2026-10-28 –, LUMC05
Modern science uses a wide variety of instrumentation as a core part of the research cycle. globally, and persistently identifying instruments has significant benefits for research, such as reusability, interoperability and transparency of scientific outputs, and have also many use cases in operational, funding, and administrative aspects of research processes. This workshop concentrates on discussing technical aspects of how to persistently identify instruments and on the societal and administrative aspects of practically implementing instrument identification in research organisations.
The workshop builds on the outputs of the Persistent Identification of Instruments Working Group in the Research Data Alliance, including the development and ongoing maintenance of the PIDINST metadata schema, and the outputs and plans of the TDCC-NES FAIR4instruments workshop on the practical implementation of instrument identification in the Netherlands.
Introduction
Short introduction on instrument PIDs and their benefits.
Part One: : Overview of the PIDINST metadata schema and the ongoing work
The RDA PIDINST Working Group in developing the maintaining the schema; Introduction to the WG; Overview of the PIDINST Schema and plans for development
Part Two: Adoption of instrument identification in practice in Research Performing Organisations
Overview of infrastructures that support adoption and use of PIDINST
Infrastructures that enable implementation and adoption of the PIDINST schema, Examples of applications of PIDINST in practice – including perceived benefits and issues encountered. Dutch Instrument identification white paper which was prepared following the FAIR4Instruments Workshop that took place in Utrecht in February, 2026, including community view on the stakeholder-specific benefits and requirements for successful instrument identification.
Part Three: Structured discussion groups (example discussion points)
Technical implementation and development of instrument identification (esp. PIDINST)
How did you learn about pidinst?
Are you interested in adopting and if so what is your use case? What workflows
Do you want PIDINST to support?
How do you see PIDINST fitting into the broader PID universe?
Societal and organisational implementation
Are the Dutch experiences and recommendations applicable in your case?
What strategies are best to implement organisation-wide identification of instruments? Who to talk with and how to engage them?
What are the main benefits of instrument identification for different stakeholders? Its impacts on reproducibility and interoperability of data, organisational benefits, economic use of instruments, etc.
Part Four: Feedback and conclusion of the workshop groups
I am CEO of Research Space, which provides RSpace, a research orchestration platform that includes an electronic lab notebook and a sample management system. I participate actively in RDM and PID community activities, e.g. as Co-Chair of the RDA Working with PIDS in Tools IG, the Research Data Architectures in Institutions IG, and the MaLDReTH Map of Tools used in the Research Lifecycle, and through active participation in the PIDS for Instruments IG and the GORC WG. I have also been active in fostering interoperability between research tools, via engagement with the 20+ tools with which RSpace integrates, and projects such as in the US NSF Vertical Interoperability Conference award, and currently as Director of the NIH Vertical Interoperability Idea Lab. I also am a member of DataCite and Dryad advisory boards.
Interoperability expert now in the Netherlands, previously an environmental physicist with a long career in research infrastructure management and data projects.
Rolf Krahl is responsible for scientific data management at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB). HZB operates large scientific facilities, such as the BESSY II synchrotron light source and users from all over the world come to Berlin to use these facilities for their research. Rolf's task is to setup and manage a data repository for the preservation and long term archival of the scientific data collected at HZB's instruments. He has a background in mathematics. Before joining HZB, he has been developing software for scientific computing, mainly in the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics.