What we do

Read more about the different parts of SND’s operations here. If you have any specific questions, please get in touch with the contact for each section.

National support on the road to open science

SND is one of several national entities implementing the so-called Data Act (currently in Swedish only), which is part of the European Union’s transition to a new system of open science. The law aims, among other things, to make research data more openly accessible.

SND has a mission to create opportunities for researchers to describe, share, and reuse research data. We do this by supporting Swedish higher education institutions and other research organizations in establishing and operating local research data support functions (Data Access Units, DAU).

SND also takes part in the follow-up of the National Roadmap for Open Science (2021) (in Swedish) from the Swedish Association of Higher Education (SUHF), which aims to drive the transition to a new system of open science in Sweden. Using the tool “Orienteringskartan”, SND contributes to concretizing, monitoring, and disseminating good examples of development work and measures at Swedish HEIs.

Organizations in the SND Network have access to support in the form of advisory services, training materials, and tools related to research data management. We also create opportunities for knowledge exchange by regularly organizing events on various topics, often in collaboration with members of the network.

Development of tools and services

To meet the existing needs, we develop services and tools to facilitate the management, sharing, and reuse of research data. SND provides a national research data catalogue. Through the catalogue, it is possible to search for and find research data from various scientific fields.

Our digital system DORIS can be used to describe and share research data through the SND research data catalogue. The system is designed to make it easier both for those who want to share data and for those working in a DAU with reviewing data descriptions in DORIS. To enable the sharing of data with sensitive information, we have, in collaboration with Sunet, developed a cloud-based storage solution that allows research data to be stored securely and shared through SND's catalogue without leaving the respective HEI.

SND is also active in several international projects aimed at developing services to increase access to research data internationally.

Training and information

A significant part of SND's mission is training and information. On our website, we provide digital training materials for researchers as well as for research data support staff. Our pages on data management offer a comprehensive material that provides support throughout the research process. The pages cover aspects such as documentation, secure storage, and data accessibility. We have also developed guides for data management plans, persistent file formats, and guides to best practice for managing various types of data. As a researcher, you can also contact one of our Research Data Advisors or Domain Specialists if you have direct questions on how to best manage your data.

SND offers various training and development activities for the HEIs’ research data support functions, for instance through the online course BAS Online, and the commissioned course Forskningsdata: tillgänglighet, hantering och samverkan (Research Data: Access, Management, and Collaboration). We have also compiled a handbook in the form of a wiki , a resource that collects useful information for establishing and operating a research data support function. As part of the training activities, SND also hosts various events related to research data and data management.

Collaborations and networks

SND collaborates with many organisations that work for improved access to research data on a national and international level. Nationally, the collaborations mainly involve the SND Network, where SND serves as the node and offers various types of collaboration opportunities through tools, communication platforms, discussion groups, and events.

Internationally, we collaborate with organizations such as CESSDA, DataCite, European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), ICPSR, Research Data Alliance (RDA), and World Data System. SND is also actively involved in various international development projects. These projects are an important part of SND’s collaboration with other infrastructures and scientific environments.