The pan-European project Skills4EOSC (Skills for the European Open Science Commons) has been granted EU funding. SND is one of four Swedish organisations in this large-scale collaboration that aims to coordinate Open Science training in Europe.
On 18 January it was decided that Skills4EOSC is granted EU funding, although the exact amount has not yet been negotiated. The project will begin later this year and run for three years. A total of 44 European institutions from 18 countries participate in the project, which is led by the Italian GARR consortium. Sweden is represented by SND (through University of Gothenburg), Chalmers University of Technology, Karolinska Institutet, and Umeå University.
The purpose of Skills4EOSC is to create a common, co-ordinated eco-system for training resources in Open Science, in a European context. To achieve this, established and central organisations on a national level will collaborate to raise the level of competence with professionals who work with issues relating to Open Science and Open Data.
—Different countries have different approaches, and we want to develop a “minimum viable skillset”, a common framework for the skills needed for this work. It will not only be to train those who are new to this field, but also current data professionals. We will develop this framework from the very foundation, with methodology, a curriculum, and training materials. It is also a matter of creating networks and favourable circumstances to implement it, says Arin Savran, Research Data Advisor at SND, who has been part of the project application group.
SND will be represented in six Work Packages, WP, in the project. One of them, called “Synergies, stakeholder engagement, advocacy & comms”, will also be led by SND.
—Our work package involves how to reach out and firmly establish the project results with national and international funders, decision-makers, and other stakeholders who are important in supporting this development. We will also try to coordinate the project with pre-existing, related programs and initiatives. This work will, to some degree, be to communicate and disseminate the results.