Yamen Zantah is a research associate at the Chair for Digital Signal Processing (Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, UDE). Researching THz technology in CRC MARIE, he was responsible for setting up the electronic lab notebook eLabFTW for his working group and has received the Data Champion Award for his pioneering use of research data management tools. In this interview, Yamen shares insights into his research practice and discusses his dedication to furthering open science as a whole.

RDS: Let’s start with open science. You are very active in RDM and using tools like eLabFTW. How did you come to open science?

YZ: I came to open science running – because open science is one way that we make a difference globally. By embracing this mentality of openness, we are contributing to a larger scientific community and accelerating discoveries. When people build on our work, this can lead to meaningful change. Open science is about thinking of the bigger picture – it is really important to me, and for us in MARIE in general. One major goal of MARIE is to establish a public repository called MARIEdata, containing its terahertz research data. The outcomes of MARIE will be given to the public. We are also working on establishing a public database for a specific application to enable machine learning and computer vision-based object recognition using THz sensors – the public 3D THz image database called AITHzdata. We believe it will have a lot of influence in promoting the use of THz technology. So, we’re really focused on the value of open science, and with a public database we are able to make a difference.

RDS: Publishing this database as part of the third phase of MARIE is a great example of data sharing. So far, how do you see the culture of data sharing in engineering, especially in electrical engineering?

YZ: I think in general, data is shared less in engineering compared with other sciences like medicine – there are a lot of concerns about intellectual property and competition, for example when someone wants to file a patent. But I think that with current pushes towards open science, researchers are becoming more and more aware of the value of sharing their work, how it improves reproducibility, makes collaboration possible, and promotes innovation.

RDS: How have you benefited from data sharing personally? Has there been a specific use for you?

YZ: Of course, I benefit from available data – but also from sharing my own data with others. I have had more opportunity for collaboration. Researchers have reached out to me to work together because of the data I shared.

RDS: That’s great. What does RDM look like in your day-to-day research? You use eLabFTW heavily, right?

YZ: Yes, we use eLabFTW all the time to document experiments and for lab bookings. I was one of the pilot users of eLabFTW – to me it was just like an empty floor and I built it step by step, with a dedicated folder structure categorized by different levels of resources, until it was ready to be used in my department, for the efficient management of research data and lab activities. And then I made a presentation about it on the “Tag der Forschungsdaten” and got to introduce my eLabFTW framework to others, so that others with similar departments can also benefit from it.

RDS: So you created templates for others to use as well as the underlying database of all the resources that you have to organize in the lab?

YZ: Exactly. We used eLabFTW on different levels. We started with the experiments, with the documentation of our work, but we also used the scheduler to book equipment and department resources. It has made project reporting a lot easier. Reporting can be a bit of a pain because it consumes time and because it can be difficult to gather all the information from different team members. But with eLabFTW, we were able to make one framework using the templates and the resources to make reporting as easy as possible. And now we have an API to extract all the information we need with the least effort possible.

RDS: What motivated you to use RDM tools in your everyday research?

YZ: For me, the story started with need – when I started working as a researcher, I realized I needed to manage my research data because as someone who is involved heavily with measurement equipment in the lab, I produce a vast amount of data. And those data have to be well-described and well-organized. I had to think about the importance of metadata for data that I am producing now but will use later – in one, two, ten years. Therefore, documenting data well will help me in the long term, and I realized that good data management will play an important role in the success of my research. At first, I had to improvise ways to develop my RDM skills. And then, thanks to the RDM board of MARIE, I got introduced to the RDS team and the RDM concepts, which I was really influenced by. I attended some hands-on courses, for example for eLabFTW. I feel like that is something every researcher should focus on – it’s not a luxury, it’s a need.

RDS: How do you see the future of RDM in your field?

YZ: In general, competition is very high in research, so in order to excel, you have to do extraordinary work – and to do that, you must be able to deal with large amounts of data and a large number of tasks. That’s impossible without knowledge of RDM and time management concepts. I think it might be helpful for anyone starting their work to be urged by their supervisors to learn the RDM concepts and visit the RDM courses – because it’s really going to affect them in the long run. Personally, I feel like I wasted a lot of time learning these concepts on my own. If I had learned them directly from the experts from the start, I would have saved a lot of time. I think this is something that needs to be improved in the future.

RDS: What advice would you give to other scientists who are interested in open science or research data management?

YZ: First of all, I would advise them to get in touch with their RDM teams – their energy and expertise are really contagious. That’s the first step. I’d also recommend that they focus on the value of sharing data – how much it will benefit their reputation, the credibility and the impact of their work.

RDS: You are one of the very active researchers in MARIE with regards to research data management, and you’ve pioneered this eLabFTW concept for the whole institute. Thank you for your support and your time, and congratulations again on your Data Champion Award!

YZ: Thank you a lot for this opportunity! This is very important to me because I would like people to benefit from RDM concepts as much as possible, from the start of their research career, because they will notice the difference later when they are advanced in their career.