MPG RDM Conference 2026: Research data management in the Max Planck Society

  • What and when:
    • Mon 2026-11-02 afternoon: Introduction to RDM
    • Tue 2026-11-03 morning to Thu 2026-11-05 noon: RDM conference
  • Language: English
  • Where: Max Planck Campus Potsdam-Golm
  • Format: hybrid (Potsdam-Golm, Zoom)
  • Registration: open until 2026-09-30, see below
  • Workshop Pad: https://pad.gwdg.de/s/DIihubQz2h
  • Contact: rdm [at] maxit [dot] mpg [dot] de

Description of the MPG RDM conference

Research data management has gained increasing importance within the Max Planck Society in recent years. Therefore, we are meeting for the 8th time. The MPG RDM conference will be held from 3 to 5 Nov 2026, preceded by an RDM introduction session on Monday 2 Nov 2026.

The conference will take place at the Max Planck Campus in Potsdam-Golm. Many thanks to the MPI of Colloids and Interfaces for hosting the conference, also thanks to the MPI of Molecular Plant Physiology and the Albert Einstein Institute for collaborating! Online participation will also be possible. Participation in the conference is free of charge but limited to MPG members. The target audience for the event is all MPG staff. As with the RDM workshops of recent years, a special focus will be on the research support services of the respective institutes. For the first time, the language of this event will be English.

Program – preliminary

The following program is preliminary. Several changes and further topics are possible. All times are given as CET (i.e. UTC+01).

Monday 2026-11-02 – Introduction to RDM

13:00Part 1: Digital research data/ Normative frames
Data management plans
Sort and order/ Persistent identifiers
14:45Part 2: Archiving/ Publishing/ Saving/ Securing
16:30Part 3: ELNs/ Research software/ Information privacy
MPG-internal services

Tuesday 2026-11-03 – Conference day 1

09:30Welcome
09:45Keynote I: Andreas Korpi-Lagg (MPI for Solar System Research): “Sunrise III”
10:45Break
11:00Block 1: New developments
– Katharina Adrian-Herrmann (MPI for Political and Social Science): “Dungeon Master meets Data Manager – The collaborative development of an RDM Escape Room for the MPG Libraries”
– Knut Finstermeier (Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens): “Back in the Game: RAG for Forgotten Lab Data”
– Lu Yu (MaxIT MPDL): “Towards Verifiable Research Objects: Needs, Challenges and Approaches”
12:30Lunch break
13:30Block 2: RDM based in libraries
– Steffen Hennicke (MPI for the History of Science): “A Research Data Guideline for the History of Science”
– Anna Wilkens (Bibliotheca Hertziana): “Establishing Research Data Management at the Bibliotheca Hertziana: Early Steps, Onboarding Processes, and Strategic Considerations”
– Maike Kleemeyer (MPI for Human Development): “RDM guidelines at the MPI for Human Development”
15:00Break
15:30Block 3: Policy
– NN: “Research data legislation”
– NN: “Future of the NFDI”
– Michael Franke (MaxIT MPDL): “MPG RDM document”
– Larissa Leiminger (MaxIT MPDL): “OSERT”
17:00Break
17:15Lightning talks
(including teaser for posters and marketplace)
19:00Conference dinner (self-pay basis)

Wednesday 2026-11-04 – Conference day 2

09:30Block 4: Tools
– Stephan Vollmar (MPI for Metabolism Research): “MetaWriter”
– Tomas Skripcak (MPI of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics): “From ELN to Discovery Catalog: Enabling Data Discovery Through Simplified Metadata Capture”
– Alexander Schlemmer (IndiScale): “Agentic RDM: Opportunities and Limits of AI in RDM”
11:00Break
11:15Block 5: Central services
– NN: NN
– Sven Bingert (GWDG): “FAIR Digital Objects – Where are we and what is the future scenario”
– Michael Franke (MaxIT MPDL): “PID Service”
12:30Lunch break
13:30Marketplace (only on-site)
– Larissa Leiminger (MaxIT MPDL) and Katharina Adrian-Herrmann (MPI for Political and Social Science): “Escape games”
– Alexander Schlemmer (IndiScale): “Agentic RDM: Opportunities and Limits of AI in RDM”
– Anna Wilkens (Bibliotheca Hertziana): “Connecting RDM Offerings Across the MPG”
15:00Break
15:15Guided tours (only on-site)
– The Greenhouses at MPIMP
– The Solar park at Max Planck Campus
– The State Archives
16:45Keynote II: Karin Köhl (MPI of Molecular Plant Physiology): “Data for decisions: data-based process-optimisation in the infrastructure group Plant Cultivation/transformation”
18:00Spin-off (only on-site)
– New Edmond curation process
– ELNs
– Handling genome data
– RDM Escape Room
19:00End of day 2

Thursday 2026-11-05 – Conference day 3

09:30 Block 6: What others do
– Maria Büttner (FH/Uni Potsdam): “As local as necessary, as central as possible” – Brandenburg’s State Initiative for RDM
– Daniela Mertzen (FU Berlin): “Open Data at Freie Universität Berlin: Barriers, Incentives and Support Services”
– James M Anderson (Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy – ATB): “RDM Processes at ATB”
11:00 Break
11:15Block 7: Databases
– Georgios Kaklamanos (GWDG): “Challenges and Strategies in the Migration of Legacy Research Databases”
– Paul Trilsbeek (MPI for Psycholinguistics): “A new foundation and a new experience: Modernizing The Language Archive from core to interface.”
12:30End of the conference

Registration

You can register here until 2026-09-30:

Name
Participation in:
Lunch and Dinner
Do you have any special dietary requests?
Participation in the guided tours (2026-11-04):
Photos will be taken during the conference for intern purposes and some photos will be published on social media after the participants consent.
Note on photo and video recordings: I note that photo and, if necessary, video recordings may be made during the event RDM conference. These can be used to document the event as well as for the public relations work of Max Planck Information and Technology (MaxIT) and can be published in particular on the website, in social media, in press releases or in print media. Further information on the processing of personal data and my rights can be found at: https://rdm.mpdl.mpg.de/privacy/.
I would like to receive information about RDM events and news by email and consent to the use of my contact data for this purpose. I consent to my provided contact details (in particular my name and email address) being used by Max Planck Digital Library exclusively to inform me by email about future events and offers related to RDM. I understand that providing my data is voluntary and that I can withdraw my consent at any time with immediate effect, without giving reasons, for example by sending an email to rdm [at] mpdl [dot] mpg [dot] de. After withdrawal, my data will no longer be used for this purpose.