NFDI4Chem has been created as a consortium within the NFDI e.V. and has confirmed its spokespersons at its first general meeting.
The “Nationale Forschungsdateninfrastruktur eingetragener Verein” (NFDI e.V.; e.V. is a type of German legal entity) was founded on 12 October 2020. It gives the NFDI the legal framework it needs to operate independently. Founding members of the “Verein” are the German Federation and all its 16 states. Every organisation that is part of a funded NFDI consortium or any legal entity that is expected to make a substantial contribution to realise the cause of the NFDI e.V. can apply to become a member (Kurzinfo NFDI e.V).
The way the NFDI Verein operates is laid out in its “Satzung” (constitution), which you can find here: NFDI Satzung. To capture the landscape of the funded NFDI consortia (consortia “gemäß BLV”), mirror images of all funded consortia are created within the NFDI e.V. as the so-called consortia “gemäß Satzung”. The composition of these consortia is supposed to reflect the funded ones, but it does not have to be identical. Importantly, only organisations that have joined the NFDI e.V. as members can be represented within them.
NFDI4Chem “gemäß Satzung” was one of the first consortia to be created in the NFDI e.V. All but three partners of the consortium “gemäß BLV” have joined the NFDI e.V. at the time of writing this article. Due to legal reasons, the spokespersons for the consortium “gemäß Satzung” had to be independently elected. This election took place on 25 June 2021 in a virtual meeting via Zoom. Christoph Steinbeck and Oliver Koepler stood for the position of spokesperson and deputy spokesperson, respectively. The election was uncontested. They were unanimously elected for the role (one eligible partner did not attend the meeting, accounting for one abstention).
The NFDI e.V. is still in its building phase. Slowly but steadily the internal structures are being established and the various organs that are overlooking and advising its work are coming together. For example, in the coming months the first general meeting of all members will take place. Their first task is to elect the three scientific members of the “Kuratorium” (board of trustees), which were nominated by the member organisations.