Accession to Yoda consortium

In 2020, a pilot was started with Yoda (Your Data), a Research Data Management (RDM) environment which offers a practical and straightforward way for researchers to store data in a FAIR way. The platform was originally developed by Utrecht University as a graphical layer on top of the open iRODS standard, and after significant success in Utrecht, it has been shared with other Dutch Universities via SURF.

In that time, Yoda has grown into an important part of the WUR RDM landscape. The platform has more than 1000 users, who store a combined 25TB in 3.5 million files. In contrast to standard, ‘non-RDM’ storage (like the W: drive), all this data is findable, shareable and enriched with metadata, making it easily reusable. This makes Yoda a cornerstone in making the FAIR ambitions of WUR a reality. Yoda is solely aimed towards managing research data, and is not a 1-to-1 replacement for existing storage systems (W:, Teams, Onedrive) but rather an addition to these tools.

Intellectual ownership of the Yoda software belongs to UU at this moment. Because the universities that work with Yoda (UU, WUR, VU, LU, EUR, TU/e) see big opportunities for Yoda as a national platform and standard, a consortium is being formed. This consortium will receive ownership of the Yoda software as a legal entity, and will manage the further development, application and promotion of Yoda. WUR has decided to participate in this consortium in the person of Erik van den Bergh (Information Manager Research), hence taking a strategic position in realising WUR’s FAIR ambitions, as well as in the national RDM landscape.