National Research Data Infrastructure
The impetus for establishing a National Research Data Infrastructure (in german "Nationale Forschungsdateninfrastruktur=NFDI) and related consortia was provided in 2016 by the Council for Information Structures (RfII) with its position paper “Strength Through Diversity: Recommendations on Structures, Processes, and Funding for Research Data Management in Germany.” The University of Cologne is one of the leading centers for digital research in the humanities and is represented by scholars and institutions in all four humanities consortia, which are now funded within the NFDI.
The DCH became involved early on in the formation processes of all four humanities consortia. It serves as a moderator and facilitator between the participating institutions at the local level and is itself involved in the consortia both conceptually and through its own offerings.
Humanities Consortia in the NFDI
NFDI4Culture – Consortium for Research Data on Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage
Funded since October 2020
. The goal of NFDI4Culture is to establish a needs-based infrastructure for research data on tangible and intangible cultural heritage and to create a shared framework at the national level dedicated to the sustainable preservation, standardization, and provision of research data on cultural heritage. The consortium addresses the needs of a broad spectrum of disciplines, ranging from architecture, art, and music to theater, dance, film, and media studies.
As one of nine sponsoring institutions, the University of Cologne is represented by Dr. Lisa Dieckmann (prometheus Image Archive); in addition, the Cologne Center for eHumanities (CCeH), the DCH, and the Theater Studies Collection (TWS) are participating in the consortium:
Co-Applicants
- Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz
- FIZ Karlsruhe – Leibniz Institute for Information Structure
- Ruprecht Karls University of Heidelberg
- University of Cologne
- Philipps University of Marburg
- University of Paderborn
- Saxon State Library – State and University Library (SLUB) Dresden
- Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK), Berlin
- Technical Information Library (TIB) Hanover
Text+ Language- and Text-Based Research Data Infrastructure
Funding since October 2021
The goal of Text+ is to establish a needs-based infrastructure for research data from language- and text-based sciences within the NFDI, which strives to ensure the sustainable preservation and provision of research data related to cultural heritage. The consortium focuses on three data domains: language- and text-based collections, lexical resources, and editions. With this focus, the consortium addresses the needs of various disciplines in the humanities, including linguistics, literary studies, philosophy, classical philology, anthropology, non-European cultures and languages, as well as language- and text-based research in the social sciences, economics, political science, and history.
At the University of Cologne, there will be a central working unit for the consortium, which will be established at the Cologne Center for eHumanities (CCeH) as part of the long-standing collaboration with the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences and Arts (AWK). Within the consortium, the Cologne office will coordinate the “Editions” data pillar. The AWK is represented in the consortium as one of five sponsoring institutions, while the University of Cologne participates with contributions from DCH and the Institute of Linguistics (IfL) to the data pillars “Language- and Text-Based Collections” and “Lexical Resources.”
Applicant Institution
- Leibniz Institute for the German Language (IDS), Mannheim
Co-Applicant Institutions
- Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW), Berlin
- German National Library (DNB), Leipzig/Frankfurt am Main
- North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences and Arts (AWK), Düsseldorf
- Georg-August University of Göttingen
NFDI4Memory – Consortium for All Disciplines Engaged in Historical Research
Funding since March 2023
The NFDI4Memory consortium encompasses not only the field of history but all disciplines that engage with history. The University of Cologne is represented in the consortium by the Chair of Early Modern History and the Center for Teacher Education (ZfL). The DCH is also participating in the consortium, together with the Cologne Center for eHumanities (CCeH), contributing its expertise in the areas of metadata standards, data curation, data literacy, and consulting.
Applicant Institution
- IEG – Leibniz Institute for European History, Mainz
Co-Applicant Institution
- State Archives of Baden-Württemberg (LABW), Stuttgart
- Bavarian State Library (BSB), Munich
- German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology (DM), Munich
- FIZ Karlsruhe – Leibniz Institute for Information Structure
- Association of German Historians (VHD)
Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe (HI), Marburg - Humboldt University (HU) Berlin
- Martin Luther University (MLU), Halle-Wittenberg
- University of Trier (UT)
Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (h_da)
NFDI4Objects – Research Data Infrastructure for the Material Legacy of Human History
Funding since March 2023
NFDI4Objects is a consortium of researchers from various disciplines who study the material heritage spanning three million years of human and environmental history. This includes artifacts, architecture, archaeological finds, and anthropogenically shaped landscapes, as well as biological or ecological remains. Through Prof. Dr. Øyvind Eide, the DCH is participating in the grant application alongside the Institute for Digital Humanities (IDH), the Cologne Center for eHumanities (CCeH), and the Cologne Digital Archaeology Laboratory (CoDArchLab).
Applicant Institution
- German Archaeological Institute (DAI), Berlin
Co-Applicant Institutions
- Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel (CAU)
- German Archaeological Institute (DAI)
- Central Scientific Services, Berlin
- German Mining Museum Bochum (DBM)
- Rhineland-Palatinate State Office for Cultural Heritage (GDKE), Mainz
- Mainz University of Applied Sciences
- State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments of Baden-Württemberg, Esslingen am Neckar
- Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG), Berlin
- University of Bonn
- Roman-Germanic Central Museum – Leibniz Research Institute for Archaeology (RGZM), Mainz
- Roman-Germanic Central Museum – Leibniz Research Institute for Archaeology (RGZM), Restoration and Conservation, Mainz
- Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK), Berlin
- Joint Library Network (GBV), Network Headquarters (VZG), Göttingen