In November 2025, Data Days Lower Saxony, the annual networking event of the state initiative FDM-NDS, took place once again. This year’s format combined two days of in-person events in Braunschweig with an additional virtual theme day, offering participants a comprehensive program on research data management in Lower Saxony.
November 24 & 25, 2025: In-person event in Braunschweig
Over 80 researchers, data stewards, library specialists, funding agencies, and other interested parties from Lower Saxony and beyond gathered on the first two days of the event. Participants gained insights into current developments within the three pillars of FDM-NDS. The program was particularly enriched by a keynote speech by Prof. Dr. Norbert Lossau on Hochschule.digital Niedersachsen (HdN) and a presentation by Cord Wiljes on the future of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI).
A special highlight of the first day was the presentation of the FAIR Data and Software Award Lower Saxony, which honors outstanding contributions to transparent and sustainable research, for the first time also in the special prize category.
The intensive exchange and the opportunity to network at the concluding marketplace on the first day over a delicious buffet were particularly well received by the participants.
The second day featured several parallel workshops dedicated to practical topics:
Raising awareness for FDM
The Data Steward Network and the Coordination Office of Pillar 2 conducted this workshop with Olimpia Michalski as the main moderator. Three topic tables were set up to discuss “Promoting Competencies” (moderated by Samuel Mund, Judith Emmerich, and Gabriele Stiller), “Utilizing Resources” (moderated by Vanessa Bischoff and Sebastian B.C. Lehmann) and “Networking infrastructures” (moderated by Ana Agniashvili and Jule Meyer). Based on the insights gathered previously in two World Cafés at the DINI conference and at FDM@Campus, initial recommendations for a handbook for FDM consultants at universities were developed.
The diverse composition of the participants – including funding agencies, researchers, and FDM consultants at universities and research centers – allowed for further in-depth discussions and new perspectives. The results will be compiled and published on Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/records/16411754).
Dynamic ELN Workshop – Hands-on, playful, and insightful!
The workshop offered participants the opportunity to try out various electronic lab notebooks at four interactive stations and discuss their needs and challenges. In addition to introductions to eLabFTW and Chemotion ELN, automation options were also demonstrated using a Python example. A separate discussion station enabled participants to exchange ideas about requirements, subject-specific applications, and open questions relating to ELNs in Lower Saxony. The dynamic format proved very successful and demonstrated the growing need for support and further development in the field of electronic lab notebooks.
Data engineering for researchers – a hands-on introduction
This workshop introduced some of the basics of data engineering. Using Jupyter notebooks (accessible via the Academic Cloud or Jupyter4NFDI), participants explored the process of data collection and transformation. During the two-hour session, they had time to familiarize themselves with the Python package pandas, learn how to retrieve data from a remote repository and write it to a Parquet file or directly to an SQL database. They also familiarized themselves with the available data in order to define the steps for cleaning and transformation. Finally, they were introduced to Prefect, a Python package used to orchestrate and deploy data pipelines. The immediate feedback was positive, and all participants were able to take home new insights, even though some of them were not familiar with Python or Jupyter beforehand.
November 26, 2025: Virtual Theme Day
The third day of Data Days Lower Saxony 2025 continued virtually. The entire day took place online and offered a varied program with a total of 8 events on various topics related to research data management. An overview of the program and links to presentation slides and recordings can be found on our event page.
We are delighted with the positive feedback and lively participation in the second Data Days Lower Saxony! We are looking forward to the next edition, which will take place in Oldenburg in 2026.
You can find more impressions in the form of photos from Data Days Lower Saxony 2025 on our event page.