In mid-September the 5th Consortium Meeting of NFDI4Chem took place in Halle (Saale), hosted by our co-speaker Dr. Steffen Neumann and the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry. For two days, current and future members of the consortium, members of the Advisory Boards as well as external cooperation partners and guests discussed FAIR data and data infrastructures in chemistry.
The first day focused on the recent updates from the consortium and ongoing activities in the first funding phase. The task areas reported about milestones that have been achieved, and group discussions allowed a critical review and constructive ideas to (1) enhance cross-task-area cooperations and (2) drive the cultural change in the chemistry community. A highlight of the first day was the evening lecture of Prof. Peter Seeberger from the Center for the Transformation of Chemistry, who provided insights into the launch of a project that has set out to revolutionise chemistry.
The second day addressed future activities, especially with regards to the second funding phase, which is supposed to start in October 2025. The day was kicked off by the keynote lecture by our speaker Prof. Christoph Steinbeck, giving an overview of AI in chemistry — certainly one of the defining topics in chemistry in the coming years. In the second session, the work programme of the second funding phase was outlined and new partners presented themselves in short flash talks.
Two interactive workshops on (1) research data management in university education and (2) the Semantic Data Hub concluded the conference.
We will report on the results of the individual sessions and workshops here and in publications.
