Mission Statement
Profile – Who we are
NFDI4Biodiversity is a consortium under the umbrella of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) dedicated to the mobilising biodiversity and environmental data for collective use.
The partners pool their scientific and technical expertise to provide a broad service portfolio for handling biodiversity and environmental data and to develop it further in close cooperation with users from research and practice. The consortium consists of 50 scientific institutions, museums, natural history societies, state offices, and other institutes and expert groups.
The cooperation of the partner network is guided by the knowledge that stakeholders in science, politics, nature conservation and landscape management need reliable data to be able to develop better contributions to the conservation of biodiversity.
To this end, the consortium partners offer added value to the professional community, specifically:
- Access to modern technologies and a comprehensive stock of biodiversity and environmental data
- Methods and tools for archiving, publishing, searching and analyzing data that are suitable for everyday use and have been tried and tested in practice
- An expert forum for the safe and competent handling of data for broad and responsible use
Values – What we stand for
Trust
The consortium partners treat the data and information to which they have access with respect and responsibility. The participants are committed to the rules of good scientific practice.
Transparency
We make existing data discoverable and reusable in accordance with the internationally recognized FAIR principles. It is important to us to preserve information on provenance so the origin can be traced back and referenced properly.
User orientation
We develop our services based on real-life application scenarios. We learn from and cooperate with the professional community in order to be able to provide applications and training offers that meet the needs of our users.
Quality
Our roots are in science and research. We use testing and documentation procedures to ensure the high quality of our offerings and apply recognized standards wherever possible.
Goals – What we want to achieve
In NFDI4Biodiversity, the partner organizations are bringing together previously disconnected infrastructure projects and harmonize workflows. In this way, additional data resources and tools are mobilized for collaborative use.
Our service portfolio becomes a natural part of the work processes of the consortium partners and many other institutions. We contribute to good scientific practice by offering user consulting, teaching and training materials.
Our consortium partners form a strong network that can operate services collaboratively and sustainably and preserve resources over the long term.
Self-conception – How we work
On behalf of data creators, the service providers in our network ensure that the data to which we gain access is easy to find, accessible, reusable, and interconnectable. As a result, data we curate is more visible. We treat concerns of our users confidentially.
We work to make diverse, high-quality biodiversity data available –whether it comes from research, government agencies, professional societies, or citizen scientists. We provide support in quality assurance and remove uncertainty for those involved by assisting them with questions about the legally secure handling of data.
We create the technical conditions and the infrastructure for the community to work with data collaboratively and across institutional boundaries on a service platform provided by us. We want our partner network's services to make daily work easier, help answer questions about biodiversity, inspire new projects, and be fun to use. We are trusted data experts and meet our users where they are – regardless of whether they already have data management skills or not.