Speakers
Description
Abstract
The idea of data as a common good and the FAIR, CARE and TRUST principles (Wilkinson et al. 2016; Carroll et al. 2020; Lin et al. 2020) form the fundamental framework for the NFDI’s efforts to foster research data management and community-driven, interoperable and sustainable data infrastructures with the aim of a permanent digital knowledge repository.
Accordingly, achieving this goal depends crucially on long-term preservation (LTP) and respective solutions (cf. RfII 2016; Wissenschaftsrat 2025) that ensure the data’s integrity, accessibility and (re)usability despite a wide range of risks (organisational, administrative, or financial constraints, human error, storage media failure, hard-/software obsolescence) and across technological changes (Markus et al. 2024/2025c). LTP is therefore not merely about storing bitstreams, but about functionally ensuring enduring accessibility, authenticity and meaningful interpretation (content preservation). This requires coordination that extends beyond individual fields of expertise: Despite differences in data types, formats, and workflows, the various scientific disciplines face common challenges when it comes to long-term data preservation (Markus et al. 2025a).
This is where the newly launched project FAIR4ever enters the stage. Within the NFDI, numerous domain-specific infrastructures with significant potential for interoperability already exist (Markus et al. 2024). Integrating professional LTP into these represents a prerequisite for guaranteeing permanent availability and reusability of research data in regard of a common research platform (Research Data Commons), too (Markus et al. 2025b). Therefore, the FAIR4ever project aims to establish a consulting service supporting and empowering consortia and cross-disciplinary initiatives within the NFDI and beyond to integrate LTP into their RDM-workflows, evaluate the preservation status of their domain-specific data, and build or expand appropriate preservation solutions in order to meet their needs regarding long-term content preservation.
To reach this goal, the project focuses on four interrelated areas:
• establishing a central consulting service for consortia, cross-cutting initiatives of the NFDI Basic Services, Specialised Information Services (FIDs) and beyond
• documenting best practices, standards, examples, and recommendations while building a knowledge base
• conducting needs assessments (challenges, analysis of problem and requirement) through quantitative surveys and more in-depth structured interviews, combined with a detailed landscape analysis
• networking with NFDI consortia, additional stakeholders like Specialised Information Services (FIDs), state, national, and international initiatives like EOSC EDEN/FIDELIS
This comprehensive assessment of current LTP practices identifies discipline-specific requirements and highlights critical knowledge gaps regarding technical capabilities, legal frameworks, data formats, and compliance obligations. It thus provides a systematic understanding of the current state of LTP of digital research data within the NFDI. On this basis, the FAIR4ever project can support the consortia with customized strategies for implementing digital preservation, which will ideally lead to certification as a trustworthy repository.
Above all, however, FAIR4ever invites representatives of the consortia, base service teams and institutional stakeholders to get in touch with us and share your views on the research data in need of preservation – so that we can tailor our consulting services to your specific needs. Participating in UC4B2026 would represent an ideal opportunity to engage the NFDI community during the initial project phase.
Keywords: FAIR4ever, long-term preservation, digital preservation, research data, TRUST principles
Sources and Bibliography
Carroll et al. 2020
Carroll, S. R., Garba, I., Figueroa-Rodríguez, O. L., Holbrook, J., Lovett, R. , Materechera, S., Parsons, M., Raseroka, K., Rodriguez-Lonebear, D., Rowe, R., Sara, R., Walker, J. D., Anderson, J. and Hudson, M. (2020). The CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance. Data Science Journal, 19: 43, pp. 1–12. https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2020-043
EOSC EDEN. Enhancing Digital preservation strategies at European and National level. https://eosc.eu/horizon-europe-projects/eosc-eden [accessed: 14.07.2026]
EOSC FIDELIS: Establishing A European Network of Trustworthy Digital Repositories. https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101188078 [accessed: 14.07.2026]
Lin et al. 2020
Lin, D., Crabtree, J., Dillo, I. et al. The TRUST Principles for digital repositories. Sci Data 7, 144 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-0486-7
Markus et al. 2024
Markus, K., Naumann, K., Schmalzl, M., Watson, J., & Triebel, D. (2024). Long-term Archiving in the NFDI. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11109480
Markus et al. 2025a
Markus, K., Leinen, P., Naumann, K.& Valena, P. (2025). Long Term Data Issues: Workshop about Preservation, Archiving and Access in the NFDI. Zenodo. Long Term Data Issues: Workshop about Preservation, Archiving and Access in the NFDI, online. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15106332
Markus et al. 2025b
Markus, K., Stäcker, T., Pohlkamp, S.& Steinke, T. (2025, August 4). Digital preservation and archiving in the NFDI - Between established standards, missing awareness and approaches to open questions. 2nd Conference on Research Data Infrastructure (CoRDI), Aachen, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16735966
Markus et al. 2025c
Markus, K., Stäcker, T., Pohlkamp, S.& Steinke, T. (2025). Poster: Digital preservation and archiving in the NFDI - Between established standards, varying levels of awareness and approaches to open questions [Graphic]. Zenodo. 2nd Conference on Research Data Infrastructure (CoRDI), Aachen, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17054247
RfII 2016
Rat für Informationsinfrastrukturen (2016). Leistung aus Vielfalt. Empfehlungen zu Strukturen, Prozessen und Finanzierung des Forschungsdatenmanagements in Deutschland; Göttingen. urn:nbn:de:101:1-2024091608
Wilkinson et al. 2016
Wilkinson, M., Dumontier, M., Aalbersberg, I. et al. The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship. Sci Data 3, 160018 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18
Wissenschaftsrat 2025
Wissenschaftsrat (2025): Strukturevaluation der Nationalen Forschungsdateninfrastruktur (NFDI); Köln. https://doi.org/10.57674/wcdc-6d36
| background | closely related to NFDI, Section Common Infrastructures, especially AG LTA |
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