Growing Cultural Change: Sustainable Research Data Management Rooted in Governance, Incentives, and Training

Valerie Boda, Alexandra Büttner, Maximilian Frank, Bernhard Miller, Julia Armin, Daniel Nüst, Zahia Schlott, Jörg Seegert and Wolf Zinke Growing Cultural Change Sustainable Research Data Management Rooted in Governance, Incentives, and Training Aachen, 26. August 2025 We are … CC-BY-US @ NFDI • Hugely diverse backgrounds assembled in group. Not focussed on single disciplines • Participation from within and outside NFDI • Shared conviction that something is still amiss in RDM, • and that something needs to be done • Focus on how Research Culture and Infrastructure interact Agenda: Sorting a Multilayered Topic Can examples help understand the why and the how of cultural change? How can we learn from this to spread cultural change? Which fields of action are necessary for cultural chance? Use Cases as Examples for CC 1. Open Data at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) 2. Human Connectome Project 3. Flightpaths of Bumblebees 4. pyiron Framework 5. HERMES – Data Competence Centre Example: pyiron Framework Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for Computational Materials Science, by MPI for Sustainable Materials makes complex workflows easy enables knowledge transfer accelerates simulation experiments reverses the process of materials exploration pyiron.org J. Janssen, et al., Comp. Mat. Sci. 161 (2019) Example: pyiron Framework driven by: institutional lead active change process measurable scientific value leads to multiplication effect by users pyiron exemplifies how user-centric infrastructure design and secure funding can foster reproducible research in materials science. pyiron.org Hackathon at MPISusMat, Nov ‘24 Example: Human Connectome Project humanconnectome.org Neuroscience initiative for mapping the neuronal connections in the human brain create the world’s first openly accessible, high-resolution neural connectome dataset Collaboration of several institutions (St. Louis, Minnesota, Oxford, Massachusetts) Funded with $40 mio./5yr NIH grant in 2009 All-hands meeting off the WU-Minn HCP consortium 2010 https://www.humanconnectome.org/news/11 Example: Human Connectome Project Connectome Workbench https://www.humanconnectome.org/software/get-connectome-workbench humanconnectome.org Substantial funding and strong leadership as key: “HCP-style” paradigm for neuroimaging data acquisition, analysis, and sharing Open database (>25 PB), more than 1500 publications HCP transformed neuroscience from a fragmented field into a collaborative global enterprise: Connectome Coordination Facility Fields of Action Case studies lead to identification of drivers and critical fields of action: Financing & Governance and Infrastructures Standards & Guidelines and Incentives Education & Training > here, strategies to foster data sharing need to bite. > fields can be the base for targeted interventions to yield significant improvements in scientific collaboration and data accessibility Icons by Fontawesome