We are excited to announce the official publication of our comprehensive open educational resource (OER): ‘FAIR Chemistry Data: A Research Data Management Workshop Concept.’ This resource is now freely available to the community, marking a significant step towards making sustainable research data management (RDM) training in chemistry.
From practice to publication
This OER is built on a solid foundation. It is based on the workshop ‘FAIR Research Data Management: Basics for Chemists,‘ which has been successfully delivered over 40 times to more than 800 participants within the NFDI4Chem framework since 2022. We have now reworked and extended this proven material into a fully usable, modular package designed for reuse and local adaptation.
What’s inside the resource?
The workshop concept is divided into four modules, each designed for approximately three hours of instruction:
- M01 – Basics of RDM: Introduces basic RDM concepts like data life cycle, FAIR principles and Open Science, legal frameworks (policies, copyright, licensing), and data management plans (DMP).
- M02 – Documentation: Covers data organisation, metadata and standards in chemistry (like MIChI), and machine-readable chemical structures.
- M03 – Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELNs): Explores the advantages of ELNs and provides insights into tools like Chemotion ELN and elabFTW.
- M04 – Data Preservation & Publishing: Focuses on storage, versioning, archiving, and how to find and publish chemical data in repositories.
The package includes modular slide decks (in both NFDI4Chem and plain designs), comprehensive speaker notes, a detailed training concept, and a variety of interactive exercises (like polls, group work or individual work).
Flexible use and local adaptation
One of the key strengths of this resource is its flexibility. Whether you are a data steward, a group leader, or research support staff, you can adapt these materials to your specific needs.
The resource is designed to support:
- Different Formats: It can be delivered as an intensive two-day workshop or as a four-session online series.
- Customisation: Users are explicitly encouraged to select individual modules and add local or institutional input (e.g., specific local storage solutions) using the dedicated placeholders provided in the slides.
Why this matters
For the chemistry community, the transition to FAIR data is essential. By providing these materials under a CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication, we aim to lower the barrier for institutions to host their own high-quality chemistry-specific RDM training. This ensures that early-career researchers and established scientists alike have the tools they need to enhance their data management practices.
Get started now
We invite you to explore, download, and reuse these materials for your own teaching contexts. We also offer this workshop at individual institutions upon request. If you are interested, please contact our helpdesk.
Link to the Resource: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19084779
This project was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) under the National Research Data Infrastructure – NFDI4/2 – Project number 441958208 (NFDI4Chem).
