ESFRI-EOSC Coordination Task Force

Strategy Working Group & Task Forces
ESFRI-EOSC Coordination Task Force

 

Interesting Publication: the ESFRI-EOSC Task Force has recently (April 2024) published an Opinion Paper on "FAIR Data Productivity and Advanced Digitalization of Research". See more details and access the paper here.

The European Research Area and Innovation Committee (ERAC) and the Competitiveness Council have both recognised a key role of ESFRI and thematic RIs working together with EOSC core developers and operators to speed up the implementation of open science policy and the FAIR data management and to promote interdisciplinary R&I in Europe and considered that coordination between ESFRI and the EOSC Steering Board is needed.  

The ESFRI-EOSC Task Force has been approved by ESFRI and the EOSC Steering Board and the first meeting took place on 12 June 2023. The Task Force members are Volker Beckmann (appointed as chair of the task force for the first semester) and Giorgio Rossi from the EOSC-SB, Elena Hoffert and Jan Hrušák from ESFRI, and Javier Lopez Albacete and Martyn Chamberlain from the EC. Observers from the ERIC Forum, the EIRO forum, the EOSC Association, the e-IRG and on a rotational 6-month basis, one representative of European RI networks registered to the ESFRI Stakeholder Forum will be invited to attend subsequent meetings. The Task Force will be established for the duration of the current ERA Policy Agenda (until end of 2024) with the possibility for renewal. 
 
The general objective of the ESFRI-EOSC Task Force is to ensure a structured interface between the ESFRI Forum and the EOSC Steering Board beyond the current ad-hoc cooperation. Key drivers for the Task Force are to align collective interests and maximise the impact of efforts towards enabling an integrated ecosystem of Research Infrastructures that would feed into a dynamic EOSC federation as a key contribution to a ‘web of FAIR data and services for science’. More specifically, the main objectives of the ESFRI-EOSC Task Force include: 


Objective 1: Help reduce the fragmentation of the research data landscape in Europe by stimulating the connection of ESFRI RIs and ERICs to the EOSC federation

The Task Force should take into account the requirements of RIs as key stakeholders in EOSC and maximise their impact on EOSC.

  • Raise awareness about the upcoming deployment of the EOSC EU node among RIs, including technical and governance aspects, and stimulate the connection of RIs to the EOSC federation. The task force could ensure there is a user-friendly and comprehensive catalogue of available EOSC services, as well as corresponding use cases, success stories, and demonstrations, that clearly highlight the benefits of EOSC and potential impacts towards a culture of Open Science.

Contribute to highlight the added value of EOSC for RIs in terms of economy of scale for provision of services to RIs and any other cross-cutting elements for an efficient and sustainable research and innovation system.

Objective 2: Assist in increasing FAIR research data productivity in Europe

High-quality data needs to populate EOSC for it to work well. It is the RIs that already have some good practices able to come up with such high-quality data. RI facilities and their users have a process of quality assessment. 

  • Identification of i) good practices at the policy and implementation levels from RIs ii) major obstacles (technical, organisational, sociological, etc.) for the broader uptake of FAIR data management practices at RIs.
  • To assess the readiness of RIs for the generation of machine actionable FAIR data sets and to examine the prospects for AI/ML data analysis enabled by the EOSC. 
  • Liaison with the EOSC-SB policy subgroup currently working on recommendations for improved FAIR data productivity in Europe, by bringing in the end-user perspective from research infrastructures. 
  • To formulate policy recommendations for research funding organisations in order to support and stimulate the broader adoption of FAIR data management in the context of EOSC, and to ensure that disciplines and thematic areas that may be less advanced on this aspect also connect to and benefit from the EOSC federation.
  • To facilitate the coordination of ESFRI-EOSC support to skills development for data stewards and specific training of RI staff, including through (existing or planned) Competence Centres.