Bielefeld strengthens research data: Latest funding for innovative consortia!

Bielefeld strengthens research data: Latest funding for innovative consortia!

On July 9, 2025, Bielefeld University will continue its central role in building a networked research data infrastructure. In this context, the Joint Science Conference (GWK) has decided to support the continued funding of all nine consortia of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) in the first funding round. The federal government is thus contributing to the sustainable development of the NFDI.

The Bielefeld consortia, including NFDI4Health, NFDI4Microbiota and BASE4NFDI, benefit directly from this decision. These consortia are focused on different areas: NFDI4Health is dedicated to the structured and accessible use of health-related research data, NFDI4Microbiota aims to network data in microbiome research, while BASE4NFDI develops central services for all NFDI projects.

Funding and outlook

The consortia, which have been approved since 2020, will now receive additional funding to deepen and consolidate their work. The focus is on expanding sustainable data infrastructures that enable reliable, standardized and open use of scientific data across various disciplines. In this sense, the German Research Foundation (DFG) welcomes the continued funding as an important signal for the development of a networked research data landscape in Germany.

In addition, the NFDI's vision outlines the concept of organizing data as a common asset for excellent research and improving the possible uses for science and society. The NFDI association acts as an umbrella organization for research data management in all branches of science and aims to work closely with national and international partners to create legally compliant, interoperable and sustainable data infrastructures.

Skill development and career opportunities

Another central aspect of the NFDI initiative is the accessibility of the data infrastructures for researchers in their everyday work. At the same time, training and strengthening skills in dealing with data should be promoted. This opens up new career paths in the field of data management, which can be of great importance for future research.

Overall, the decision to further support the NFDI consortia shows a strong commitment to the digitalization of science and sustainability in the research landscape in Germany. Progress in research data infrastructure will not only improve research conditions, but also strengthen interaction between science and society.

In an increasingly digitalized world, creating robust data infrastructures is essential. The NFDI initiative has the potential to act as a model for similar projects at the international level and thus promote the global exchange of data and knowledge.

For further information about the National Research Data Infrastructure, you can visit the websites of nfdi.de and education-research.digital visit. Furthermore reported aktuell.uni-bielefeld.de detailed information about further developments in this area.