Source: Myriams-Fotos on Pixabay
2025 was another eventful year for research data management (RDM). At RWTH Aachen University and beyond, numerous events, new formats, and strategic developments shaped everyday life in RDM. Intensive exchange within the community, practical insights, and important milestones made 2025 a year full of momentum for a sustainable and FAIR-oriented data culture. Let’s take a look at the highlights of the past year.
The Role of Data Stewards at RWTH Aachen University
Special attention was paid to the growing importance of data stewards. In an interview with Kseniia Dukkart, readers gained insights into the tasks, challenges, and added value of this role for researchers. Data stewards support teams in implementing the FAIR principles, assist with data handling in everyday research, and promote a sustainable data culture.
Exchange Within the RDM Network
Right at the beginning of the year, the focus was on the RDM network. At the first RDM network meeting of the year, the RDM community at RWTH came together to discuss current challenges, needs, and perspectives. The open exchange provided space for new ideas and highlighted the importance of continuous dialogue for the further development of RDM.
In March 2025, this exchange continued at the RDM network meeting on the reorientation of the network. In addition to a review of previous activities, new structures and formats were presented that are intended to align the network even more closely with the needs of the community in the future.
E-Science-Days 2025
A key event in the spring was E-Science-Days 2025, which impressively illustrated the importance of research data, digital infrastructures, and services for modern science. A separate presentation focused on the RDM platform Coscine and showed how it supports researchers in the structured management of their data. The event concluded with further input from the community, which provided space for discussion, reflection, and outlook.
FAIRplay in Practice
A special focus of the year was the blog series FAIRplay in Practice, which was created in the run-up to and aftermath of the “NRW Research Data Day 2025.” The articles used concrete examples to show how FAIR-oriented RDM is implemented in everyday research. Among other things, initiatives and services such as Coscine and AIMS, FAIRmat, NOMAD, and ELN@RWTH were presented, as well as numerous contributions from the National Research Data Infrastructure, including NFDI4Chem, NFDI4ING, and NFDI4Microbiota.
Topics such as data-driven innovation at Forschungszentrum Jülich and data literacy with DALIA were also highlighted. The series made it clear that successful RDM is based on collaboration, clear roles, and a good setup.
Events
With the “NFDI4MatWerk Spring School,” RWTH offered an intensive continuing education format for young scientists in 2025. Another highlight was the Conference on Research Data Infrastructure (CoRDI 2025), which took place at RWTH over three days this year. Following the announcement in spring, there was a detailed review of a successful conference with an international audience, exciting presentations, and lively discussions on research data infrastructures.
The year ended with the NRW Research Data Day 2025, which took place in November at the IT Center of RWTH Aachen University under the motto “FAIR Data – FAIR Play: just a matter of line-up.” In cooperation with Forschungszentrum Jülich, the action day offered numerous posters, demonstrations, and networking opportunities.
Developments in Services and Infrastructure
There were also important developments outside of the events in 2025: the storage change in Coscine from Research Data Storage (RDS) to DataStorage.nrw, the transition of ELN@RWTH to regular operation, and the inclusion of Coscine in the European FIDELIS network. All of this shows how services, infrastructure, and international networking have continued to develop.
Top Articles in 2025
- Data Stewards at RWTH Aachen – Interview With Kseniia Dukkart
- Our Recommendations for Love Data Week 2025
- TdF Review 2025
- RDM Network Meeting in April 2025 – Focus on AI Support in Research
- The RDM Annual Review 2024
See You Next Year
The year 2025 has impressively demonstrated how diverse and practical research data management can be. We would like to thank everyone involved for their enthusiastic participation and look forward to accompanying you again next year with exciting topics, events, and new developments in the field of research data management.
Responsible for the content of this article is Hania Eid.
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