The ‘NFDI4Memory’ consortium is part of the national research data infrastructure

Researchers generate valuable knowledge.How can this be preserved so that it remains widely accessible in the future? In the field of historical research,the‘NFDI4Memory’consortium– in which Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (h_da) is also a partner –is addressing this issue. The consortium has now been admitted to the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) by the Joint Science Conference (GWK).

The aim of the NFDI is to systematically catalogue, interlink and ensure the long-term availability of valuable data sets from science and research for the entire German scientific system. As part of ‘NFDI4Memory’, historical research, memory and information infrastructures from the field of historical research are to be integrated into a digital research data infrastructure for the first time.

Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences is involved through Prof. Dr Stefan Schmunk from the Institute for Communication and Media in the faculty of Media. Together with Prof. Dr Ursula Lehmkuhl from the University of Trier, Schmunk is focusing on the area of data literacy – that is, the competent handling and management of data.

Historical research and cultural change

“Based on increasingly digitised and digital data, as well as digital methods, NFID4Memory opens up new areas for historical research and supports cultural change in academia,” explains Prof. Dr Stefan Schmunk. The consortium promotes digital skills in universities, archives, libraries and collections. It aims to create fundamental structures and incentives for innovation and new career paths.
Over the next five years, several digital services and tools are to be developed that systematically link historical scholarship with digital resources. The involvement of international partners is also planned.

The “NFDI4Memory” consortium is coordinated by the Leibniz Institute for European History in Mainz. It comprises eleven institutions with extensive experience in digital methods and more than 70 organisations spanning the entire spectrum of historical research.

An article by Simon Colin