The Physical Sciences Data Infrastructure (PSDI) is designed to serve a broad audience within the scientific and research communities to ensure the vital need of developing a robust framework to manage, disseminate, and analyse scientific data effectively. Equally vital to the growth of the physical sciences is the cultivation of career-ready skills among students and researchers. Expertise in data stewardship, proficiency in emerging technologies – such as artificial intelligence and advanced computational tools—and the ability to engage in interdisciplinary collaboration are essential for navigating and contributing to the evolving scientific landscape.
Whilst chemistry, chemical engineering, and materials science are our primary target research communities, the data that PSDI provides will be of value and relevance to many related fields, including life sciences, physics, energy, and environmental research. PSDI also connects with infrastructures in related fields fostering interdisciplinary collaboration.
Researchers
Scientific researchers are a crucial audience for PSDI as both creators and consumers of data. PSDI is intended to help scientists to handle data more easily by connecting and enhancing the different data infrastructures that physical scientists already use in their research. PSDI enables researchers to access and combine reference quality data from both commercial and open sources; share data, software, and models with the community. A variety of well organised and curated open data is available that can be reused for novel purposes. PSDI provides tools to make research easier, including a one-stop shop for data conversion to make it easier to adopt establish standards and analyse data using more tools. PSDI also provides a variety of learning opportunities to help grow skills across a range of topics including how to make their research more discoverable and reusable by others in the community.
Research Support Roles
There are a wide variety of research support roles in our community: data managers and data stewards, librarians and information specialists, laboratory technicians, research software engineers, and repository managers that are essential to helping researchers to make the most out of their data. The resources that PSDI provides to help researchers will also help those working in research support roles. PSDI has also specifically engaged with these roles through our data steward workshops. Research Data Forum for Librarians and Research Support Professionals, and our close relationship with the Careers and Skills for Data-driven Research (CaSDaR) network for data stewards.
Educators and Students
Educators, trainers, and mentors play a pivotal role in equipping the physical sciences community with the skills required to thrive in this technology-driven era of scientific exploration. PSDI empowers this process by providing open access to a wealth of resources including quality open data, research datasets, and computational workflows enabling real-world datasets to become invaluable educational assets. In addition, PSDI offers an extensive suite of learning materials for researchers at all career stages. From guidance topics to self-paced courses, hands-on tutorials, and in-person training sessions, these resources foster the development of essential competencies for all in essential research skills, practices for data management and publication, and emerging technologies.
Policy Makers and Funding Bodies
PSDI provides an opportunity for the scientific community to share their needs and requirements for research and data. Leaders in the physical sciences community, including policy makers and funding bodies can make use of the data and insights provided by PSDI to help guide research funding and policy decisions, establish guidelines, and provide resources to help meet the wider needs of the scientific community.
Contributors and collaborators
PSDI invites contributions from researchers, research support roles, educators, policy makes and more to help use build technologies, connections to other infrastructures, and better educational materials for the physical sciences community. If you would like to contribute a data collection, data source, service, tool, guidance material or to run an event for the community, we want to hear from you!