From a Service Jungle to a Networked Research Data Practice - How FDLink Builds Bridges Between Researchers and Research Data Infrastructures

Today, researchers face an ever-expanding landscape of research data services: local advisory services, NFDI consortia, state initiatives, data competence centres, and numerous specialised tools. In recent years, so many high-quality options for organising one’s own research data management have emerged that researchers are left asking: Who provides support regarding research data management in a specific research question? Which services are a good match for one’s own research project? And how can universities organise this diversity in such a way that it is actually utilised in day-to-day research? In FDLink, six universities, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), have joined forces to build on the findings and results of the predecessor projects (FDMentor and FDNext) and to bring researchers and (cross-)institutional infrastructures closer together. At its core, the project considers research data management not as an additional obligation, but as a shared responsibility of researchers, universities, and (cross-)regional infrastructures. Our poster highlights the framework concepts, toolkits, curricula and interlinked counselling and networking concepts developed within FDLink, which are intended to help local institutions in future to introduce researchers to the relevant services in the field of research data management (RDM) and to further develop their skills. From the Universität Potsdam comes a qualitative survey on the integration of RDM and Open Science within faculties providing the base to draft an initial maturity model for the implementation of RDM in PhD programmes, teaching and research. This is supplemented by a communication guide for disseminating the model. At the Technische Universität Berlin, we piloted an innovative three-stage workshop format for needs-based RDM solutions and drafted a first version of a toolbox for reuse. Through expert interviews and benchmark analyses conducted at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the resulting insights and use cases were used to further develop the “UpdateFDM” maturity model. At the Europa Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) we analysed information on existing ethical advisory structures in Germany, whilst we developed an initial version of a concept for a doctoral curriculum at the Freie Universität Berlin along with a compilation of reusable materials for integrating RDM training into courses on good research integrity. In addition, we also assessed the RDM provisions in doctoral regulations and statutes of German universities. At the Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg, we analysed (cross-) institutional framework conditions for RDM advisory services, identified enablers, and explored needs of doctoral candidates and RDM advisors. A strategy workshop developed an ideal FDM process. Together, these findings informed an initial model linking RDM training and advising, which has since been refined through community feedback. As part of the project’s overarching objectives, we launched a website which enables us to share information about the project and results with the public. The team also agreed upon a joint research data policy and conducted the first of two central workshops in March 2026 to discuss and revise the outcomes of our working packages. In the time remaining, we will host our second and final workshop and conduct further expert forums on some of our work packages. We will incorporate the community feedback from these events to further develop our concepts and frameworks mentioned above. As a final outcome, we will publish a toolkit that brings together toolboxes, models and concepts developed since the start of this series of joint projects (from FDMentor to FDLink) in the form of a user-friendly, interactive website, which will be freely accessible. Keywords: governance, training, ethics, frameworks, service strategies