Physical Sciences Data Infrastructure (PSDI)

SharkCat is in real hot water with Cassie from CaSDaR (Careers and Skills for Data-driven Research) Network+ for being spotted with Dr. Octopus. There's drama brewing in Dataville! Do you think SharkCat can convince Cassie of his innocence?

Contribution from Colin Bird and Jeremy Frey, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Southampton, and Agnes Jasinska, Digital Curation Centre, The University of Edinburgh The Units, Symbols, and Terminology in the Physical Sciences in and for the Digital Era (DUST) Conference 2025 took place on 13–14 March 2025 at the Royal Society of Chemistry in London. Co-organised by IUPAC, CODATA, the Physical Sciences Data Infrastructure (PSDI) project, and hosted by the Royal Society of Chemistry, the conference brought together an international cohort of scientists, data experts, philosophers, and policy makers to address a common goal: ensuring scientific terminology, units, and symbols are fit for purpose in a predominantly digital and interdisciplinary research landscape. Highlights: - Dr Vanessa Seifert (University of Bristol & Athens) explored the implications of AI on scientific progress, questioning how opacity in AI systems challenges traditional scientific virtues such as explanation, prediction, and truth. - Dr Blair Hall (Measurement Standards Laboratory of New Zealand) introduced the M-layer, a novel framework enabling unambiguous expression and transformation of measurement data by linking quantitative values to defined aspects and scales. • Dr Cerys W. (University of Southampton) presented user-experience research on improving metadata practices in electronic lab notebooks, emphasising cognitive prompting techniques to enhance data quality and reusability. • Gyorgy Gyomai (OECD - OCDE) examined the organisation of data using counting-units, proposing nuanced approaches for treating discrete quantities – such as population data – within measurement systems. • Philip Dunn (LGC Group) provided a critical overview of ongoing IUPAC projects on isotopic analysis, highlighting inconsistencies in symbols, legacy definitions, and the importance of clear guidance for data comparability. • Joseph Wright (University of East Anglia) illustrated the practical challenges of Unicode symbol representation in scientific computing, advocating for coordinated community input to encoding new concepts. • Professor Simon Coles (University of Southampton) offered a crystallographer’s perspective on FAIR data, detailing how information frameworks like CIF have supported reproducibility and transparency. • Dr Samantha Pearman-Kanza, (University of Southampton) provided a pragmatic perspective on the Semantic Web, encouraging the use of modular, standards-based ontologies for scientific data exchange.

On 12 March 2025, more than 35 participants from across the UK gathered at Loughborough University for a one-day community workshop exploring the future of polymer data. The event brought together academic and industry representatives – from early-career researchers to senior scientists – to begin shaping a national vision for accessible and useful polymer datasets. 📖 Learn more about our collaboration with Loughborough University: https://lnkd.in/g-VXqVp2

It's #IDW2025 time! And Dr. Nicola Knight, along with SharkCat met Angus the data puffin as well as the IDW Kangaroo!

🔬 Exploring the Future of Polymer Data Earlier this year we joined more than 35 researchers and industry professionals at Loughborough University for a one-day community workshop focused on shaping a national vision for accessible and useful polymer datasets. Led by Professor Anna Croft and Dr Izzy Cooley, the event explored how FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data practices can accelerate materials discovery and innovation — from modelling polymer properties to developing open workflows and data standards. 📘 Insights from the workshop will feed into a white paper outlining the next steps toward a national polymer data repository. 👉 Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/e7v-6KUR #FAIRdata #PolymerScience #MaterialsData #ResearchInfrastructure #Collaboration #PSDI #UKRI

I’m really looking forward to giving my Physical Sciences Data Infrastructure (PSDI) webinar tomorrow (there’s still time to register if you’d like to join us!) I’ll be exploring the data auditing process behind the Physical Chemistry Properties Data Collection (PChProp 🍑), including some of the surprising errors we’ve uncovered in trusted sources, and the methods we’ve developed to spot and correct them. Most importantly, I’ll be making the case that auditing is a vital part of managing data collections and something we all need to understand better. If you’re interested in data quality, reproducibility, or how we can make better use of scientific data, I’d love to see you there. 👉 https://lnkd.in/ec3Hjy_A #DataScience #ResearchData #Chemistry #Reproducibility #FAIRdata #PSDI #OpenScience

On 14th August 2025, the Physical Sciences Data Infrastructure (PSDI) hosted a webinar titled “Seekest thou the road to, all that’s digital and FAIR – the Ballad of the ELN Journey”, presented by Dr. Samantha Pearman-Kanza,. The session explores the sociotechnical challenges of implementing Electronic Lab Notebooks (ELNs) to achieve FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data in research labs. For those who missed the live session or wish to revisit the discussion, the full webinar is available on our YouTube channel: https://lnkd.in/eVyucgtx The slides are available on Zenodo: https://lnkd.in/e-rKQYfP

The DRUM (Digital Representation of Units of Measurement) session at the CODATA Research Data Alliance IDW2025 is tomorrow (11:30 am Tuesday 14th October) in Brisbane. Talk Titles Scientific discoveries in the age of AI (Vanessa A Seifert) A knowledge model for the SI brochure: the SI Reference Point (Dr. Maximilian Gruber) Quantities, Not Quantities, and Making Sure Our Data is Useful (Dr. Cerys Willoughby & Elizabth Newbold) Sharing measurement data: enabling interoperability (Blair Hall) Practical Application of the Definition and Conversion of Units in the Physical Sciences Data Infrastructure (PSDI) (Dr. Aileen Day) Thoughts on AI and Scientific Data (Dr. Samantha Pearman-Kanza & Prof. Stuart Chalk) Rolling notes and Q&A https://lnkd.in/eETtb8tU Physical Sciences Data Infrastructure (PSDI) IUPAC IUPAC Green Book Data Revival National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI)

There is still time to register for our upcoming PSDI webinar taking place this Thursday: https://lnkd.in/guXq-Jqw