New 4TU.ResearchData strategy published

We are hap­py to announce that we have pub­lished a new five-year strat­e­gy for 4TU.ResearchData for 2025 to 2029.

4TU.ResearchData is a research infra­struc­ture, com­mu­ni­ty and train­ing provider with a mis­sion to enable researchers from sci­ence, engi­neer­ing and design dis­ci­plines to make a glob­al impact with research data and soft­ware. 

Our trust­ed dig­i­tal repos­i­to­ry sup­ports FAIR data and soft­ware and is ful­ly com­mit­ted to the prin­ci­ples of open sci­ence. 

In recent years, 4TU.ResearchData has iden­ti­fied many shared chal­lenges and oppor­tu­ni­ties, such as the increas­ing num­ber of require­ments relat­ed to FAIR data and open sci­ence, the need for infra­struc­tures to con­nect in a fed­er­at­ed ecosys­tem, the need to reward FAIR prac­tices across insti­tu­tions, and a grow­ing demand for dig­i­tal skills and data stew­ard­ship exper­tise to sup­port the trans­paren­cy and repro­ducibil­i­ty of research, among oth­ers.

We aim to address such chal­lenges in the com­ing years through defined strate­gic goals and shared val­ues. To this end, our new strat­e­gy was devel­oped in con­sul­ta­tion with our part­ners and stake­hold­ers, and renews and strength­ens our col­lab­o­ra­tive mis­sion and vision.

In prac­tice, we will focus on the fol­low­ing four themes and strate­gic goals:

1. Infra­struc­ture: we aim to pro­vide lead­ing domain-spe­cif­ic infra­struc­ture for research data and soft­ware. 
2. Com­mu­ni­ty: we will fos­ter a cul­ture and com­mu­ni­ty to sup­port FAIR data and soft­ware. 
3. Skills: we will invest in improv­ing dig­i­tal skills and capac­i­ty.
4. Part­ner­ships: we aim to broad­en impact through part­ner­ships.

Remark­ing on the new strat­e­gy, Sil­via Lenaerts, Chair of the 4TU.Federation Research Com­mit­tee said:

Research data con­tin­ues to be an impor­tant top­ic in the con­text of open sci­ence, digi­ti­sa­tion of research and dig­i­tal sov­er­eign­ty. As 4TU.Federation, we wel­come the new strat­e­gy of 4TU.ResearchData that focus­es on pro­vid­ing infra­struc­ture for research data, invest­ing in improv­ing dig­i­tal skills and fos­ter­ing a com­mu­ni­ty so that researchers are well equipped to make a glob­al impact with research data and soft­ware. 

Mar­jolein Dohmen-Janssen, Sec­re­tary of the 4TU.Federation added:

This strat­e­gy sig­nals a new chap­ter for 4TU.ResearchData and will also be valu­able input for the strat­e­gy we are devel­op­ing for the 4TU.Federation in which build­ing tal­ent and cre­at­ing impact for soci­ety will be impor­tant pil­lars.

Daniel Bangert, Direc­tor of 4TU.ResearchData says:

Through our new strat­e­gy we invite close col­lab­o­ra­tion with the research com­mu­ni­ty and aim to facil­i­tate impact­ful open sci­ence for the ben­e­fit of soci­ety. I would like to sin­cere­ly thank the 4TU.ResearchData team and our part­ners for their sup­port and con­tri­bu­tions to the strat­e­gy.

The 4TU.ResearchData Strat­e­gy 2025–2029 can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14176780