EPFL Research Data Week 2025
Event details
| Date | 06.11.2025 › 13.11.2025 |
| Location |
EPFL campus
|
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | French, English |
From November 6 to 13, 2025, the EPFL research community is invited to take part in the EPFL Research Data Week, a unique week dedicated to the proper management, sharing, and valorization of research data for more open and sustainable science.
Target Audience
PhD students, researchers, and anyone involved in or interested in the production and management of research data at EPFL.
Why Participate?
Nov 6 | Research Data Lunch Talks “FAIR principles in the AI era”
Nov 6–12 | Research Data Challenge
Nov 13 | Research Data Workshops
Event Philosophy
Adopting a research data management strategy is not just about organizing results better: it’s about promoting more efficient and reproducible research practices, improving the quality of scientific work, and increasing its impact. By sharing and valorizing their research data, researchers contribute to a more open, collaborative, and sustainable science, whose long-term benefits extend to society.
EPFL Research Data Week 2025 is organized by the EPFL Library and the EPFL Sustainability Unit.
Register!
DETAILED PROGRAM
_________________________________
Thursday, November 6, 2025 | 12:30–14:00 | INJ 218
Research Data Lunch Talks “FAIR principles in the AI era”
Language: English
Doors open from 12:15 | free lunch bag - water not included: bring your reusable bottle to reduce environmental impact.
By Dr Manuel Cubero-Castan, Sustainable IT Project Manager, EPFL Sustainability
We argue that establishing a modular open-science platform centered on open, machine-actionable chemical data—building on existing technologies like electronic lab notebooks—would transform chemistry by making currently fragmented, often non-digital laboratory data reusable, discoverable, and integrally embedded in the research process rather than an afterthought.
Breakthroughs like AlphaFold or the rapid COVID-19 response were only possible thanks to decades of investment in curated data resources. Yet these critical infrastructures remain underfunded and overlooked. This talk will show why sustaining them is essential to realise the FAIR principles and unlock AI-driven discovery.
How to build a 8B and 70B open-data open-weights LLM, multilingual in >1000 languages.
This talk explores how empathetic conversational agents can embody fairness, empathy, and cultural inclusivity. It will also highlight how the quality, accessibility, and representativeness of datasets influence equitable AI systems, and how FAIR data principles may support culturally sensitive and transparent models, while acknowledging challenges such as protecting sensitive data and addressing gaps in dataset diversity.
November 6, 7, 10, 11, and 12, 2025 | Online
Research Data Challenge
Languages: English & French
Register to receive the link for the Research Data Challenge and access the quizzes [EPFL community only]
_________________________________
Thursday, November 13, 2025 | 12:15–13:15 | Multiple locations across campus
Research Data Workshops
Language: English
Doors open from 12:00 | free lunch bag – water not included: bring your reusable bottle to reduce environmental impact.
Discover how a modern Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) is revolutionizing the management and sharing of scientific data in chemistry. This demo highlights a seamless workflow that integrates data collection, analysis, and reuse, making your research more collaborative and productive. With an accessible interface and powerful tools, explore a world where data becomes easy to find, use, and valorize.
Prerequisite: Bring a laptop with Google Chrome installed.
Solidipes is an innovative platform designed to support scientists throughout the entire lifecycle of their research data: acquisition, curation, publication, and sharing. This intuitive web solution facilitates data visualization, guides researchers in writing essential documentation and defining metadata, while ensuring compliance with FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). In this workshop, discover how Solidipes simplifies data management, removes barriers to sharing, and boosts scientific collaboration to fully valorize your research.
Prerequisite: knowledge of the Python programming language
Join us to discover Renku, the open-source platform that enables scientific collaboration by bringing data, code, and compute together in a single accessible environment. Simplify your workflows, collaborate without technical barriers, and unlock the full potential of your projects with a flexible and powerful solution designed for researchers and educators. See how Renku is transforming collaborative research!
Prerequisite : knowledge of the Python or R programming language
Who said publishing research data takes too much time or is too complicated? This hands-on serious game will prove the opposite! In small teams (2-3 people), you will explore the challenge of publishing a dataset on Zenodo and get a taste of the peer-review process. A prize awaits the best team! But the real reward will be discovering how fast and accessible data publishing can be - and how it can boost the impact of your research.
Prerequisite: a laptop
A practical workshop to master storage location management, samples inventories, barcoding, derivations of samples and associated data.
Prerequisite: a laptop
The EPFL Research Data Week closing ceremony will take place at 13:30 in the AI Center lounge (ELE 117).
Target Audience
PhD students, researchers, and anyone involved in or interested in the production and management of research data at EPFL.
Why Participate?
- Connect with the EPFL community and domain experts.
- Discover best practices for managing your research data.
- Test your knowledge, take on challenges.
- Try to win Balélec 2026 tickets and gift baskets.
Nov 6 | Research Data Lunch Talks “FAIR principles in the AI era”
Nov 6–12 | Research Data Challenge
Nov 13 | Research Data Workshops
Event Philosophy
Adopting a research data management strategy is not just about organizing results better: it’s about promoting more efficient and reproducible research practices, improving the quality of scientific work, and increasing its impact. By sharing and valorizing their research data, researchers contribute to a more open, collaborative, and sustainable science, whose long-term benefits extend to society.
EPFL Research Data Week 2025 is organized by the EPFL Library and the EPFL Sustainability Unit.
Register!
DETAILED PROGRAM
_________________________________
Thursday, November 6, 2025 | 12:30–14:00 | INJ 218
Research Data Lunch Talks “FAIR principles in the AI era”
Language: English
Doors open from 12:15 | free lunch bag - water not included: bring your reusable bottle to reduce environmental impact.
A moment of exchange around the FAIR principles – Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable – in the age of artificial intelligence.
- Welcome and introduction
By Dr Manuel Cubero-Castan, Sustainable IT Project Manager, EPFL Sustainability
- Talk 1 | Making the collective knowledge of chemistry open and machine actionable
We argue that establishing a modular open-science platform centered on open, machine-actionable chemical data—building on existing technologies like electronic lab notebooks—would transform chemistry by making currently fragmented, often non-digital laboratory data reusable, discoverable, and integrally embedded in the research process rather than an afterthought.
- Talk 2 | The missing link in FAIR data policy: data resources
Breakthroughs like AlphaFold or the rapid COVID-19 response were only possible thanks to decades of investment in curated data resources. Yet these critical infrastructures remain underfunded and overlooked. This talk will show why sustaining them is essential to realise the FAIR principles and unlock AI-driven discovery.
- Talk 3 | Apertus: Democratizing Open and Compliant LLMs for Global Language Environments
How to build a 8B and 70B open-data open-weights LLM, multilingual in >1000 languages.
- Talk 4 | Towards Culturally Sensitive Empathetic Conversational Agents
This talk explores how empathetic conversational agents can embody fairness, empathy, and cultural inclusivity. It will also highlight how the quality, accessibility, and representativeness of datasets influence equitable AI systems, and how FAIR data principles may support culturally sensitive and transparent models, while acknowledging challenges such as protecting sensitive data and addressing gaps in dataset diversity.
- Panel for Q&A, open discussion
November 6, 7, 10, 11, and 12, 2025 | Online
Research Data Challenge
Languages: English & French
A scientific challenge for the EPFL community: each day, a video on Research Data Management will be released, accompanied by an online quiz.
Answer as many quizzes as possible to maximize your chances of winning!
Prizes: Balélec 2026 tickets and gift baskets.
Answer as many quizzes as possible to maximize your chances of winning!
Prizes: Balélec 2026 tickets and gift baskets.
- Thu 6.11 | Video 1: Discover & reuse
- Fri 7.11 | Video 2: Plan & design
- Mon 10.11 | Video 3: Use, organize & store
- Tue 11.11 | Video 4: Publication
- Wed 12.11 | Video 5: Archive & preserve
Register to receive the link for the Research Data Challenge and access the quizzes [EPFL community only]
_________________________________
Thursday, November 13, 2025 | 12:15–13:15 | Multiple locations across campus
Research Data Workshops
Language: English
Doors open from 12:00 | free lunch bag – water not included: bring your reusable bottle to reduce environmental impact.
Five hands-on workshops to deepen your skills in Research Data Management and analysis on campus.
- W1 | Discover ELNs – A Notebook for Scientific Data Management
Discover how a modern Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) is revolutionizing the management and sharing of scientific data in chemistry. This demo highlights a seamless workflow that integrates data collection, analysis, and reuse, making your research more collaborative and productive. With an accessible interface and powerful tools, explore a world where data becomes easy to find, use, and valorize.
Prerequisite: Bring a laptop with Google Chrome installed.
- W2 | Solidipes – Saving Your Data
Solidipes is an innovative platform designed to support scientists throughout the entire lifecycle of their research data: acquisition, curation, publication, and sharing. This intuitive web solution facilitates data visualization, guides researchers in writing essential documentation and defining metadata, while ensuring compliance with FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). In this workshop, discover how Solidipes simplifies data management, removes barriers to sharing, and boosts scientific collaboration to fully valorize your research.
Prerequisite: knowledge of the Python programming language
- W3 | Discover Renku for collaborative research
Join us to discover Renku, the open-source platform that enables scientific collaboration by bringing data, code, and compute together in a single accessible environment. Simplify your workflows, collaborate without technical barriers, and unlock the full potential of your projects with a flexible and powerful solution designed for researchers and educators. See how Renku is transforming collaborative research!
Prerequisite : knowledge of the Python or R programming language
- W4 - Data publication made simple
Who said publishing research data takes too much time or is too complicated? This hands-on serious game will prove the opposite! In small teams (2-3 people), you will explore the challenge of publishing a dataset on Zenodo and get a taste of the peer-review process. A prize awaits the best team! But the real reward will be discovering how fast and accessible data publishing can be - and how it can boost the impact of your research.
Prerequisite: a laptop
- W5 | Sample Management - How to optimize storage and handle associated data
A practical workshop to master storage location management, samples inventories, barcoding, derivations of samples and associated data.
Prerequisite: a laptop
The EPFL Research Data Week closing ceremony will take place at 13:30 in the AI Center lounge (ELE 117).
Links
Practical information
- Informed public
- Free
Organizer
- EPFL Library Research Data Team, EPFL Sustainability Unit