SND’s role in the EOSC collaboration is growing. Soon, discussions will begin about which organizations will be the first in the network of EOSC Nodes with resources to be established. SND is one of 29 candidate EOSC nodes and the only candidate from Sweden.
“We’re very pleased to have received support for our expression of interest from all members of the Swedish EOSC Association,” says Eva Stensköld, Director of SND.
The network of nodes is a part of the EOSC Federation that will build a common European system to help researchers store, share, process, analyze, and reuse research resources, including research data. Between seven and ten of the candidate nodes will be selected in the first build-up phase, starting early next year. Subsequent phases will follow with additional nodes.
Within the EU, so-called data spaces are now being created in various thematic sectors, based on the common principle that data should flow as freely as possible within them. Here, EOSC will serve as a cross-cutting basic structure for research and innovation in relation to the other sectoral data spaces.
Wider reach for resources
“Through the network of nodes, EOSC can demonstrate that it has something to deliver. The organizations chosen as nodes will offer resources that are accessible to researchers, and through EOSC, these resources gain a wider reach. The benefit for Swedish researchers is that it will, among other things, make it easier to engage at the EU level, with opportunities for more seamless collaborations across Europe,” says Eva Stensköld.
Since the process of creating the network has just begun, it is still unclear how the integration of resources will be implemented. For SND, the entire SND network would be included, and the primary contribution would be the new national research data portal, researchdata.se, and the resources available there.
“We believe that SND has an important role to play in Sweden’s participation in building EOSC and we’re very proud to be recognized as a national infrastructure with much to contribute. If we aren’t included in this first round of nodes, we expect to be considered in a later phase,” says Eva Stensköld, who is looking forward to the dialogue meetings with all candidate nodes starting in December.
The common European data spaces
Eva Stensköld will also be more personally involved in the practical work with EOSC’s resources. Although she was not elected to the EOSC Association Board of Directors, Eva has been appointed as an expert counsel on a policy advisory board for the EU project ECHOES (European Cloud for Heritage OpEn Science). The project aims to establish the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH). Together with other resources, such as Europeana, the ECHOES project contributes to building the European common data space for the cultural heritage sector. The goal is to achieve a cohesive and shared European digital infrastructure that connects cultural heritage institutions and their digital resources into a larger whole.
Read more about the initiatives through the links below: