Welcome to the News Digest – RDM in Natural Science. Each week, I explore the latest developments in research data management, focusing specifically on natural sciences, and provide a concise overview. Today’s News Digest is fully packed, but before we start I want to mention that the online congress WISSENSCHAFTLICH ARBEITEN (only in German) starts today. During the week there will be talks about different aspects of working in researcher. From doing quantitative analysis, to writing a thesis and using AI in the writing progress. I will provide an input on data management and how good data handling ensure good research. Check out the full program here: https://wissenschaftlich-arbeiten-kongress.de/

And now let us dive right in:

FAIRmat

FAIRmat at the DPG Spring Meeting

The Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG) Spring Meeting took place in Dresden at the beginning of March and FAIRmat joint with talks, workshops and a shared booth with DAPHNE4NFDI. Read more about it at the news page of FAIRmat.

Link to the news page on the FAIRmat webpage

NFDI4Cat

NFDI4Cat participated with two posters at the deRSE26 conference. Read more about it at the webpage of NFDI4Cat

Link to the article on the NFDI4Cat webpage

Acceptance of new service: Training is key

The first poster by Michael Liebau et al. is having a closer look at the question of how we can support the community with using new services, and the answer is well-prepared and structures trainings.

Link to poster in Zenodo with DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18937806

Project management with GitHub

Are you looking for a way to keep track of your project and user support? Maybe the workflow of NFDI4Cat can be an inspiration with a mix of GitHub-Issues and Kanban as well as Scrum approaches. Check out the poster by Volodymyr Kushnarenko.

Link to poster in Zenodo with DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18938507

NFDI4Chem

Interview with one of the FAIR4Chem 2026 awardees

Marius Michael Engler is one of the FAIR4Chem awardees of 2026 and in a now published interview with NFDI4Chem provides insights on how and why the data was published. What it takes to handle data in a FAIR way and what the benefits are. It also highlights how local support (here from the Thuringian Competence Network for Research Data Management (TKFDM)) can support researchers with their data handling, sometimes a template is all that is need to get things started.

You have to invest that time at some point. But the time I invested was definitely worth it: for me, for my future work, but also for the way we work in the future and for establishing standards within the team.
Marius Michael Engler

Link to the interview on the NFDI4Chem webpage

RADAR4Chem Guide

Are you unsure on how to use the repository RADAR4Chem? Have you thought about recommending it to your researcher, but were unsure how to use it yourself? Or are you a researcher and want to publish your data? Then check out the new guide on RADAR4Chem by Kerstin Soltau et al. which explains how to use the repository step-by-step and in detail. Definitely something you should add to your resource collection. Currently, it is only available in German.

Link to guide in Zenodo with DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19052408

AI and extended reality in chemistry

In the last NFDI4Chem Stammtisch Siegfried Schindler provided some insight how teaching and lab work could change in the future with the help of AI and virtual or augmented reality and encourages everyone to stay open and try new technology. The recording of this entertaining talk is now available on the YouTube Channel of NFDI4Chem. It is a glimpse into what could be possible in the future, but how do we want to shape it?

NFDI4Earth

All tools, services and template that are developed in the field of research data management aim to support researcher with handling, finding and sharing data. So it is always important to go back to the community and discuss with them. What is working and what’s not? NFDI4Earth has now published two reports. The first one by Anna Brauer et al. deals with the perspective of users beyond the core community of the NFDI4Earth, the earth system science, and the other report by Christin Henzen et al. deals with the NFDI4Earth community. I think these reports are specially interesting for all people working in RDM and offering service, tools or website. From both reports, the importance of a clear user interface which is fitted to the needs of the community, for all RDM services/tools is one of the central needs of the researchers. Check out the reports and learn more about users needs.

Learning about user perspectives beyond the Earth System Sciences (NFDI4Earth Report) by Anna Brauer et al.
Link to report in Zenodo with DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19089232

Learning about Earth System sciences users II (NFDI4Earth Report)
Link to report in Zenodo with DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19086504

PSDI

Recordings of the online meeting on electronic research notebooks are available

In the latest meeting of the ERN (Electronic Research Notebooks) Community, people reported on successful integrations of electronic lab notebooks.  A wide range of different notebooks solutions were presented: OneNote, logseq, Revvity Signals, AI4Green and RSpace. The talks are not just introductions to the different notebooks, but discuss why they were selected and how the integration works. What were the problems, what they have learned and much more. If you are interested in digital documentation, definitely check out all the recordings, and maybe start with the once you are the least familiar with. 😉

Link to the article on the PSDI webpage
Link to the whole playlist on the YouTube Channel of PSDI

OneNote for undergrad students with Chloe Harold and Chris Hawes
Link to presentation in Zenodo with DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19096508

Logseq with Danny Garside
Link to presentation in Zenodo with DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19096521

OneNote for undergraduate chemistry labs with Philip Leadbitter
Link to presentation in Zenodo with DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19096525

Revvity Signals with Samantha Pearman-Kanza
Link to presentation in Zenodo with DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19096527

AI4Green with Jonathan Hirst
Link to presentation in Zenodo with DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19096529

RSpace with James A J Wilson
Link to presentation in Zenodo with DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19096535

Introduction to PSDI

In case you are new to the News Digest and are not yet familiar with the work of PSDI. Check out the recording of a talk by Elizabeth Newbold introducing PSDI, their goals, support and services.

RSpace

Direct connection with Research Activity Identifier

RSpace now offers a direct connection to the Research Activity Identifier (RAiD). RAiD is a persistent identifier for research projects and activities. Check out to learn how the intergration of RAiD looks like in RSpace and how you can use it.

 

Software

FAIRmat

pynxtools-xrd: A pynxtools reader plugin for X-ray diffraction data – v0.0.8
Link to release notes in GitHub
Link to software in Zenodo with DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19140300

Pynxtools: A Python Library for NeXus-Compliant Experimental Data Conversion and Integration with NOMAD Platform – v0.13.0
Link to release notes in GitHub
Link to software in Zenodo with DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19136273

Atomistic Parsers – v1.0.11
Link to release note in GitHub
Link to software in Zenodo with DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19055118

NOMAD CAMELS: Configurable Application for Measurements, Experiments and Laboratory Systems – v1.10.9
Link to release notes in GitHub
Link to software in Zenodo with DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19053632

Outro

That is it for today. There was a lot to discover today, and I hope you found something useful. Thanks for reading, and see you next week.

Benjamin

If you find these weekly overviews useful, please like, and share them with your colleagues and if you want to support me even more, you can go over to my ko-fi page and buy a bag of peanuts for The FAIR Elephant. Your support is much appreciated.