Join the TDCC-NES project initiative meetings 2026
The following three project ideas are being developed into full proposals. Each project team will organise an initiative meeting in the coming weeks, where the broader NES community has an opportunity to learn about the project, offer their input and potentially become new project partners.
15 Sep 2026, 9:00-10:15
online
Register to join here
Project idea description
Scientific instrumentation is fundamental to modern research, yet information regarding instrument settings and acquisition parameters is frequently incomplete, inconsistent, or unfindable. This project addresses this critical gap in the FAIR data chain by establishing pilot instances of Persistent Identifiers for instruments (PIDINST) across Dutch research organizations. By pairing PID implementation with hands-on training in open-source data acquisition software, the initiative enables researchers to automatically link instrument metadata directly to their datasets, advancing FAIR data principles, software literacy, and cross-disciplinary collaboration across the NES domain.
To deliver these outcomes, the project design is structured into four interlinked work packages covering project management, pilot implementations, framework development, and community capacity building. Technical pilots will evaluate PIDINST ecosystems across both centralized facilities with existing instrument databases and decentralized laboratories lacking central records. The insights gained will yield a reusable implementation framework and operational best practices, while a hands-on Python training course and monthly coding cafes will equip research groups to build and deploy FAIR data acquisition workflows.
Lead applicants
Richard Wessels, Utrecht University
Listed project partners
TU Delft
Leiden University
WUR
HFML-FELIX
Are you working on this topic or supporting researchers who are? Register to join the meeting to learn more about the project idea, contribute with your insight, and perhaps become a team member.
Mid-September (tbc)
Location: online
Express interest to join here. You'll be informed once the time is confirmed.
Project idea description
Across the Natural and Engineering Sciences, data systems and workflows, such as within robotics, are frequently developed in isolation across individual laboratories, leading to data fragmentation and limited reusability. This project addresses this challenge by establishing an operational, FAIR-by-design layer that seamlessly connects domain-specific research workflows with national repository infrastructures such as 4TU.ResearchData. Using the Impact-Aware Robotics Database at TU/e as a reference case, the initiative moves FAIR implementation upstream to the point of data generation, directly embedding machine-actionable metadata, systematic provenance capture, and cross-institutional expertise into daily research practices.
To deliver a scalable solution, the project design is structured across four work packages focusing on user needs gathering, open-source database upscaling, cross-disciplinary blueprinting, and community building. The team will develop a reusable domain reference architecture alongside a practical data stewardship operating model that defines clear roles and intervention points. To ensure transferability beyond robotics and combat NES fragmentation, the resulting framework will be validated in a second, non-robotics NES domain and showcased during a dedicated TDCC-NES community event to drive broader adoption.
Lead applicants
Alessandro Saccon, TU/e
Listed project partners
TU Delft
4TU.ResearchData
University of Twente
Univeristy of Groningen
TDCC-NES
Are you working on this topic or supporting researchers who are? Express interest to join the meeting to learn more about the project idea, contribute with your insight, and perhaps become a team member.
22 Sep 2026, 10:00-11:30
Location: online
Register to join here
Project idea description
Research software has become a primary output of academic work, yet institutional sustainability efforts remain disproportionately focused on research data. Consequently, developing and maintaining open-source research software relies largely on trial and error rather than established, standardized practices. Project leaders encounter significant hurdles throughout this process, including securing funding for research software engineers, gaining formal recognition for maintenance work, navigating complex software licensing, and building long-term community support.
This project addresses these barriers through two complementary, evidence-based activities designed to establish structured sustainability practices. First, knowledge-exchange workshops bring together leaders of open-source projects to analyze various operational models, identify success factors, and produce practical guidelines for early-stage initiatives to evaluate. Second, structured interviews with key stakeholders across the broader academic ecosystem—including funders, department heads, research software engineers, and legal support—examine institutional perceptions of software value and necessary support structures. Ultimately, these efforts aim to shift software sustainability from an ad-hoc effort into a community-validated practice supported by the wider research framework.
Lead applicants
Heather Andrews Mancilla, TU Delft
Listed project partners
University of Groningen
Leiden University
Netherlands eScience Center
Are you working on this topic or supporting researchers who are? Register to join the meeting to learn more about the project idea, contribute with your insight, and perhaps become a team member.
