Making Research Data
FAIR from the Start
Open-source tools and workflows that help researchers implementFindable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusabledata practices throughout their entire project lifecycle.
FAIR Data Station
The entry point of the FAIR by Design workflow. Record your project's metadata in a guided web interface, validate it against the ISA model, and generate structured, machine-actionable RDF, ready for reuse, sharing and automated processing. No coding required.
- Metadata Configurator for Investigation, Study, Sample & Assay levels
- Validate metadata and generate RDF linked data
- Direct ENA submission and BioProjects import
- iRODS / Yoda integration for data & metadata management
- Searchable terms overview with stable identifiers
- REST API for pipeline integration
LEAF
A modular, open-source framework that enables automated, standardised and interoperable data collection from diverse lab equipment, adding IoT capabilities without replacing your existing hardware or software.
- Automated, real-time extraction and transfer of equipment data
- Modular adapters convert manufacturer-specific formats into standardised, interoperable data
- Streams over MQTT in real time, straight into OAK or the FAIR Data Station
OAK
The backend stack that receives, stores and visualises data streamed by LEAF adapters, built around well-established open components, spanning everything from real-time ingestion to dashboards.
- VerneMQ: MQTT broker for real-time sensor data
- Node-RED: flow-based visual data processing
- TimescaleDB: PostgreSQL-based time-series storage
- Grafana: dashboards & visualisation
- LEAF Portal: centralised account & data management
Latest News
All news →Metagenomics provenance workflow documented
A new documentation page walks through capturing provenance for metagenomics analyses with FAIR Data Station.
Meet the team
The website now has a people page introducing the contributors behind FAIR by Design.
Refreshed website and tools overview
The landing page now features a carousel introducing FAIR Data Station, LEAF, OAK, the ontology and our CWL workflows.
The FAIR Principles
A set of guiding principles to make data machine-actionable, enabling minimal human intervention during data reuse.
Findable
Data and metadata are assigned globally unique identifiers and registered in searchable resources.
Accessible
Data and metadata are retrievable through standardised, open protocols, with clear access conditions.
Interoperable
Data uses formal, shared vocabularies and references other data using globally unique identifiers.
Reusable
Data has rich metadata and a clear usage licence so it can be replicated and combined with other data.
Our Tools
Open-source tools built in collaboration between Wageningen University & Research and UNLOCK.
FAIR Data Station
Record & validate metadata, generate RDF linked data.
LEAF
Automated, standardised data collection from lab equipment.
OAK
Backend stack that receives, stores & visualises LEAF data.
FAIR by Design Ontology
Controlled vocabulary with stable fairds: identifiers.
CWL Workflows
Reproducible computational workflows with provenance tracking.
Fully Open Source
All tools are open source and free to use. Fork them, adapt them, or contribute back. Developed at Wageningen University & Research and UNLOCK.
gitlab.com/fairbydesign