NFDIxCS strengthens links to social and economic sciences

The German Data Forum (Rat für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsdaten / RatSWD) has been committed to improving the research data infrastructure in the social, behavioral, educational and economic sciences for 20 years. RatSWD has recently presented its work program for the 8th appointment period. The consortium of the National Research Data Infrastructure for and with Computer Science (NFDIxCS) participated in a networking event of professional associations on social and economic data. The focus was on the exchange and dialog between science and data production to improve access to high-quality and scientifically relevant data.

Daniel Krupka, Managing Director of the German Informatics Society from NFDIxCS: "Informatics, computer science and NFDIxCS have many interfaces with the social and economic sciences and their data infrastructures. From the perspective of the German Informatics Society, our departments of Information Systems, Computer Science and Society, Computer Science Education and Artificial Intelligence in particular have many interfaces with the social and economic sciences. And from the perspective of research data management in computer science, we can also benefit from each other in many areas - be it in questions of data trusteeships, data quality or training in the handling of research data. This is why the exchange with other specialist societies is of essential importance to us, and this applies in particular to social and economic data. As German Inforamtics Society and NFDIxCS we will be involved in various working groups of the RatSWD, for example on data trusteeships or the scientific utilization of company data."

RatSWD has been advising the Federal Government and the governments of the federal states on issues relating to the research data infrastructure for the empirical social, behavioral and economic sciences since 2004. Ten elected representatives of the social, behavioral and economic sciences work together with ten representatives of data production in the German Data Forum (RatSWD). The RatSWD is part of the Consortium for the Social, Behavioral, Educational and Economic Sciences (KonsortSWD) in the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI). It sees itself as an institutionalized forum for dialogue between science and data producers and develops recommendations and statements. It is committed to an infrastructure that provides science with broad, flexible and secure access to data. This data is provided by government, science-based and private sector actors. The German Data Forum (RatSWD) has currently accredited 41 research data centers and promotes their cooperation.

Further information on the German Data Forum: https://www.konsortswd.de/en/about/ratswd/.