“FAIR future skills” – Research Data Day in Bremen, June 11 2025

In June 2023, I stumbled into the Research Data Day at the University of Bremen somewhat by chance – at the time, I had just decided that I wanted to work in this exciting new academic field of research data management/research data infrastructure/open science myself. Here, I saw an opportunity to combine my training as an academic scholar and software developer with my values and convictions (Open! FAIR! CARE! etc)…

Four women behind a table with exhibits look into the camera with friendly smiles. In the background is a metaplan wall with a poster and various pieces of paper. Three of the women are standing, one is sitting in a wheelchair. — ^{We from WiNoDa at our exhibition booth. (c) Anna Lisa Schwartz}

And lo and behold: only two years later, I was co-hosting an exhibition stand myself with my colleagues from GFBio and the Berlin Museum for Natural History (MfN)!
We had been allocated a small booth in the “Glass Hall” and shared a metaplan wall with the Bremen State and University Library (SuUB).

Close-up of a disposable coffee cup with a wooden stirrer. The barista has drawn a little heart with milk foam. — ^{Coffee. Fuelling academia since forever. (c) Asta v. Schröder}

Like almost every academic endeavor I’ve been involved in over the last few decades, coffee was a major motivator – visitors to the exhibition stands could therefore “win” coffee vouchers from the coffee bike, which was conveniently parked directly opposite us (and made really very good coffee. Thank you, unknown barista!)

There was a lot to see and learn, all participants had prepared interesting and varied information stands.

Picture collage. Background: View into the glass hall with exhibitors. Foreground as an oval speech bubble: Detail of the research ship Polarstern made of Lego, including orca whale and dinghies at the Alfred Wegener Institute booth. — ^{Exhibition booths in the “Glas Hall”.} ^{Detail showing the research ship “Polarstern” at the AWI booth. (c) Anna Lisa Schwartz (adapted).}

As always with such exhibitions, the biggest challenge is of course to get into conversation with people who a) are not already familiar with the topic of data literacy/exhibitors themselves and b) just want to get from the streetcar to the library or from the classroom to the cafeteria.

A pretty Irish terrier with a signal orange harness looks curiously at the papers and objects on display at the WiNoDa stand. It is a data sniffer dog (in training). — ^{A very good “data sniffer dog” (in training) at the WiNoDa booth. (c) Anna Lisa Schwartz}

I’ll tell you what we came up with, and whether a “data sniffer dog” was able to help, soon in another post…

Research Data Day in Bremen: FAIR Future Skills. Bremen, June 11, 2025

Dr. Asta von Schröder

As an academic staff at the DAI, my main responsibility for WiNoDa lies in the creation of self-study courses on discipline-specific data literacy.
Hands-on and interactive – my goal is: less technical jargon, more “aha” moments.
Because we are all working with data!

https://orcid.org/0009-0007-5852-771X