The Infrastructure Services Task Area (TA4) invited to a retreat at the Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) in Gatersleben from 6.11. to 7.11.2023. The retreat format was tailored with a focus on building a team with plenty of space for social activities and discussions. To this end, 18 FAIR research data enthusiasts left their desks and labs and set off for the Harz region. This face-to-face meeting under the motto “Many things are possible, nothing is a must” was loosely supported by an agenda of impulse lectures on technologies and model solutions in order to openly discuss current challenges in concrete technical details as well as the consolidation of concepts.
Face-to-face feedback was supported by the presence of TA leaders or deputies from all other task areas and guests from the neighboring consortia DataPLANT and NFDI4Biodiversity.
With plenty of room for personal or group discussions, the experts were able to debate needs in technical detail. Since socializing was also important, personal networking was strengthened during a guided tour of the World Heritage town of Quedlinburg, a dinner in a brewery and a scientific tour of the IPK’s high-throughput phenotyping facilities.
In the end, more concrete concepts, plans for mock-based demonstrators and follow-up events were drawn up to implement the middleware, the central portal and the SciWin workflow environment according to the requirements of the FAIRAgro use cases, TA overarching project infrastructure and NFDI.
