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This is the official website of the Rhine-Ruhr Center for Scientific Data Literacy (DKZ.2R). We are one of the eleven Data Literacy Centers in Germany, that were founded in 2023. Our goal is to reduce data-related hurdles in research, train and support researchers in methodological data literacy in a hollistic way, and promote data-competent scientists.

Upcoming Events

Recent News

Data Challenge Data Structuring - Cheat Sheet!

We had a great time hosting our very first Data Challenge on the topics of Metadata and data structuring on November 7th at the University of Cologne!
November 11, 2025

New Courses and Events by the DKZ.2R

We’ve prepared several new courses and events to help you improve your data literacy skills through the Rhine-Ruhr Center for Scientific Data Literacy.
October 15, 2025

New on the DKZ.2R blog - HowTo Data Sharing!

Were you ever frustrated because you wanted to share your research data with colleagues but did not trust private cloud services and also did not know what else to use?
October 15, 2025

New on the DKZ.2R blog!

Our DKZ.2R Consultant Christian Hillen from University of Cologne shares “Do’s and Don’ts in Research Data Management” — a practical guide to what really works (and what to avoid) when organizing, storing, and reusing research data.
September 25, 2025

DKZ.2R @ Tag der Neugier

DKZ.2R beim „Tag der Neugier“ 2025 in Jülich Am 7. September 2025 öffnete das Forschungszentrum Jülich wieder seine Türen zum „Tag der Neugier“ und lud die Öffentlichkeit auf den Campus in Jülich ein.
August 7, 2025

DKZ.2R hosts Data Café in Aachen and joins IAS Junior Retreat in Jülich

On June 24, 2025, the DKZ.2R welcomed researchers to its Data Café at the RWTH Aachen University Library.
July 9, 2025

Workshop by DKZ.2R - LaTeX for Academic Publishing

On May 5th - 6th, we gave our workshop “An introduction to using LaTeX for academic publishing” for the first time. It covered the basics such as Introduction to LaTeX and Overleaf, structuring files and documents, as well as using tables, graphics, and error handling.
June 5, 2025

1st Data Café By DKZ.2R!

First Data Café by DKZ.2R in Cologne: Empowering Researchers with Data Competence

On April 16, 2025, the Rhine-Ruhr Center for Scientific Data Literacy (DKZ.2R) hosted its very first Data Café at the Mensa Zülpicher Straße in Cologne. This event marked a significant milestone in our mission to support researchers across various disciplines in enhancing their data competencies.

April 23, 2025

DKZ.2R @ E-Science Tage & Data-Science-Community Meeting Bochum

The Rhine-Ruhr Center for Scientific Data Literacy (DKZ.2R) showcased its initiatives at two prominent conferences/community meetings in early 2025, highlighting its commitment to advancing data literacy in research.​
April 22, 2025

DKZ.2R collaborations - Project funding "SchwarmMessRad"

We are thrilled to announce that the research proposal ‘SchwarmMessRad’ has officially been approved for funding. The project, coordinated by Dr.-Ing Nils Lichtenberg, aims to explore innovative approaches to distributed data collection using sensor-equipped bicycles — a concept that aligns closely with DKZ.2R’s mission to foster cutting-edge, data-driven research.
April 22, 2025

DKZ.2R@ NFDI Podcast - For a FAIR Data Future

The DKZ.2R is pleased to announce the release of episodes 6 through 8 of the NFDI podcast series For a FAIR Data Future.
April 14, 2025

Data Café Cologne - By DKZ.2R!

We are happy to announce our very first Data Café which will take place on April 16th at the Mensa Zülpicher Straße in Cologne.
April 10, 2025

Data Competence College by DKZ.2R - Schedule of Events

We are excited to welcome all of our participants to the DKZ.
March 26, 2025

Data Competence College by DKZ.2R - Registration open now!

We are very happy to announce the first DKZ.2R Data Competence College which will be hosted from March 26th to 28th at the IT center of RWTH Aachen.
January 21, 2025

Launch of (the proposal for) the RDM StackExchange

We are passionate about Research Data Mangament (RDM) and know how overwhelming and difficult it can be to get the right information, especially if you have a specific question or problem.
January 20, 2025

DKZ.2R@ Digital Competencies in Research

When it comes to research, digital competencies are constantly becoming more important.
December 11, 2024

DKZ.2R@ Berlin Science Week

During the first week of November the city of Berlin transformed itself into a vibrant science festival full of ideas and debates connecing science, culture, and arts.
November 28, 2024

Satellite Event @FZJ for Research Data Day 2024

After a successful satellite event last year, hosted by our partner RWTH Aachen University, this year it was Forschungszentrum Jülich’s turn: Research Data Day takes place every year on the second Tuesday in November.
October 22, 2024

DKZ.2R@ Tag der Forschungsdaten NRW

For this year’s Research Data Day (Tag der Forschungsdaten) NRW, on the 12th of November 2024, Forschungszentrum Jülich and the RWTH Aachen University teamed up again to host an on-site event, this time in Jülich, which will be co-organised by DKZ.
October 17, 2024

DKZ.2R@ Data-Science-Community Workshop INFORMATIK

On the 26th of September the DKZ.2R took part in the “Data-Science-Community Workshop” at the INFORMATIK festival at Hochschule Rhein-Main in Wiesbaden.
October 14, 2024

DKZ.2R@ Statusveranstaltung der Datenkompetenzzentren in Deutschland

September was full of events for the DKZ.2R. Among other things we visited the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research in Berlin for a two-day workshop from September 19th to September 20th.
October 14, 2024

DKZ.2R@ Berlin Science Week

From the first of November the Berlin Science week is happening, transforming the city into a vibrant festival full of ideas and debates connecting science, culture and arts for a duration of ten days.
October 8, 2024

DKZ.2R@ NFDI4Objects Community meeting

From the 25th to 27th of September 2024, the Leibnitz Centre for Archaeology (LEIZA) & Mainz University of Applied Sciences are hosting the second NFDI4Objects Community meeting.
August 28, 2024

The Carpentries Workshop by DKZ.2R - Python basics and plotting

As part of our “Trainings” work package, the DKZ.2R plans to curate and provide a variety of trainings, seminars and courses.
August 22, 2024

DKZ.2R@ Data-Science-Community Workshop INFORMATIK

For the 54th time the “Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft der Informatik” is celebrating the INFORMATIK festival, an event dedicated to networking and the exchange of information and skills between people working in computer science.
August 19, 2024

DKZ.2R@ Themenwoche Digitale Kompetenzen in der Wissenschaft

DKZ.2R teamed up with another data literacy center QUADRIGA, NFDIxCS, and NFDI4DS, to host a workshop on the topic of “Research Data and Research Software Competencies from the Perspective of Computer and Data Science” at the [Themenwoche Digitale Kompetenzen in der Wissenschaft of the Volkswagenstiftung].
August 19, 2024

DKZ.2R@ Data Stewardship goes Germany

On the 11th and 12th of September the RWTH Aachen is hosting the third “Data Stewardship goes Germany” event.
August 15, 2024

DKZ.2R@ Statusveranstaltung der Datenkompetenzzentren in Deutschland

From September 19th to 20th the BMBF is inviting representatives of all eleven Data Literacy Centers in Germany to come together in Berlin and discuss the progress and the difficulties of the projects.
August 15, 2024

Call for participation!

We launched our first call for participation for our Rent-an-Expert System!
June 24, 2024

FDM-Werkstatt

From March 18-20. the RWTH-Aachen hosted the FDM-Werkstatt: the first of many DKZ.
February 22, 2024
Press Release DKZ.2R

Press Release DKZ.2R

The RWTH-Aachen was the first institution to post the official press-release for the start of the DKZ.
February 22, 2024
I had the great opportunity to attend several workshops organized by DKZ2R, covering topics such as Data Science, Data Visualization, and Machine Learning. Each session was exceptionally well-designed, combining theoretical background with practical, hands-on exercises that deepened my understanding of the subject matter. The instructors were not only highly knowledgeable but also very engaging, creating a supportive and interactive learning environment. The content was up-to-date and tailored to both beginners and more advanced participants, making complex topics accessible and relevant. These workshops have significantly contributed to my research work and technical skill set. I truly appreciate the professional organization and the valuable resources DKZ2R offers, and I would highly recommend their programs to anyone interested in deepening their knowledge in modern data-driven disciplines.

Workshop Participant - Introduction to Machine Learning

We contacted the DKZ.2R to learn more about latest research data management tools and respective background knowledge in order to coordinate such efforts in our chair, that is collected heaps of data from experimental studies. The support and workshop we received was an excellent kick-start for our internal discussions and helped shaping our data management practiced tremendously. Beside all questions we had being answered, we received additional information and tools surrounding these topics.

Team Chair of Healthy Living Spaces and HLS lab

I attended a Carpentries Python workshop at RWTH Aachen and was pleasantly surprised. I attended different workshops in academics before but this was one was one of the best. I liked it because there was a clear structure in a very friendly and relaxed atmosphere. Instructors managed to adhere to the given time frames but still provided a very comfortable learning experience. It was a very balanced program frequently switching between theory and practice. The theory was kept concise and easily digestible while practice sessions provided the learner with concrete tasks or riddles to actively put the knowledge into practice and interact with the instructors. Another thing I really liked was that the learning material was made very accessible online and thus made it easy to follow the course. In addition to that the instructors used innovative forms of presenting the learning material. Overall I really appreciated this workshop and highly recommend attending it, even if you already have prior knowledge.

Thuc Anh Nguyen

I wanted to take a moment to sincerely thank you for Carpentries Python Workshop . It was, by far, the most enjoyable and educational Python workshop I have ever attended as a beginner in the field. The content was perfectly tailored for someone starting out, and I now feel more confident in my ability to work with Python. Additionally, the way the entire team responded to our questions was excellent. I was particularly impressed with how they made even the most difficult exercises feel manageable and understandable. I would highly recommend this workshop because it is an ideal starting point for beginners to build a strong foundation in Python.

Majda El Hassani

PhD student in the University Hospital of Aachen

As linguistics and teacher educators, we had theoretical ideas for what we wanted to explore in our research project, but no idea how to begin to put it into practice with python and natural language tools. The DKZ consulting was exactly what we needed. They provided expert advice and guidance at strategic points throughout our data organization and analysis. They brought a wide range of knowledge and expertise to our discussions and we would recommend them for any researcher who wants to learn about tools and methods for their project!

Dr. Anne-Coleman Webre

RWTH Aachen, Department of English Studies

I contacted the DKZ.2R for help with my dissertation project about multiple things from basic knowledge about functions in R to working with Shiny in R. I was able to choose the extent to which I wanted to understand the logic behind the code and how much background knowledge I wanted. The DKZ.2R team not only explained everything very clearly, but they managed to create a genuine interest for data science and programming in me that made me continue to work with the contents far beyond the original project. Thank you!

Tobias Pauls

PhD student in English linguistics at RWTH Aachen University

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