Authors
Anna-Karina Renziehausen, Barbara Löhde, Doreen Rocholl, Yvana Glasenapp
Introduction
For the colleagues at FDM-NDS, the FDM@Campus conference in Göttingen is a great opportunity to network with researchers and FDM employees from Lower Saxony and beyond. This year, we took the opportunity to look back on the project’s initial successes and to discuss current planned activities. We started with a short presentation providing an insight into the structure of the state initiative and its successes in the three pillars. In the second part, we delved deeper into individual project areas with the session participants. In a World Café format, we took a closer look at the areas of data literacy certificate courses, offerings for RDM staff, and RDM lighthouse project ideas. The goal was to actively discuss these topics with the participants and gather feedback.
Results from the World Café:
1. Data literacy certificate courses
In connection with the goal of developing a Lower Saxony-wide data literacy certificate, an introductory course for bachelor’s and master’s students was designed at the University of Göttingen. Starting in the 2025/26 winter semester, the module “Data Literacy and Research Data Management” will be offered as a regular course with 4 ECTS credits – doctoral students can also take the course in workshop format. After the first run, the concept and materials will be freely available as Open Educational Resources (OER). In a lively discussion, participants raised various aspects regarding the future expansion of the course offering at the state level. The focus was particularly on the question of how the course could also be established at other universities in Lower Saxony and how cross-university recognition of the 4 ECTS credits could be made possible.
2. Offers for RDM staff:
In addition to the existing offers, events specifically for researchers were requested. These should be practical, discipline-specific, and suitable for different levels of knowledge. The state initiative also requested more training and information materials for reuse by RDM employees. Legal topics such as data protection and licensing were among the most popular topics requested.
3. RDM lighthouse project ideas
In pillar 3 of FDM-NDS, further projects can be funded that develop innovative solutions for research data management. Participants were asked to name topics that came to mind spontaneously and for which they saw the potential for such a project. Various forms of media for knowledge transfer were mentioned several times, which can rarely be implemented without additional resources – explanatory videos, educational games, and curated materials for reuse. Creating success stories from researchers in the form of interviews and videos could also help spread FDM solutions more widely. In addition, it became clear that further resources are also desired for networking meetings in order to promote the development of communities. The possible use of AI tools in RDM was critically discussed; here, it depends very much on the question of whether an AI offering can improve or even worsen data management.
Outlook
The exchange with the participants, most of whom work as RDM consultants themselves, was very lively and stimulating. New perspectives were introduced, but existing considerations were also confirmed. We are currently in the process of designing a course on the handling of personal data/data protection. The first course is planned for 2026. The materials will, of course, be made available for reuse.
The desire for high-quality and therefore complex RDM materials and additional networking formats can be taken into account by the Pillar 3 projects that have already been launched and those that will be launched in the future.
The lively discussion about the data literacy module revealed that, if the course is opened up to guest students from all universities in Lower Saxony in the future, students should clarify in advance whether an equivalent module exists at their home university for recognition purposes. The proposal to strengthen the role of data stewards from Pillar 2 in this context as well—for example, by providing support in publicizing and implementing the course and in recruiting teachers—will be taken up in order to anchor the course as an integral part of university teaching in Lower Saxony in the long term.