#MeetMeWednesday
The long wait is over – finally the IT Center picture puzzle continues. In this article, you’ll learn all about the NFDI4Ingadministrative office. Who is behind it? What are the tasks and what does the future of the NFDI4Ing’s administrative office look like? This and much more you will discover in this interview.
Did you guess the keyword we were looking for? This time the correct answer was “networking”. If you want to know why this keyword represents the NFDI4Ing office, click on “Read rest of this entry”.
Who stands behind NFDI4Ing’s administrative office? How many employees work at the office?
NFDI4Ing is Germany’s National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) for the engineering sciences. The NFDI4Ing consortium makes research data sustainably accessible in accordance with the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Re-usable), i.e., in citable form and under licenses that are as free as possible. RWTH Aachen University is the consortium leader with Prof. Robert H. Schmitt as the consortium spokesperson. The deputy spokesperson of the consortium is Prof. Peter F. Pelz from Technische Universität Darmstadt. NFDI4Ing’s administrative office consists of a team of six employees and is located in equal parts at RWTH Aachen University and Technische Universität Darmstadt.
What makes the administrative office special? Why is NFDI4Ing’s administrative office at the IT Center essential?
NFDI is anchored in two places in the IT Center’s guidelines. Fittingly, the IT Center is involved in NFDI4Ing, among other things. The NFDI4Ing consortium is an important partner for data-related research, teaching and study in the engineering sciences and is a good example of the IT Center’s involvement in the German science system.
What are the main tasks of NFDI4Ing’s administrative office?
The main tasks of the administrative office are to support the team of spokespersons and to communicate with the funding body. The administrative office organises both the committee work and the financial flows of the consortium. In addition to the committee work and the organisation of the financial flows, the administrative office supports all work areas of the consortium in their administrative, organisational and communicative activities. The administrative office provides a single point of contact for enquiries.
![Lösungswort "Vernetzung"](https://blog.rwth-aachen.de/itc/files/2023/05/NFDI4Ing-Geschaeftsstelle_Blog_v2-1-300x200.jpg)
Source: Own illustration, Pixabay
What are the current projects and developments?
For NFDI as a whole, the mutual interaction of the consortia plays an essential role, which is why several networking structures are already emerging that can fulfil the promise to partner across disciplines.
We are currently orchestrating the production of the interim report, which will incorporate the outcomes of the work of our more than 50 partner institutions across Germany. The interim report contains a public section that the DFG will publish in due course.
What does the future of the administrative office look like?
As a consortium of the first application round from 2020, our funding period ends in autumn 2025, which will hopefully be followed by a second funding period. In the meantime, the NFDI e.V. with its more than 200 member institutions (including the federal government and all 16 states) is already working towards a long-term continuation of our research data infrastructure.
This was the IT Center picture puzzle with the NFDI4Ing administrative office. We hope you enjoyed the interview and gained a better understanding of the office’s duties and responsibilities. Feel free to leave us a heart and be ready for the next picture puzzle round!
Responsible for the content of this article are Évariste Demandt, Ines Scholten-Strauch and Annett Schwarz.