Enhancing user support across research domains - The Geo-Chem-Life Science helpdesk cluster

In today's diversity of data types, methods, repositories and journals it is impossible even for discipline specific helpdesks to cover all research data management (RDM) needs. It is therefore essential for RDM consultants to connect across domain borders in order to find the best support for each individual user. However, some research fields are especially close to one another, calling for strong working-level ties within their support (infra)structures. We present our Geo-Chem-Life Science Helpdesk Cluster consisting of 10 cooperating NFDI consortia, namely DataPLANT, FAIRagro, GHGA, NFDI4Biodiversity, NFDI4BioImage, NFDI4Chem, NFDI4Earth, NFDI4Health, NFDI4Immuno and NFDI4Microbiota. Our network is first and foremost built for hands-on, efficient cross-domain exchange of expertise, knowledge and solutions. Forwarding of incoming requests which are beyond the scope of expertise of the original contact point – or which will profit from additional bordering perspec-tives - not only allows for flexibility to find suitable solutions very quickly, but also supports transferable solutions increasing and widening the knowledge base of each individual helpdesk within the cluster. In this task, Rocket.Chat has proven to be a well-functioning place for the exchange of anon-ymized requests to find out who can best handle them – or sometimes – get a quick answer that one would otherwise not have found. For request forwarding, we have developed a work-flow that considers (a) transparency for users, (b) consent of forwarding and (c) documenta-tion of our jointly handled requests. Such requests, which we have so far received and helped each other with, include the search for data handling tools, research standards, data formats for long-term preservation, geoecological data sources, or the search for most-suitable reposi-tories for a certain data type such as bioimages or animal data. We collect the activities in a structured way to have a base for key performance indicators (KPIs) such as number of for-warded requests or ticket handling time. Our cooperation also includes marketing measures such as customized website texts to explain the cooperation or text modules for news an-nouncements. In order to formally document the collaboration and outline the principles of cooperation, all consortium spokespersons have agreed to the network within the framework of a common Memorandum of Understanding [1]. In the future, we are also aiming to connect the existing or upcoming online resources of the participating consortia so that users seeking information through first-level support can easily access those not only from their field, but also from related fields, addressing a need in trans-disciplinary research. In the future, we plan to connect to other Helpdesk Clusters such as the NFDI Humanities Cluster [2] to further broaden expertise and serve cross-disciplinary requests. Ultimately, we will also strive to become a node for Support4RDM, a Base4NFDI project proposal for a fed-erated helpdesk network and RDM support infrastructure.