Data Management and Analysis with SQL. Hands-On Introduction

This presentation was given during the WiNoDa winter school, a five-day intensive course on the topic of Research with Natural Science Collections. Data, Quality, and Methods from 24-28 November 2025. Organization: German Federation for Biological Data e.V. (GFBio) with support from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN), German Archaeological Institute (DAI), Vernetzungs- und Kompetenzstelle Open Access Brandenburg (VuK) Abstract: This hands-on introduction offers a broad overview of SQL for data management and analysis using lightweight tools. Core topics include data modelling, querying (filtering, joining, aggregating), data cleaning and basic data analysis with a focus on reproducible workflows. We also discuss different tools to further process and publish the data. The methods generalize from local setups to larger research projects on server databases. Designed for researchers seeking a broad, pragmatic overview; no prior SQL or programming experience is assumed.