One of FAIRagro’s most important goals is to bring about a cultural shift in agrosystem research toward FAIR and sustainable research data management (RDM). To this end, we are developing tools and services that enable the FAIR management, publication, and reuse of research data. This also involves empowering researchers to use these tools and services themselves and to handle their research data in a way that makes it understandable, discoverable, and usable – not only for themselves, but also for others.
For this purpose, we have developed and implemented various training and educational programs and published freely available training materials—for those who would like to join us as instructors or trainers on the path toward a FAIR RDM. If you’d like to learn more, please take a look at the published concept for training, education, and educational materials.
Max is a PhD-Student for soil ecology and wants to know:
I’d like to learn about FAIR practices for handling agricultural research data—when and where can I do that?
Feel free to check our current training schedule regularly.
Lena is involved in a project with remote sensing and asks:
My agricultural science research group could really use some RDM training, but your offerings don’t quite fit our needs. Do you have any ideas?
That’s why we offer on-demand trainings. You’ll find our offerings below.
Ayleen is a Data Steward for an excellence cluster in remote robotics. She wants to know:
I would like to share my RDM knowledge with my fellow agricultural researchers. Do you offer any materials I can use to create my own training sessions?
Of course – let’s get started! Feel free to check out our FAIRagro training materials below—they’re organized into modules and easy to use.
Li is an expert in Agricultural Economics & Ecosystem Services and asks:
Do you have any other good suggestions on where I can find useful information and resources on the topic of FAIR RDM?
To that end, we’ve developed additional training materials. Here is all the relevant information and resources for self-study and sharing with others.
Contents
Our Education and Training Programs
FAIRagro Trainings
Whether on-site at your university, at professional conferences, at non-university institutions, or online—we offer interesting and engaging RDM-related training sessions, often in collaboration with our expert partners. From introductory lectures to multi-day workshops on specific topics covering all the needs of the agar science community—always with a focus on practical relevance and benefits for the participants.
Training on Demand
Can’t find a training program that suits you right now? We also offer customized training programs tailored to your needs and designed to address your specific questions. We look forward to hearing from you!
Open Education Resources (Material)
For those of you who would like to learn more about RDM and FAIR data, and for those who plan to prepare and conduct your own training sessions, we’ve put together a wealth of information. First and foremost: our master slide deck, which you can use to easily put together your own customized training session. It’s an easy-to-use modular toolkit that you can adapt to your specific needs—give it a try!
Training on Demand – that’s what we offer:
Are you looking for a training program tailored to the needs of your institution, your workgroup, or your students—and one that can be developed in collaboration with you or your colleagues, if desired? No problem: We’ll put together customized events for you—ranging from general and foundational topics to discipline- or department-specific content, all the way to multi-level programs that combine the two aforementioned components and whose content builds upon one another.
General Training Courses on RDM in Agricultural Sciences
For early-career scientists and researchers in agrosystem research.
Introductory training sessions on fundamental topics such as: What is the research data lifecycle? What does FAIR stand for? What are metadata? What does the GDPR mean in this context? And what does all of this have to do with me and my data?
These training sessions are typically held in cooperation with the subject matter experts at the respective institutes.
We have conducted this type of training in collaboration with, for example, FZ Jülich, the University of Halle, the Association for the Promotion of Plant Innovation (Gemeinschaft zur Förderung von Pflanzeninnovation e.V.), and others.
Trainings on specific issues
Does your institute or research group need customized training on a specific RDM topic? We’re happy to offer that as well, in collaboration with you and your institutional staff.
Whether it’s specific topics such as data protection, the Nagoya Protocol, individual data types, data documentation, or data publication—we’ll tailor the training to your needs and questions.
These customized training sessions have been held, for example, with the DBFZ (topic: data organization), the DiP project: Model Region Central Germany – Digitization of Plant Value Chains (topic: data documentation and publication), the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences (topic: data protection) and at the PLANT 2030 Summer School (topic: data rights and the Nagoya Protocol).I
Multi-stage Trainings
This program combines the two options mentioned before:
We first offer general introductory lectures on agriculture-specific RDM for researchers at agricultural universities or non-university research institutions.
Afterward, participants can choose which topics they would like to explore in more depth through training workshops, such as data documentation, data organization, data publication, data collection using ELNs/EFBs (electronic field books), legal aspects of FDM, DMPs, and much more.
Some of our partners in this initiative include: the Institute of Agricultural Sciences at the University of Kassel, the Bavarian State Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry, and Tourism, and the Leibniz Institute for Horticultural Sciences (IGZ).
Are you interested in one of our trainings? Feel free to get in touch!
Here’s what our partners say about our on-demand training sessions:
Research Data Coordinator at Universitätsbibliothek Kassel
„The collaboration with FAIRagro clearly demonstrates the added value that can be derived from combining local RDM services with NFDI’s subject-specific expertise. Together, we have developed a needs-based training program for agricultural scientists—ranging from an initial local introduction and the assessment of community needs to in-depth workshops on data documentation and data publication offered throughout Germany. In addition to the technical results, I particularly appreciate the open, friendly, and trusting collaboration, which quickly fostered a sense of being part of a shared team.“
“On September 17, 2025, the FAIRagro workshop “Organizing Data and Files” took place at the DBFZ. The event generated a great deal of interest at the DBFZ, as reflected in the numerous registrations received right up until the last day. The workshop was designed as an introduction to the topic of data organization and was aimed particularly at inexperienced participants. At the same time, it also offered experienced users the opportunity to refresh their knowledge. Following the workshop, the FDM team at the DBFZ received several requests to evaluate the data organization strategy that had been revised during the workshop. Based on the feedback, there are plans to repeat the workshop in the future, tailored to specific target groups.“
Data Steward at DBFZ
Gemeinschaft zur Förderung von Pflanzeninnovation e. V.
“Research data management (RDM) is also central to commercial plant breeding research. The Association for the Promotion of Plant Innovation (GFPi e. V.) is a research association that represents the majority of plant breeding companies operating in Germany. The FAIRagro workshop on October 28, 2024, offered employees of GFPi member companies a practical and pedagogically well-structured overview of current developments in RDM—a real added value.”
Our FAIRagro training materials—modular in design and easy to use
If you’d like to offer training courses on research data management (RDM) for agricultural researchers but aren’t sure how to get started, don’t look any further: our modular training materials are now available as OER (Open Educational Resources).
All the relevant RDM topics are organized into small, reusable learning units that can be flexibly combined to create customized training sessions. Based on a pedagogical structure that incorporates both content delivery and interaction, and published as an open educational resource (OER), the material enables sustainable reuse and supports the adoption of FAIR data practices.
In addition, we’ve compiled further information and resources that make it easy for you to either learn more on your own or to reuse and adapt them for your own training sessions.
We’d love to hear your feedback!
Here’s how to create a customized training program using our modular training materials in seven steps:
Step 1
Define the Training Format
Step 2
Analyze Your Target Audience
Step 3
Define the Content Structure
Step 4
Select Specific Content
Step 5
Develop the Training Materials
Step 6
Test and Finalize
Step 7
Deliver and Reflect
A SAMPLE TASK: What is it?
Here is an example of an easy-to-understand exercise from our training materials that can be easily incorporated into a training session. Additional tips in the slide notes will help you with scheduling and gathering materials.
- Work in three Groups.
- Each group gets an object.
- Describe the object with a maximum of 10 metadata elements!
Note: This is the version for in-person trainings, plan 10 min for that. The participants should work in groups – make sure they bring at least one sheet of paper and a pen. Bring different small objects, that are not too different from each other. Give each group one object to describe it. Schedule more time, if participants need time to find their group and e.g. change rooms for that.
Download the modular FAIRagro training materials for free—it’s worth it!
Boße, S., Rey-Mazón, E., Sahwan, W., Singson, L. S., & Vedder, L. (2026):
Research Data Management for Agrosystem Sciences –
Modular Training Material for Reuse (1.0).
Additional training materials—for self-study and further use
Training: From Field Data to FAIR Data: How to Manage Your Agrosystem Research Data
We are providing you with all the training materials for this four-hour online introductory course on Research Data Management for agricultural scientists: a guide, presentation slides, worksheets, a collection of links to share with participants, an announcement text, and a recording of the non-interactive portions of a training session conducted by FAIRagro Data Stewards.
Legal Workshop Series: Data protection on a silver platter
A recording of the online training session featuring all relevant information and practical tips on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as it relates to agricultural research—because wherever there are people, the GDPR isn’t far behind! Part of the Legal Training Series “Don’t panic! Survival guide for Law and Ethics in Research,” organized by FAIRagro, NFDI4Biodiversity, and NFDI4Earth.
“The License to Research – Who Owns Research Data, and What Can I Do With It?” is a three-day workshop covering everything you need to know about copyright, licenses, and the public domain. An engaging mix of presentations, discussions, and hands-on exercises—come check it out and learn!
Metadata Guide Decision Tree
Use our interactive version of the metadata decision tree on GitHub to discover in a fun and engaging way why data should be documented, which types and formats make sense for data documentation in your own project, how metadata can be created—and how its quality can be ensured. All questions, the glossary, and explanations regarding our practical guide to metadata are available in the Life Sciences Repository.
How to learn and teach RDM – a collection
We have also compiled additional learning and teaching materials from other providers on how to handle research data for the agrosystems research community. These resources are intended to help you further your education in the field of Research Data Management (RDM), specifically in the agricultural sciences. Instructors are invited to use many of the compiled resources to design their own training courses on discipline-specific RDM.
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News on Training & Education
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Now available: FAIRagro training materials—create customized FDM training courses with ease
You want to offer your own training courses on Research Data Management (RDM) for agricultural researchers but aren’t sure how? We have just the thing for you: in addition to the numerous training courses we offer for the community, we now provide modular training materials as OER (Open Educational Resources). These newly published materials break…
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Data documentation and science karma (2)
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Data documentation and science karma (1)
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