EXARC Showcase: NFDI4Objects and The Wildbiome Project

This episode of EXARC Showcase highlights not one but two projects EXARC members are currently involved in. Matilda Siebrecht presents this varied episode.

The first project is NFDI4Objects, a multidisciplinary consortium within the German National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI). Its aim is to create an easy template to help experimenters structure their experiments and to ensure consistency and comparability between different experiments. To achieve this a workflow tool is developed that allows experimenters to build a visual representation of their experimental design. Ivan Calandra (DE) is co-chair of NFDI4Objects community cluster Experimental Archaeology. See also the article in the EXARC Journal 2025-1. Roeland Paardekooper, founder of EXARC, explains how NFDI4Objects relates to the RETOLD project.

Ilse Donker (NL), re-enactor, forage guide and educator is a participant in The Wildbiome Project. This project seeks to understand what happens to the gut microbiome when you survive by foraging and eating wild food only. It will assess the impact on microbiome composition and key health parameters of people eating an exclusively wild food diet. Participants will do so for one or three months. Ilse talks about her motivation, preparation and expectations taking part in the project. She also discusses her ideas about foraging, reenactment and how looking closely at the way people lived in the past could improve our health and happiness.

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