National Research Data Infrastructure for Microbiota Research
NFDI4Microbiota’s mission is to support the microbiology research community in Germany by providing access to data, data analysis tools, and data and metadata standards, as well as a comprehensive range of training programmes.
The consortium has set itself ten key tasks. These include providing access to tools and infrastructure, developing training interventions, working on standardisation, promoting a cultural shift towards FAIR and open source within the community, and building networks within the NFDI and the broader international research community. Improving research processes in microbiology – for example by introducing professional data stewards and by mobilising, structuring and linking data – is a key goal of the partners in the consortium. They aim to offer various services and solutions to achieve this, all of which will be regularly assessed and adapted to ensure they meet the current and future challenges faced by the microbiology research community.
ZB MED’s role in the project
Professor Konrad Förstner is one of two spokesperson for NFDI4Microbiota. Among other things, ZB MED is responsible for project coordination, the creation of a central web platform, the provision of tools for reasearch data management plans, the integration of electronic laboratory notebooks and digital long-term archiving.
Duration
1 October 2021 – 30 September 2026
Funding bodies
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Partners
- Bielefeld University
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)
- German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (DSMZ)
- Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU Jena)
- Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ)
- Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI)
- Justus-Liebig-University Giessen
- Philipps-Universität Marburg
- RWTH Aachen University
- ZB MED – Information Centre for Life Sciences
The consortium is represented by the leadership duo of Professor Alice McHardy (HZI) and Professor Konrad Förstner. The consortium is headed by ZB MED.
