you a member of RWTH and would like to be regularly informed about RDM network meetings? Then subscribe to the “DataStewards@RWTH” mailing list.
If you have any questions about the RDM network or topics related to research data management, we are always happy to assist you. The RDM team looks forward to hearing from you and will be happy to help!
Responsible for the content of this article is Hedda Faber.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.