One of the greatest challenges of our time is the rapidly progressing loss of biodiversity. Despite national and international efforts, measures taken to date have been largely ineffective against this. Politicians have recognized the urgency of this threat, which is also existential for us humans, and have launched the Research Initiative for the Conservation of Biodiversity (FEdA). The aim of the initiative is to create the scientific basis for initiating a trend reversal in the loss of biodiversity with concrete and comprehensive solutions. 

Therefore, FEdA aims to

• develop and use innovative technologies and methods to map and assess biodiversity more efficiently than before
• deepen our understanding of the causes, dynamics and consequences of changes in biodiversity, and
• develop solutions and measures for the protection of biodiversity in dialogue with users.

The projects funded in the initiative link social, ecological and economic perspectives. They close knowledge gaps and develop a "toolbox" of concrete measures to counteract the loss of biodiversity – in dialog with politics and administration, business and society.

FEdA is part of the framework program "Research for Sustainability" (FONA) of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). In the course of several thematic rounds of calls for proposals, several dozen projects will be funded nationwide over the next few years. 

Comprehensive research data on changes in biodiversity and the effectiveness of various measures are being generated in the FEdA projects now and in the coming years. These data sets are to be made accessible for further scientific analyses and made findable in a central portal on the initiative's website. To this end, the data must be archived and made accessible in a professional manner. To achieve this, the FEdA and NFDI4Biodiversity are working closely together.

Contents of the cooperation concern

• the transfer of knowledge on the subject of research data management
• advising and supporting the funded projects ("FEdA projects") in the preparation of data management plans
• supporting FEdA projects in archiving research data in suitable data centers, including the necessary links to each other and to the project ("distributed archiving")
• the development of a process for the delivery of metadata from the NFDI4Biodiversity consortium data centers to the FEdA coordinating body for use in the planned portal.

The implementation of these goals is set out in a memorandum of understanding signed by the two cooperation partners in August 2022.

The collaboration is organized using the established helpdesk processes of the NFDI4Biodiversity consortium partner GFBio e.V.  The FEdA Coordination Office, based at the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt, organizes initial information for projects and acts as a central point of contact for researchers. Due to the special nature of socio-ecological research, experts from Qualiservice and GESIS from the NFDI consortium KonsortSWD are also involved. As such, the collaboration is also a pilot project for future cross-disciplinary data management consulting in the NFDI.

The cooperation with NFDI4Biodiversity on the site of FEdA.

You have questions about our cooperation?
Contact us via the contact form.

For the first European conference of the BMBF Research Initiative for the Conservation of Biodiversity (FEdA) Biodiversity and Human Well-Being – Europe’s Role in Shaping Our Future from November 9th - 11th, 2022, a poster has been created explaining the collaborative research data management support for FEdA projects.

See full poster here [Zenodo].