The first Data Store Days held April 9–11, 2025, at BAM, represented an important step toward a more open and collaborative Research Data Management (RDM) culture in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE). Co-organized by BAM and the NFDI-MatWerk consortium, the event welcomed over 80 on-site participants and 120 online attendees, including researchers, developers, and data stewards.

At the center of the program was the BAM Data Store, a platform based on openBIS that streamlines data management, improves traceability, and supports FAIR principles. Through presentations, roundtable discussions, tutorials, and hands-on hackathon sessions, participants exchanged experiences and tackled practical challenges such as metadata modeling, onboarding strategies, and tool development.

Highlights included early prototypes like a metadata uploader and a natural language query tool, as well as the launch of a cross-domain task force to align metadata standards. Discussions also stressed the value of user feedback, community-driven development, and collaboration across disciplines.

The BAM Data Store is currently being rolled out across 22 divisions, involving over 300 employees who manage research data. The Data Store Days marked the starting point for dedicated working groups tasked with defining data models and metadata schemata, laying the foundation for standardized and FAIR-compliant data practices.

By combining technical progress with active engagement from its community, Data Store Days strengthened BAM’s approach to RDM and supported NFDI-MatWerk’s broader goal of building interoperable data infrastructures for the MSE field.

The recordings of the Data Store Success Stories presentations are available on the BAM Akademie website.