Lab notebook

About us

zedif helps research to excell in the digital world.
Lab notebook
Image: Science in HD on Unsplash
  • zedif logo
    Graphic: Frank Löffler
    zedif zedif is short for “Kompetenzzentrum Digitale Forschung” in German, which in turn is “Competence Center Digital Research” in English.

    zedifs main target group is researchers; primarily at the university of Jena, but generally also within the region of Jena.
  • History
    • 2015: founding of Michael Stifel Center Jena (MSCJExternal link) together with the RDM Helpdesk (link to web archiveExternal link)
    • 2018: founding of the Thuringian Competence Network Research Data Management (TKFDMExternal link) with coordination by the RDM Helpdesk
    • 2019: Initial plans for
      • service concerning “data literacy”, aimed at students and
      • service for digital research, aimed at researchers
    • 2020/21: 5-year “initiation projects” for both
      • DaLiJe (Data Literacy Jena) and
      • zedif (now combining RDM and RSE services)
    • 2024: move from the Michael Stifel Center Jena to the Vice-Presidents Office for Research and Innovation

  • Localisation

    zedif is part of the Vice-Presidents Office for Research and Innovation. As such, zedif is a research-driven unit within the university without direct affiliation to any specific department. However, the focus of researchers at zedif is, unlike researchers at departments, not on any specific, single, nor usually zedif-related topic. Instead, the researchers at zedif, besides offering training and consulting to other researchers, temporarily join research groups and collaborate on their research, offering their expertise and support and doing that enable, advance and accelerate the group's research.