National Research Data Infrastructure
National Research Data Infrastructure supports research-data consortia developing sustainable services and shared standards to make scientific data accessible, connected, and reusable across disciplines.
Funder: German Research Foundation
Due Dates: January 20, 2027 (Third-round bridge funding) | September 30, 2027 (Annual unused-funds transfer requests)
Funding Amounts: Typically €2 million–€5 million per consortium, including indirect costs; initial funding for five years
Summary: Supports research-data consortia developing sustainable data services, shared standards, and accessible, reusable scientific data.
Key Information: Funded institutions must meet non-profit/public-benefit requirements and be German legal entities or operated by German legal entities.
Description
The National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) brings research-data users and providers together in a coordinated network of consortia providing science-driven services to research communities. The German Research Foundation (DFG) organises research-driven review and evaluation, while the Joint Science Conference (GWK) makes funding decisions. The programme aims to systematically manage scientific data, secure long-term storage and backup, and connect data nationally and internationally.
Priorities include community-developed data-handling standards, cross-disciplinary metadata standards, and reliable, interoperable services tailored to users’ needs. Consortia work to increase reuse beyond subject boundaries, integrate existing infrastructure, collaborate with research-data-management partners outside the German academic system, and develop shared services with other consortia. Findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability under the FAIR principles are central to the programme.
