04.06.2025

Müncheberg, June 4, 2025 - The inaugural meeting of the embedded Data Stewards (eDS) took place at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF). Representatives from all structural units (RA) of ZALF came together to take up their role as intermediaries between operational research and central research data management (RDM).
With the eDS concept, ZALF is sending a clear signal for the strengthening of research data management: the data stewards are to act as ambassadors, recording and passing on needs and information from the Research Areas (RA) and at the same time communicating RDM-relevant offers and standards to their respective departments.
The meeting focused on the presentation of the RDM services available at ZALF, an initial outline of the task profiles and the coordination of future communication and exchange formats between eDS, the RDM team and the specialist community.
The participants showed great commitment and emphasized the importance of efficient, transparent and FAIR handling of research data. In a constructive and motivated atmosphere, it became clear that the role of embedded data stewards is central to the further development of a data-conscious research culture at ZALF.
The successful launch lays the foundation for close cooperation between central RDM and the research structures - an important step towards sustainably usable and quality-assured research data in line with the principles of open science.