RETAIN - A fellowship program to establish sustainable and functional RDM in Neuroscience

Establishing effective research data management (RDM) in diverse, collaborative research environments is challenging, especially in the neurosciences. Neuroscience is a complex and multidisciplinary field, where research approaches often integrate various subdisciplines. These approaches range from studies on isolated cells to investigations involving patients in in the clinics as well as at home. Despite promising initiatives particularly stemming from NFDI and its consortia, creating reusable, well-annotated, FAIR-compliant data remains challenging in the field of Neuroscience. Researchers often name the lack the resources and time as obstacles to create functional workflows. In addition, the RDM focus on a project level is often not beneficial for an entire work environment. External advice from RD managers can help but is often perceived as additional burden. The greatest data handling expertise in the working groups often lies with early and mid-career researchers that generate and evaluate data. Thus, they are ideally positioned to develop and promote the best solutions for overcoming the aforementioned RDM challenges. Recognizing this, the NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence launched the Research Data Management Implementation in the Neurosciences (RETAIN) Fellowships, offering 24-month, 50% FTE positions to PhD-level Neuroscience researchers interested in RDM. Fellows develop tailored RDM solutions by assessing current practices, team goals and motivations, by identifying obstacles, and testing fitting solutions. A ground laying education on best RDM practices and RDM fundamentals is also provided to the fellows. They receive guidance and support from NeuroCure's Coordinator for Value and Open Science and fellows document their progress regularly via OpenProject, an Open Source Project Management Software. A crucial aspect of RETAIN is the integration of RDM solutions into the current research environment. Fellows create workflows, educational materials, onboarding processes, and templates tailored to their team's needs, ensuring a sustainable RDM system. The program aims to produce model laboratories that can serve as RDM model environments for others, both within and outside the NeuroCure Cluster. Two piloting fellowships, one in a preclinical and the other in clinical research setting, have been awarded and will be completed by the end of 2025. The preliminary learnings from these community-based projects are valuable and can be transferred to similar efforts in other environments or disciplines. Most importantly however, is the successful proof-of-concept that individual fellowships present a novel promising tool to overcome resource hurdles that currently prevent many research groups from creating creative, fitting and sustainable RDM solutions for high quality FAIR data sharing. All tools, code, and materials developed or produced from RETAIN fellowship will be published openly, contributing to broader RDM efforts.