From 10 to 12 March 2026, the NFDI-MatWerk community met in Siegburg for the annual All-Hands-on-Deck project meeting. The event brought together contributors from across the initiative to review progress, connect activities across Task Areas, and define priorities for the next phase of work.
The program combined project updates, technical presentations, demonstrators, posters, and interactive workshop formats. A central focus was the presentation of demonstrators of our research data management solutions, which showed how they are being developed and applied in materials science and engineering. Topics ranged from teaching frameworks, reference datasets, ontology development, and sample description to interoperable workflows, automated metadata extraction, and queryable materials knowledge from legacy literature.
The demonstrator and poster marketplace provided space for direct exchange on practical solutions and ongoing developments. On the first day, the Best Demonstrator Prize was awarded to Dr. Niklas Siemer (MPI SusMat; streamlining data upload to openBIS with automatic metadata extraction), Ebrahim Nourouzi (FIZ Karlsruhe; MSE Knowledge Graph), and Yousef Rezek (Ruhr Universität Bochum; modular data schema for FAIR digital objects of microstructure-evolution and mechanical properties). Their contributions reflected the strong implementation focus of the meeting and highlighted how concrete tools and concepts are being advanced within the consortium.
The second day concentrated on strategic collaboration. Workshops addressed dissemination activities, international perspectives, architectural development, and proposal-related topics such as data quality, AI readiness, and key performance indicators. These sessions helped identify interfaces between projects, clarify shared needs, and define next steps for coordinated development.
AHoD 2026 showed once again that NFDI-MatWerk is shaped by close exchange between infrastructure development, community needs, and scientific application. The meeting in Siegburg offered a clear picture of current progress and created momentum for the MSE community work ahead.