Prof. Dr Sascha Brune has been a member of the expert committee of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) since October 1. The committee advises the NFDI, which aims to optimise the indexing, storage and access to the increasing amount of research data. Brune was elected by the Joint Committee of the German Research Foundation* (DFG) for a term of four years. As head of Section 2.5 “Geodynamic Modelling” at the GFZ and as a professor at the University of Potsdam, he will contribute his specialist knowledge and, in particular, represent the interests of the Helmholtz Association. The expert panel is made up of 27 excellent scientists from various fields of research and two politicians with long and varied professional experience.

*The DFG is the self-governing organisation of science in Germany. It serves to promote self-developed and knowledge-driven research of the highest quality in all disciplines.

Background to the National Research Data Infrastructure NFDI

The National Research Data Infrastructure is the network for the national and international transfer of research data in all areas of science.

It was launched in 2019 in response to the rapidly increasing volume of research data made available by advances in measurement and analysis technology, simulation and high-performance computing. The aim of the NFDI is to set standards in data management and ensure that the growing volumes of data are systematically indexed, stored for the long term and thus made more accessible for use by science and society.

The NFDI currently consists of a basic service, five sections for cross-sectional tasks and 26 consortia acting on their own initiative, which cover the various scientific disciplines and their specific requirements. The latter cooperate closely with computer centres, libraries and archives of the research institutions.

One of the consortia already active is NFDI4Earth, to which the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) has made a central contribution since the consortium was founded in 2021. NFDI4Earth brings together the leading national institutions in the Earth system sciences and develops data exchange and data analysis environments based on the needs of researchers. Every consortium works according to this principle.

The GFZ is also involved in the NFDI4Microbiata consortium.

The Joint Science Conference (Gemeinsame Wissenschaftskonferenz – GWK), in which the federal and state governments – represented by their science and finance ministers – negotiate and decide on joint science funding programs, decides on the financial support for the consortia. The NFDI consortia receive a total of up to 90 million euros per year for a ten-year period.

Task of the expert panel

The expert panel, of which Sascha Brune is now a member, draws up the funding recommendations for the GWK with regard to the consortia. The main task of the expert committee is therefore to evaluate the consortia applications on the basis of a scientific, information technology and structure-related assessment

Preparations are currently underway for the evaluation of the consortia that have been funded in the three NFDI funding rounds since 2020, 2021 and 2022. The future of the NFDI will also be an important topic, as the measures by the federal and state governments to establish and fund a national research data infrastructure will expire in 2028.

We warmly congratulate Sascha Brune and wish him a successful term of office.