NFDI-MatWerk Summer School 2026 in Bochum – Research Data Management in Materials Science and Engineering
Why is it important?
Enabling a consistent and unobstructed standardization of research data will lead to substantial improvements in efficiency and synergies/collaboration among individual researchers and well-designed IT systems. In the era of digital infrastructures, this measure holds paramount importance in shaping the future of research. For the data to be sustainable and reusable, it must adhere to the “FAIR Data Principles”, meaning it should be “Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Re-usable”.
The FAIR principles will be a cornerstone of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) implementation. Nowadays, Data Management Plans (DMPs) have become a requirement for project applications in Horizon Europe and are increasingly being demanded by various funding organizations, including the German Science Foundation (DFG), among others.
The scientific consortium NFDI-MatWerk (National Research Data Infrastructure) focuses on the research area Materials Science & Materials Engineering (MSE). The central challenge is the digital representation of materials and their relevant process and load parameters. NFDI-MatWerk will provide in this summer school tailored information and solutions for dealing with research data in MSE.
Who can apply?
PhD-students and Post-Docs working in experimental and/or modeling/simulation in any field of materials science and engineering (with or without experience in RDM). Advanced Master Students are also welcome to apply.
The Summer School will take place:
📅 From Monday, September 21st to Wednesday, September 23rd, 2026
📍 At Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany
Registration deadline: August 16th, 2026
Please keep in mind that the number of participants is limited. Therefore, the “First Come-First Served” principle will be applied. Those who register first will have priority to obtain a place in the summer school.
- Keynote: AI-ready Data
- Introduction to Research Data Management (RDM)
- What is NFDI-MatWerk and how can I participate?
- Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELN) / ELN-kadi4mat
- Coscine: Research Data Management Platform
- Materials Data Infraestructure
- The Alexandria Materials Database
- PyIron: Complex workflows made easy
- Lab Tour Ruhr-Universität Bochum
PhD-students and Post-Docs working in experimental and/or modeling/simulation in any field of materials science and engineering (with or without experience in RDM), maximum 20 places will be available. Basic knowledge of programming, for instance in Python, MatLab or similar programing languages would be beneficial.
Participants should bring their own laptop. Please install a python environment on your computer, for instance: Miniconda, PyCharm, Jupyter or at least ipython. It is required in some lectures!
Monday, September 21st
12:00 – 13:00 Welcome Snacks
13:00 – 13:30 Introduction to the summer school – Presentation of participants
13:30 – 14:30 AI-ready Data – Markus Stricker
14:30 – 15:00 Coffee break
15:00 – 16:00 Introduction to Research Data Management – Katharina Grünwald
16:00 – 16:30 What is NFDI-MatWerk and how can I participate? – Katharina Grünwald
Tuesday, September 22nd
09:00 – 10:00 Coscine: Research Data Management Platform – Katharina Grünwald
10:00 – 10:30 Coffee break
10:30 – 11:30 FDM/ELN – Michael Selzer
11:30 – 12:30 ELN-kadi4mat – Michael Selzer
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch break (University’s cafeteria)
14:00 – 15:00 Materials Data Infrastructure – Victor Dudarev
14:30 – 15:00 Coffee break
15:00 – 16:00 Laboratory implementation of MDI – Alfred Ludwig, Victor Dudarev
18:15 – (open end) Dinner at Q-West
Wednesday, September 23rd
09:00 – 10:00 The Alexandria Materials Database – Miguel Marques
10:00 – 10:30 Coffee break
10:30 – 12:00 PyIron: Complex workflows made easy – Tilmann Hickel
12:00 – 13:30 Lunch break (University’s cafeteria)
13:30 – 15:00 Optional: lab visit
- Katharina Grünwald – RWTH Aachen University, IT Center
- Markus Stricker – Interdisciplinary Centre for Advanced Materials Simulation, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
- Tilmann Hickel – BAM Federal Institute of Materials Research
- Miguel Marques – Ruhr-Universität Bochum
- Michael Selzer – Institut für Angewandte Materialien, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie
- Victor Dudarev, Institut für Werkstoffe, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
- Alfred Ludwig, Institut für Werkstoffe, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Organisation:
- Alexander Hartmaier, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
- Alexander Kauffmann, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
- Flavio Soldera, Universität des Saarlandes
- Pranav Nayak, Universität des Saarlandes
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
ZGH Center for Interface-Dominated High Performance Materials
Universitätsstr. 150
44801 Bochum
Accommodation is not included in the registration.
Participants are free to choose their accommodation. We kindly ask you to make all bookings directly with the hotel.
Most hotel reservations require a valid credit card in order to guarantee the booking. We advise you also to check the cancellation terms with the hotel at the time of booking / reserving the accommodation.
Hotel Recommendations:
Please keep in mind that the number of participants is limited. Therefore, the “First Come-First Served” principle will be applied.
Registration deadline: August 16th, 2026
Those who register first will have priority to obtain a place in the summer school.
NFDI-MatWerk Summer School 2026
IMPORTANT!
The participation is free of charge.
The event will take place in English.
In case of further inquiries please contact: office@eusmat.net
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