We made it! Today, the Joint Science Conference (GWK) announced its final funding decision about the National Research Data Infrastructure Program: FAIRmat is being funded as an NFDI consortium! A total of 10 consortia were chosen this year. You can read the official press release here: https://www.gwk-bonn.de/presseaktuelles/pressemitteilungen.

This success would not have been possible without your motivation and commitment, and we would like to thank all of you very much for that! It is great to know that a large community is behind the FAIRmat idea.

We are now looking forward to getting down to work with full vigour. As a first important step, we are now in the process of expanding the FAIRmat team with experts from different fields. Please, forward these job advertisements to potential candidates and colleagues: https://nomad-lab.eu/career/nomad-hub.

Let's build up a FAIR data infrastructure together!

NOMAD PI Kristian Sommer Thygesen appointed as Villum Investigator

The Danish VILLUM Foundation has appointed NOMAD PI Kristian Sommer Thygesen as Villum Investigator with a grant of 30 Mio DDK (4 Mio Euro) for the project “Data-Driven Discovery of Functionalized 2D Materials”.

A tailored AI Approach for Heterogeneous Catalysis

NOMAD CoE researchers Lucas Foppa, Luca M. Ghiringhelli, Matthias Scheffler and other colleagues have developed a customized artificial intelligence approach for modeling of heterogeneous catalysis. This method takes into account the key physicochemical parameters that are correlated with catalytic performance to accelerate the discovery of improved or novel materials. The study was published in the prestigious high-ranking journal MRS Bulletin in November 2021.

Last week, FAIRmat participated in the MADICES 2025 workshop, an event that brought together leading initiatives in materials data infrastructure and computational science. The meeting served as a vibrant forum for discussing how different projects across Europe can collaborate to make research data more interoperable, reusable, and aligned with FAIR principles.

Representing FAIRmat, Dr. Joseph Rudzinski co-organized the event and gave an overview of interoperability features within the NOMAD platform, highlighting ongoing developments that connect experimental and computational workflows through flexible routes to FAIR data provenance storage.

In the workshop’s breakout sessions, participants explored practical strategies for bridging diverse electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs) and research data management (RDM) systems. The discussions led to two new NOMAD plugin prototypes demonstrating how data from different sources can be integrated via common exchange formats – an important step toward transparent, reproducible research across scientific communities.

Beyond the technical progress, MADICES 2025 reinforced the shared vision that collaboration between infrastructures is essential for building a connected and sustainable research data ecosystem. The workshop concluded with a roadmap for continued cooperation between the participating consortia, ensuring that tools like NOMAD remain at the forefront of open, interoperable data management.

Last week, the FAIRmat community gathered for the seventh semi-annual Users Meeting – a key event for scientists and data stewards in physics, chemistry, and materials science who are committed to advancing research data management (RDM) and accelerating scientific discovery.

The morning session featured presentations by NOMAD users and collaborators, demonstrating the versatility of NOMAD and its ability to adapt to diverse research needs. Recordings of the talks will soon be available on our YouTube channel:

• NOMAD Data Management Workflow for Multidimensional Time-Resolved Photoemission Data – Laurenz Rettig (Fritz Haber Institute)
• NOMAD Oasis for the Solid-State NMR Community – Sathya Sai Seetharaman (Science and Technology Facilities Council, UK)
• FAIR Data Management for Fabrication Processes. A Plugin as Implemented at CNR-IFN@TN – Matteo Bontorno (SISSA)
• Extending NOMAD with Plugin and Metadata Support for EPR, NMR, and EFG – Cecilia Zagni (eXact lab s.r.l.)
• Seamless Data to Discovery: Digitalizing Electrocatalysis with NOMAD – Carla Terbove (HZB) and Marcel Risch (HZB)

In the afternoon, two hands-on workshops introduced participants to getting started with NOMAD, structuring data, and using NOMAD in different roles. Topics covered everything from basic GUI functions to plugin development and NOMAD Oasis administration.

The event concluded with the Users-Meet-Developers exhibit, where participants showcased their RDM workflows, plugins, custom schemas, data analysis tools, and other tailored solutions. The session created a dynamic space for exchange, collaboration, and inspiration.

We look forward to welcoming you to the next Users Meeting in summer 2026 – and stay tuned for more exciting events to come!

The recordings of the talks from the Seventh FAIRmat Users Meeting, held on November 20, 2025, are now available online. The full playlist features the following contributions:

• FAIRmat and NOMAD: Recent Updates and Emerging Use Cases – José A. Márquez
• NOMAD Data Management Workflow for Multidimensional Time-Resolved Photoemission Data – Laurenz Rettig
• NOMAD Oasis for the Solid-State NMR Community – Sathya Sai Seetharaman
• FAIR Data Management for Fabrication Processes. A Plugin as Implemented at CNR-IFN@TN – Matteo Bontorno
• Extending NOMAD with Plugin and Metadata Support for EPR, NMR, and EFG – Cecilia Zagni
• Seamless Data to Discovery: Digitalizing Electrocatalysis with NOMAD – Carla Terbove and Marcel Risch

Subscribe to the FAIRmat and NOMAD YouTube channel to stay informed about newly published recordings.