Report | 23. April 2026

CRDA Workshop on Research Data Management (RDM) at the 39th Film and Media Studies Colloquium (FFK#39)

By Dr. Alexander Stark

The Film and Media Studies Colloquium (FFK) is an annual conference held at different universities in the German-speaking countries, organized independently by early-career researchers for early-career researchers. As a non-institutionalized peer event, it provides many master’s students and doctoral candidates with one of the first opportunities during their studies and at the beginning of their academic careers to publicly present their research projects and ongoing work, as well as engage in discussions with other researchers. This year, the FFK took place from March 11 to 13, 2026, at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg.

For the third consecutive year, the Cultural Research Data Academy (CRDA) contributed to the FFK by hosting a workshop on "Research Data Management for Early-Career Researchers in Film and Media Studies." The colloquium serves as an excellent opportunity for the CRDA team to encourage early-career researchers to engage with their research data in a reflective manner at an early stage of their careers. This year’s workshop, based on the introductory research data management course series by NFDI4Culture, was further enhanced in collaboration with the Fachinformationsdienst (FID) Media, adding deeper content on topics such as Open Science, publications, and licenses.

The team provided an overview of the key concepts and terminology in research data management, using the various phases of the data lifecycle as a framework, with a particular focus on data types and collections in film and media studies. During the interactive sessions and Q&A rounds, it became clear that a wide range of data types and datasets are used in media and film studies, leading participants to confront various individual challenges. The introductory workshop covered topics such as data collection, the FAIR and CARE principles, selected annotation tools, metadata and authority data, and specific aspects of publishing. It also highlighted the resources available to participants for further deepening their knowledge according to their individual needs. Additionally, the workshop focused on finding suitable repositories, adhering to guidelines for good scientific practice, and understanding legal and ethical frameworks. A key objective was to illustrate the content with practical examples, discuss feasible solutions with the participants, and point out the existing support services offered by NFDI4Culture and FID Media. As in previous years, participants were encouraged to actively engage by sharing their own projects and challenges with research data or by researching their institution’s research data policies.

Given the high demand for the workshop, it is planned to offer it again in the future as part of the FFK and to explore similar offerings for other communities within NFDI4Culture in the context of comparable events.