FAIRmat is a consortium for data infrastructure in the materials sciences, which has been coordinated by Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU) since its foundation in 2021. It forms part of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI). In July, the Joint Science Conference of the Federal Government and the Länder (GWK) decided to continue funding FAIRmat and the nine other NFDI consortia from the second round. The aim of the NFDI is to manage and secure research data and make it available for reuse.

“The continuation of this funding is an important recognition of the progress FAIRmat has made over the last five years and a commitment to the future,” says Prof. Dr Claudia Draxl, spokesperson for FAIRmat and Professor of Physics at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. “Research data management has become an essential component of modern research. The second funding period will enable us to further expand our services, strengthen collaborations with researchers and partner institutions both within and outside the NFDI, and continue to develop sustainable solutions that enable open, reproducible, and data-driven science. The whole team is looking forward to continuing our work with even greater enthusiasm.”

Use of AI for data-driven science

FAIRmat is committed to the FAIR principles of findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability of digital data, as well as to the principle of open-source software. FAIRmat is developing NOMAD, a data platform for solid-state research. NOMAD comprises a broad portfolio of tools for the processing, storage, curation, analysis and reuse of research data, which together build a comprehensive service for FAIR research data management. In the second phase, FAIRmat will intensify its activities in the field of artificial intelligence with a new focus on ‘Enabling Data-driven Science’. The consortium FAIRmat brings together internationally leading experts from various sub-fields within its broad research area.
FAIRmat is coordinated at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. The co-applicant institutions include the Leibniz Institute for Crystal Growth (IKZ), Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), the Helmholtz Centre Berlin (HZB), the Max Planck Computing and, Data Facility (MPCDF), and the non-profit association FAIR Data Infrastructure for Physics, Chemistry, and Materials Science (FAIR-DI).