DataPLANT Governance

The DataPLANT consortium has developed a participatory model where members play a key role in broadening its diversity. DataPLANT planned and conducted a lean governance structure, comprising a senior management board, technical board, and scientific advisory board, covering different aspects of the community. This structure has proven efficient over a productive four years. However, adaptations were made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which occurred at the project’s start. Central project coordinator and task area coordinator roles were created after during the second year, ensuring clear direction and efficient progress across various facets of knowledge distribution, task assignment, and community feedback organization establishing an effective operational structure.

The rapid pace of technical development in the field of fundamental plant research necessitates low-barrier participation mechanisms, facilitated by modern information exchange techniques such as virtual platforms. In its daily operation, DataPLANT does not differentiate between the initial community and its significantly broadened user base. DataPLANT’s board structure is set to evolve towards an “open board policy” with broad and inclusive participation. The Steering Committee will add three elected community members, and four Focus Area Leads besides the task areas leads. The international Advisory Board will consist of international professionals external to DataPLANT, who are appointed due to their expertise in RDM. DataPLANT implements an organizational model designed for long-term, community-enabled sustainability.

For the second funding period, we are updating our internal governance structure to allow more self-enabling, contribution, participation, and more agile community interactions. To align community needs with technical expertise aggregated within task areas (TAs) and national and international RDM activities, we will establish Focus Areas (FAs) that span the task areas, facilitating the implementation of overarching objectives, namely “Education & Best Practices“, “Community Interaction“, “Engagement and Sustainability“ and “(Inter)National Integration“. By implementing an open participation and contribution model, the foundations are laid for open science and self-governance. Further, DataPLANT actively contributes to the development of the NFDI by participating in its governance, sections, working groups, and task forces, thus playing a crucial role in shaping the infrastructure.