The measure "RDM Grants" promotes the transfer of knowledge from research data centers (RDCs) to research communities by supporting projects or individuals in the development and implementation of an appropriate research data management (RDM) strategy. The goal is to continuously improve and facilitate collaboration between researchers and RDCs regarding the sharing of complex and sensitive research data for the purpose of scientific reuse. The aim is to establish cross-consortium data integration within the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) in order to generate new analysis potential from the connection of data sets from different scientific disciplines. The experience gained through this project funding will help KonsortSWD better anticipate the FDM needs of the research communities and develop appropriate services.

KonsortSWD's mission is to strengthen, expand, and deepen the research data infrastructure for the study of society. Empirical research in the social, behavioral, educational, and economic sciences is based on different types of data, which are often classified as particularly sensitive due to legal or ethical restrictions and were not always originally collected for scientific purposes. The rich treasure trove of existing data, which has so far been stored by individual data holders, is to be lifted and made accessible for subsequent use by the scientific community. The call for proposals and the awarding of funding for research data management (RDM) provide resources to integrate new or as yet inaccessible data into the research data infrastructure in accordance with the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).

Individual researchers will apply for RDM project funding in collaboration with an existing RDM. Support will be provided for projects that address one or more of the following aspects: 1) design and implementation of a data management plan 2) anonymization concepts for existing data 3) (international) data access for secondary use 4) high-quality metadata documentation for data publication and 5) long-term digital archiving. A prerequisite for funding is the willingness of the cooperating RDC to make the data in question available for secondary use in the long term.

The next call for proposals will start in March 2023. Current and further information can be found here.

• Project lead and applicant: Prof. Dr. Christian Aßmann
• Project duration: 10/2020 – 09/2025
• Funded by: German Research Foundation (DFG)
• Project homepage