Recap of the 33rd meeting of the FDI Committee
On the 29th and 30th of September 2025, the 33rd meeting of the FDI Committee took place at the LIfBi in Bamberg.
A key topic was the discussion on the Research Data Act (“Forschungsdatengesetz”, FDG). The committee exchanged views on the current status of the legislative process and emphasised the importance of the Act for research and policy, particularly with regard to data linking and the acquisition of new insights for evidence-based decision-making. The FDI Committee and the German Data Forum will contribute their expertise to the development of a practical law within the framework of association participation.
Dana Müller from the Research Data Centre of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) has been elected as the new co-chair of the FDI Committee. She will hold this position until the end of the current appointment period in September 2026 and will chair the FDI Committee together with the previous chair, Daniel Fuß, until then. In addition, Marie-Christine Laible from the Research Data Centre of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF-FDZ) was confirmed as a new member of the Monitoring Commission.
Another highlight was the accreditation recommendation for the German Memory Archive (ADG). The committee voted by a large majority in favour of full accreditation and praised the archive’s interdisciplinary work
The Federal Highway and Transport Research Institute (BASt) with its data on mobility and the RDC Motor Performance with its data on sports engines were also accepted as permanent guests for two years in order to strengthen exchange with other data-producing institutions.
In addition to reports from KonsortSWD and RatSWD, the agenda included innovative topics such as data findability, the use of AI in data documentation, and international solutions for data research. Particularly noteworthy were the contributions from Austria (AUSSDA) and the Netherlands (ODISSEI), which offered valuable perspectives for the further development of the German research data landscape.
The next meeting of the FDI Committee will take place virtually on 23–24 April 2026.