SND and the Swedish Research Council are taking steps towards closer collaboration in the area of research data. The work is linked to the Swedish Research Council’s mandate to prepare for a national coordinating responsibility for basic digital research infrastructure.
This means that SND, together with the Swedish Research Council and the SND Network, is exploring how the organization’s experience, services, and established forms of collaboration can be utilized in a more coherent national structure. The aim is to contribute to greater clarity in an area where needs are growing rapidly among researchers, higher education institutions, and other research-performing organizations.
Concrete steps in the collaboration
The closer collaboration between SND and the Swedish Research Council is initially about increasing knowledge of each other’s activities, identifying common areas of interest, and testing forms for more coordinated work.
The activities and issues being planned or discussed include joint workshops, participation in each other’s meetings, and collaboration on upcoming network meetings. SND also sees legal issues, terminology, recommendations, and infrastructure matters as areas that could be addressed in a more coordinated way.
Ongoing and potential areas of collaboration also relate to EOSC and its national node, national PID recommendations for research, issues concerning register-based research, and the development of shared support structures.
Coordination with continued grounding in the SND Network
An important part of the work going forward will be to clarify which issues should be resolved nationally, what needs to remain locally grounded, and how SND’s established network can be utilized. In light of the ongoing dialogue about SND’s future organization and a potential transfer of operations to the Swedish Research Council, SND has collected feedback from the network during the spring on the organization’s future role and how support in the area of research data can be developed.
The feedback shows strong support for SND as a collaborative platform and emphasizes the importance of making use of established relationships, working methods, and networks. A recurring question is how more coordinated national support can be developed without weakening the close links to higher education institutions and research data support services. The SND Network, DAU collaborations, training activities, and informal meeting places are highlighted as important parts of the structure that has developed over time. The dialogues have also shown that the Swedish Research Council’s internal ways of working need to support flexible, responsive, and communicative collaboration close to researchers and higher education institutions.
At the same time, there are expectations of clearer national coordination in areas where many actors face similar challenges, such as legal issues, infrastructure, standards, information security, and skills supply.
“There are significant opportunities in creating a more coherent national structure, but this needs to be done with respect for what has been built up within SND over a long period of time. Our strength lies in the combination of national coordination, researcher-oriented support, and a dynamic network. If we can combine this with the Swedish Research Council’s broad remit and long-term perspective, we can create even better conditions for open and FAIR research data in Sweden,” says Eva Stensköld, Director of SND.
Starting from researchers’ needs
A central starting point for the continued work is that researchers should be able to receive relevant support throughout the research process. This involves both practical and legal support structures, as well as clearer contact routes between local research data support services, national actors, and other parts of the research infrastructure.
The continued work will therefore also take place in dialogue with higher education institutions, research data support services, and other relevant actors. The goal is to contribute to better coordination in the area of research data in the transition to an open science system, where national coordination is combined with local knowledge, established networks, and concrete benefits for research.