FAIRmat Project Meeting and Users Meeting – June 2026

Jun 16, 2026, 12:00 PM → Jun 19, 2026, 1:45 PM Europe/Berlin

Center for the Science of Materials Berlin (CSMB)

The next FAIRmat Project Meeting and Users Meeting will take place on June 16–19, 2026. These meetings will bring together FAIRmat team members, collaborators, and the broader community.

The event spans four days:

• June 16–17 (lunch to lunch): FAIRmat Users Meeting 

This is a public event that welcomes the NOMAD user community and external participants. Attendees will learn about recent FAIRmat and NOMAD developments, share their use cases, and interact directly with our PIs and developers.

• June 17–19 (lunch to lunch): FAIRmat Project Meeting

This is an internal meeting for FAIRmat team members including PIs, coworkers, and close collaborators. The program will focus on project updates, strategic planning, collaboration opportunities, and discussions about future directions in FAIRmat II.

This registration page is only for FAIRmat team members and allows you to register for both the internal Project Meeting and the public Users Meeting. Please note that a separate registration page will be available for external participants attending the Users Meeting.

The program and schedule for the Project Meeting are still in preparation and will be shared soon. You are welcome to suggest topics for the inter-area meetings via the registration form.

Registration is open until May 24, 2026!

For non-Berlin-based attendees who register by May 17, 2026, we offer accommodation booking. Please see the Accommodation page for details.

We are looking forward to successful Project and Users Meetings with you! 

Tuesday, June 16

12:00 PM → 1:30 PM Lunch & Registration

1:30 PM → 2:00 PM FAIRmat and NOMAD: Recent Developments and Future Directions

In this overview talk, I will present recent developments across FAIRmat and the NOMAD ecosystem, highlighting the continued growth of the platform as a research data infrastructure for materials science. FAIRmat now supports a broad range of research activities, from individual projects and laboratory workflows to institutional data management and collaborative research environments.

The presentation will showcase recent advances across the ecosystem, including improvements to data management, metadata handling, workflow support, data exploration, and deployment options. Through selected examples, I will demonstrate how these developments help researchers and organizations manage research data more effectively while enabling FAIR and reproducible research practices.

The talk will conclude with an outlook on the next phase for FAIRmat and NOMAD, highlighting emerging capabilities, expanding application areas, and the growing role of FAIR research data in data-driven and AI-based scientific discovery.

Convener: Lukas Pielsticker (FAIRmat / HU Berlin)

2:00 PM → 6:30 PM Hands-on Tutorials

2:00 PM Deploying NOMAD Oasis with Kubernetes

Many existing NOMAD Oasis installations rely on Docker Compose, which has long been the recommended and most widely used deployment approach. While this setup works well for smaller environments, it can become limiting when scaling to larger workloads or more complex infrastructures.

In this workshop, I will introduce an alternative deployment strategy using Kubernetes. This approach enables more flexible scaling of computational workloads across multiple nodes, while also providing robust tools for service lifecycle management, monitoring, and resilience.

The session will include a live demonstration based on a local development setup that participants can replicate on their own laptops. Building on this, we will explore how the same deployment can be extended to a cloud environment, running across multiple virtual machines to achieve a scalable and production-ready system.

By the end of the workshop, attendees will have a practical understanding of how Kubernetes can be used to deploy and manage NOMAD Oasis in both local and cloud-based scenarios.

Speaker: Lauri Himanen

2:00 PM Getting Started with NOMAD for Materials-Science Research Data Management

In this hands-on workshop, you will learn how to efficiently search, filter, and explore data in NOMAD. We will guide you through managing, uploading, and sharing your research data, as well as steps to publish datasets with DOIs to guarantee accessibility and reusability. You will also gain practical experience using NOMAD’s ELN functionality to document your research. Please bring your laptop to participate in the interactive exercises.

Speaker: Siamak Nakhaie (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)

4:00 PM Coffee Break

4:30 PM Expert Panel: Deploying RDM Infrastructure across Research Organizations Using NOMAD Oasis (hybrid)

This session is aimed at decision-makers who are evaluating, planning, or operating Research Data Management (RDM) infrastructure. Using NOMAD Oasis as a concrete example, the discussion will focus on the strategic, organizational, and practical realities of deploying RDM platforms. It will also provide those new to NOMAD Oasis with a grounded introduction to how such systems are being adopted and operated across real institutional settings.

The panel brings together speakers with experience of RDM adoption across a range of institutional contexts, from individual research groups to cross-institutional networks and industry collaborations. Together, they will offer perspectives on how organizations approach RDM adoption under different scientific, organizational, and resource constraints.

The discussion will focus on questions that matter most in practice: how deployments are scoped and governed, what investments are required, how sustainability is maintained over time, and how institutions balance centralized coordination with distributed access and autonomy. Technical details will be addressed only where they directly inform strategic or organizational decisions.

The session will combine short flash talks, a moderated panel discussion, and open audience Q&A to encourage exchange between organizations at different stages of their RDM journey.

Speaker: Joseph Rudzinski (Humboldt University)

4:30 PM Parsing in NOMAD: From Raw Files to Structured Entries

Parsing in NOMAD is a central component of automated data ingestion, enabling the conversion of raw files into structured entries. This tutorial presents several parsing scenarios that differ in their level of automation and editability of resulting entries, and outlines recommended practices for parser design. The hands-on session will guide participants through the main stages of parser development, from schema creation to parser testing.

Participants are requested to bring a laptop with an IDE, such as Visual Studio Code, as well as Git, Python, and a GitHub account.

Speakers: Lev Ginzburg (HU Berlin), Sarthak Kapoor (FAIRmat | HU Berlin)

6:30 PM → 8:30 PM Users-Meet-Developers Exhibit & Dinner

This open forum will offer participants the opportunity to showcase their work, exchange ideas, and interact directly with NOMAD developers and FAIRmat experts. Users will present and discuss their RDM workflows with NOMAD, uploaded datasets, developed plugins, custom schemas, data analysis tools, or other related solutions.

Wednesday, June 17

9:00 AM → 12:00 PM Invited Talks: NOMAD Applications and Use Cases (hybrid)

9:00 AM Data @Big Chemistry: Deploying NOMAD Oasis as a User Platform

Big Chemistry is a national growth fund project from the Netherlands (https://bigchemistry.nl/). Big Chemistry aims to establish an autonomous “RobotLab” that combines chemical robotics, artificial intelligence and intensive data collection. We aim to bring a Big Data Driven approach to Chemistry with a focus on applications in formulation science. We thus require a robust data management infrastructure. The consortium includes 5 academic institutions located across the Netherlands and a growing number of industrial partners. NOMAD Oasis was selected as part of our data management solution to enable the sharing of operationally FAIR data which is discoverable and browsable for scientists across the consortium. We present the process of deploying multiple NOMAD Oasis instances as a data platform, and the additional requirements that industrial collaborations place on data management, including additional cyber security considerations.

Speaker: Mark Driver

9:25 AM NOMAD Oasis for Electron Microscopy

Electron microscopes come in many flavours, with instruments ranging from table-top scanning electron microscopes to 4 or more meters tall (scanning) transmission electron microscopes with hundreds of electron optical elements in them. Likewise, the type of data they produce is very diverse, ranging from spectra to diffraction patterns and images, and 3D, 4D, 5D, or higher dimensional hypercubes of data, which are stored in different proprietary formats, depending on the instrument vendor. In this presentation I will introduce the NOMAD-Oasis setup we run within the structure research and electron microscopy group at the physics department of HU Berlin. I will highlight the pynxtools-em software which allows us to convert data from different vendors to an open data standard, which NOMAD is able to display, independent of the dimensionality of the data. I will also show how the NOMAD Remote Tools Hub (NORTH) is utilized to perform complex data processing tasks of data sets being several tens of GB in size, and incorporating high-performance computing, directly on the server – including tools which can be controlled using natural language.

Speaker: Christoph T. Koch

9:50 AM Scaling NOMAD Adoption Across Research Communities

FAIRmat and NOMAD provide a powerful foundation for FAIR and AI-ready research data management. However, translating these capabilities into real research workflows often requires additional integration, infrastructure, onboarding, and workflow adaptation efforts. In this talk, we present practical experiences from Glaide Data GmbH supporting NOMAD adoption across research groups, consortia, and emerging communities beyond FAIRmat’s core domains. We discuss strategies for integrating NOMAD into existing research environments, evaluating and adapting community plugins and schemas, and accelerating adoption through practical implementation, infrastructure support, training, and onboarding. Through concrete examples, we highlight how these efforts can help extend the impact and reach of the FAIRmat ecosystem.

Speaker: Joseph Rudzinski (Humboldt University)

10:15 AM Coffee Break

10:45 AM Customizing NOMAD Oasis for Thin-film Research in Sustainable Energy Materials

Research at the Sadewasser Research Group focuses on sustainable energy materials for applications in photovoltaics and batteries. These research activities involve a broad range of deposition techniques, wet and dry laboratory processes, and advanced characterization methods, generating heterogeneous datasets that must be organized in a consistent and traceable manner.
This presentation describes the development of a custom NOMAD Oasis plugin created to support the organization of experimental activities within our group. The plugin was designed to reflect the structure of our laboratory practices and to facilitate the integration of data and metadata associated with thin-film fabrication, processing, and advanced characterization across different research lines and applications.
The talk will discuss the practical process of translating laboratory procedures and experimental relationships into NOMAD schemas and plugin components, including approaches for metadata organization, representation of experimental processes, and adaptation of the Oasis environment to the day-to-day needs of experimental research.
In addition, the presentation will explore the use of AI-assisted programming tools during the implementation of the plugin. By integrating large language model–based coding assistants into the development process, it became possible to quickly extend custom NOMAD functionality with a relatively small development effort. A short live demonstration will illustrate how AI-assisted development can support the customization of NOMAD Oasis environments for specific experimental contexts.

Speaker: Diego Alejandro Garzon

11:10 AM Automating Research Workflows with NOMAD Actions

NOMAD Actions provide a framework for executing complex or resource-intensive workflows within NOMAD. They are ideal for tasks that require special resources like GPUs, have long execution times, or need to interact with external systems, offering a more powerful alternative to standard normalizers.

Built as plugin entry points, Actions use Temporal.io to orchestrate workflows made up of reliable, self-contained steps. Temporal handles the hard distributed computing problems, such as fault tolerance, retries, and scaling, so that the plugin authors can focus on the core scientific logic. The resulting workflows can be triggered and inspected from the NOMAD GUI.

We illustrate Actions with examples from automated data processing and advanced ML workflows. These example Actions are already deployed in lab environments, supporting ML-assisted characterization, generative AI model sampling, and large-scale data transformation.

Speakers: Ahmed Ilyas, Lev Ginzburg (HU Berlin), Sarthak Kapoor (FAIRmat | HU Berlin)

11:35 AM AI-Assisted Scientific Data Extraction

Scientific progress increasingly depends on the ability to transform unstructured information into accessible, structured data. However, the rapid growth of scientific literature has made manual data extraction and curation a major bottleneck across disciplines. Recent advances in artificial intelligence offer new opportunities to automate this process and unlock knowledge at unprecedented scale.

This session will explore emerging AI-assisted approaches for scientific data extraction, focusing on multimodal workflows that convert diverse information sources into structured, machine-readable datasets. We will present recent developments in NOMAD that leverage large language models and domain-specific validation to extract scientific information from research publications, enabling the creation of continuously updated knowledge resources. In addition, we will showcase new capabilities that extend data extraction beyond traditional documents, including the use of speech and audio inputs as alternative pathways for capturing and structuring scientific knowledge.

Through examples from materials science and photovoltaics, we will discuss the opportunities, challenges, and limitations of AI-driven extraction systems, including issues of accuracy, validation, reproducibility, and integration with existing scientific infrastructures. The session aims to provide researchers with an overview of how AI can accelerate the transformation of scientific content into reusable data and support data-driven discovery in an era of rapidly expanding scientific output.

Speakers: Sherjeel Shabih, yaru wang

12:00 PM → 1:30 PM Lunch

1:30 PM → 4:30 PM Area Meetings

1:30 PM Area A & E

1:30 PM Area B

1:30 PM Area C

1:30 PM Area D

1:30 PM Area F & G

4:30 PM → 5:00 PM Coffee Break

5:00 PM → 6:00 PM Inter-area Meetings

5:00 PM Exploring the New NOMAD User Interface: Demo, Insights, and Feedback

This session will introduce participants to the redesigned NOMAD user interface, showcasing key improvements. Following a live demonstration, we will facilitate an interactive workshop to gather direct feedback from the community, ensuring the new interface meets the needs of our diverse user base. Please bring your laptop to participate.

Speaker: Berfin Güner

7:00 PM → 8:00 PM Dinner

Thursday, June 18

9:00 AM → 12:00 PM Inter-area Meetings

9:00 AM Interoperability beyond NOMAD: Data Models and Cross-platform Integration

Speaker: Lauri Himanen

9:00 AM NOMAD in Network Projects: Outreach and Integration

Network research projects, such as collaborative research centers, research training groups, research units, and clusters of excellence, present significant opportunities to scale the adoption of FAIR research data management practices and digital research infrastructures. FAIRmat has engaged with these projects, building on strong community interest. This interest includes support from 24 network projects for the FAIRmat II proposal. FAIRmat's activities range from research data management workshops, presentations, and consultations to hands-on training, tutorials, and support for NOMAD adoption and customization. In this session, we will review our experiences engaging and integrating network projects, discuss challenges and barriers to adopting NOMAD, and explore approaches to strengthen collaboration and expand FAIRmat's and NOMAD's reach across the community.

Speaker: Ahmed Mansour (FAIRmat)

10:15 AM Coffee Break

10:45 AM Data Model Harmonization for Synthesis and Experiments in FAIRmat

As FAIRmat is about to enter its second funding phase, a key challenge is the harmonization of data models across synthesis and characterization research data workflows. Historically, these areas have followed different approaches to metadata modeling, reflecting distinct requirements for flexibility, usability, and standardization. These approaches range from flexible, ELN-oriented schemas designed to support everyday research workflows to highly standardized representations focused on interoperability and long-term data reuse.

This session will discuss ongoing efforts aimed at bringing these perspectives together into a coherent framework that combines usability, extensibility, and interoperability. We will present current progress towards a more coherent data model, identify common requirements and challenges, and discuss how a shared data-modeling strategy can support FAIRmat's long-term goals.

Speakers: Hampus Näsström (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, FAIRmat), Lukas Pielsticker (FAIRmat / HU Berlin)

10:45 AM Defining the FAIRmat and NOMAD Portfolio: Services and Use Cases

Speakers: Joseph Rudzinski (Humboldt University), Ahmed Mansour (FAIRmat)

12:00 PM → 1:00 PM Lunch

1:00 PM → 2:15 PM Transitioning to FAIRmat II: Overview, Organization, and Participation

This special session is dedicated to preparing the FAIRmat community for the transition to FAIRmat II. The first part, FAIRmat II: Overview, Organization, and Participation, provides an overview of the project's vision, current status, organizational structure, communication channels, shared resources, and opportunities for participation and integration within the consortium.
Building on this foundation, the Cross-Area Collaboration Workshop will bring participants together to discuss future collaborations, identify synergies across areas, and explore joint activities that will contribute to the success of FAIRmat II.

1:00 PM FAIRmat II: Overview, Organization, and Participation

This presentation will provide an update on the current status of the FAIRmat II proposal and the planned timeline for the next funding phase. It will outline the strategic direction of FAIRmat II and present the project's vision and priorities.

Speaker: Prof. Claudia Draxl (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin)

1:15 PM Organization, Governance, and Collaboration

This presentation introduces the organizational structure and governance model of FAIRmat II, including decision-making processes, coordination mechanisms for cross-area activities, and the project-based collaboration model.

Speaker: Joseph Rudzinski (Humboldt University)

1:30 PM Information Flow, Shared Resources, and Project Visibility

This presentation introduces the communication channels, shared resources, and coordination mechanisms that support collaboration across FAIRmat. Topics include internal information flow, communication platforms, event coordination workflows, management of project outputs, available resources and templates, and the NOMAD Gallery.

Speaker: Ahmed Mansour (FAIRmat)

1:45 PM Onboarding and Integration Process

This presentation introduces the FAIRmat PI onboarding process, including its objectives, workflow, supporting resources, and approaches for integrating new PIs into FAIRmat II activities and collaborations. The session will also include a demonstration of the onboarding form and the process of completing it.

Speakers: Joseph Rudzinski (Humboldt University), Ahmed Mansour (FAIRmat)

2:15 PM → 2:45 PM Coffee Break

2:45 PM → 6:00 PM Transitioning to FAIRmat II: Cross-Area Collaboration Workshop

This special session is dedicated to preparing the FAIRmat community for the transition to FAIRmat II. The first part, FAIRmat II: Overview, Organization, and Participation, provides an overview of the project's vision, current status, organizational structure, communication channels, shared resources, and opportunities for participation and integration within the consortium.
Building on this foundation, the Cross-Area Collaboration Workshop will bring participants together to discuss future collaborations, identify synergies across areas, and explore joint activities that will contribute to the success of FAIRmat II.

2:45 PM Overview of Area D: Data Modeling and Interoperability

2:55 PM Overview of Area E: Digital Infrastructure

3:05 PM Round-table Discussions: Area D and Area E

4:15 PM Break

4:30 PM Overview to Area F: Enabling Data-driven Science

4:40 PM Overview of Area G: Outreach

4:50 PM Round-table Discussions: Area F and Area G

7:00 PM → 8:00 PM Dinner

Friday, June 19

9:00 AM → 12:15 PM Progress Reports

9:00 AM FAIRmat Areas Press Briefing: Updates and Outlook

10:15 AM Coffee Break

10:45 AM Reports from the Inter-area Meetings

11:15 AM Reports from the Cross-Area Collaboration Workshop

12:15 PM → 1:30 PM Lunch