NRW-FAIR is a network of physicists working in the field of hadron and particle physics with the common goal of investigating a persistent challenge: the origin of matter from the fundamental particles of the Standard Model of particle physics. Based in North Rhine-Westphalia, the participants will contribute to the research at the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) in Darmstadt. FAIR is a particle accelerator for fundamental physics research, one of the largest research facilities ever built in Europe, scheduled to become operational in 2026. The researchers plan to organize several workshops with international guests as well as an extensive outreach program to inform the general public and to inspire future students for physics. In total, the network brings together 32 physics professors from the University of Bochum as the lead institution, the University of Bonn, the University of Münster, the University of Wuppertal, and Forschungszentrum Jülich. The total funding amounts to approximately 16 million euros over four years.