NFDI4ING is introducing its Associated Partners programme, offering researchers and research groups a simple way to become more closely involved with NFDI4ING.
Until now, an official affiliation with NFDI4ING generally meant becoming a formal participant in the consortium. Under the DFG framework, however, participant status is intended for institutions with an ongoing responsibility for implementing the consortium’s work. Contributions also have to be described in the consortium proposal. This makes the status difficult to accommodate for groups that start collaborating with NFDI4ING later or whose involvement does not fit the formal participant role.
The Associated Partners programme addresses this gap. It provides a deliberately low-threshold way for researchers and engineering-related organisational units in Germany to make an existing or developing collaboration with NFDI4ING visible. At the same time, it allows NFDI4ING to better represent the broader network of groups connected to its work.
The formal benefits are intentionally limited: most NFDI4ING services and resources are freely available and do not require any affiliation. Associated Partner status is only needed in specific cases, for example when applying for limited storage capacity in Coscine or joining the NFDI4ING Community AAI. The affiliation itself, however, can be useful beyond access to services. Research funding programmes increasingly ask applicants to describe how their projects connect to the wider NFDI landscape. Associated Partner status provides a straightforward way to document such a connection to NFDI4ING.
How to become an Associated Partner
Joining is simple. Interested researchers and groups complete and sign the FAIRness Commitment and Expression of Interest (.docx) and submit it to NFDI4ING. Applicants must be based in Germany and have a connection to engineering research. The commitment is based on the NFDI4Earth FAIRness and Openness Commitment.
Once these criteria are met, applicants are welcomed as Associated Partners and listed on the NFDI4ING website.
Interested?
Find the FAIRness Commitment and Expression of Interest and further information on our dedicated Associated Partners page.
Thorsten Schwetje