Scientific data management according to FAIR-principles:
Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable
The responsible handling of research data and the provision of this data for (re)use in accordance with the FAIR principles are becoming increasingly important in our scientific landscape. In order to raise awareness of the topic among students at an early stage, the Soil Science section of the Institute of Earth System Sciences (IESW), in cooperation with the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF / Leibniz-Zentrum für Agrarlandschaftsforschung), has been supporting students since 2024 in publishing their self-collected soil data by themselves.
The recording and classification of soil profiles are fundamentals of soil science education. During a four-day field exercise in the Fichtel Mountains, students from the Leibniz University Hannover have each year the opportunity to learn and deepen their knowledge of these important skills.
Soil mapping meets research data management – cooperation between IESW and ZALF continues
In a novel teaching project, students now have the option, in addition to traditional mapping, of making their own field data available to the general public via the ZALF's BonaRes soil profile database platform. As a by-product, this results in a (data) publication with its own DOI, which is likely to be the first for many students. The recorded data is then publicly accessible and can BonaRes soil profile database platform. As a by-product, this results in a (data) publication with its own DOI, which is likely to be the first for many students. The recorded data is then publicly accessible and can be cited.
The feedback from students and lecturers after the first two years has been positive across the board, as was the case when the teaching project was presented at this year's conference of the German Soil Science Society in Tübingen (Svoboda et al. 2025). We are delighted with this development, which has encouraged us to continue offering this service in the coming year (and probably beyond). The Soil Science team of the IESW is looking forward to seeing many more nice soil profiles and interested students in 2026!
Contact: Dr. Patrick Liebmann
- Press release ZALF: Studierende publizieren eigene Geländedaten in digitaler Profildatenbank
