A total of ten NFDI consortia from the earth, chemical and life sciences have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to support a network called the “Geo-Chem-Life Science Helpdesk Cluster”.
The helpdesks of the NFDI consortia play an important role in the initial contact between the communities from different scientific fields and the respective consortium. However, due to the wide range of disciplines and overlapping subject areas, it is not always possible for a single helpdesk to answer a query satisfactorily.
To remedy this situation, the following consortia from the earth, chemical and life sciences – in addition to FAIRagro – have founded the “Geo-Chem-Life Science Helpdesk Cluster”: DataPLANT, NFDI4Chem, NFDI4Earth, GHGA, NFDI4Health, NFDI4Biodiversity, NFDI4Immuno, NFDI4BioImage, NFDI4Microbiota. In the future, it should enable the exchange of sector-specific knowledge and expertise, improve overall problem-solving capacities and promote a collaborative environment that goes beyond the boundaries of the individual consortia.
Marcus Schmidt, coordinator of the FAIRagro Helpdesk, is delighted: “Similar to neurons in a brain, we can exchange and forward queries quickly and efficiently in the network. This means that users always get the most suitable answer for them and the individual helpdesks broaden their horizons at the same time.”