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Building a Data Community with the Research Data Alliance

The Research Data Alliance (RDA) is a community-driven international initiative facilitating the open sharing and re-use of research data. In partnership with the EOSC Future project, RDA launched a series of open calls aiming to raise awareness of EOSC assets and RDA standards and outputs across a diverse range of research communities. Leveraging RDA’s global connections, the project advocated for and supported FAIR principles and Open Science by engaging science and research communities beyond the EOSC Future consortium.

Around €1 million across 40 grants

With a substantial budget of almost €1 million, over 40 grants were awarded to projects through the RDA/EOSC Future open calls scheme to get a wide range of scientific communities involved with EOSC. Focused on early adoption, technical and domain solution development, and interoperability, the selected projects contributed to the advancement of research data tools, standards, and expertise within the EOSC framework. The grants also facilitated participation in events bridging the RDA and EOSC communities.

Below is a list of the results of the calls. Find out more about the selected projects: their objectives in the scope of EOSC Future and their results so far…

Optimising (RDA) Open Science Frameworks and Guidelines in the context of EOSC (2 rounds)
This call invited applications from research groups, including the RDA groups, to demonstrate how RDA-developed data sharing concepts and solutions can be reused, optimised and implemented in the EOSC context, particularly in the context of the EOSC Portal Catalogue and Marketplace.

EOSC Interoperability Framework contributions
This call sought European consortiums or interdisciplinary groups to validate and demonstrate the value of EOSC Interoperability Framework.

Call for RDA 20 Plenary support            
The Research Data Alliance and the EOSC Future project published this call to support the hosting of the RDA 20 Plenary Conference in March 2023, to coincide with the 10th Anniversary of RDA, as well as the Swedish EU Presidency.

Cross-disciplinary science adoption (2 rounds)
This call invited research groups from different or across disciplines who wish to share their data, have it combined with other data and make it more visible by using the services of the EOSC portal. Work under this call was to improve the understanding of the requirements per discipline with regards to cross-disciplinary FAIR data sharing and (re)use, by leveraging RDA standards, outputs and recommendations.

RDA / EOSC Future Domain Ambassadors (2 rounds)
This second Open Call for EOSC Future Domain Ambassadors offered up to €10.000,00 per grant to domain experts and skilled communicators to promote data sharing and open science practices in their disciplines

RDA Communities of Practice
This call iteration specifically targeted individuals or groups looking to establish RDA Communities of Practice in support of EOSC.  The call complemented the activities of RDA in supporting the engagement of underrepresented scientific and research communities in EOSC Future.

RDA Working Groups
Calls focused on RDA Working Groups for the development of EOSC solutions. This call sought to fast-track, high-quality EOSC solutions with technical documentation and maintenance plans.

Science communication on RDA/EOSC Future open calls
This call sought applications from a science communication professional to deliver one series of excellent quality, high-impact articles which showcase the results and outcomes of a selection of the EOSC Future/RDA open calls programme.


Meet the grantees selected under each of the above-listed open calls here.

Discover RDA/EOSC Future open call project outputs

Standards, tools and services: Empowering researchers

The Open Calls yielded tools and recommendations promoting data sharing in the EOSC environment. A selection of awarded projects includes:

These projects not only contribute to EOSC but also encourage Open Science practices.

Rewarding and teaching Open Science practices

FAIR principles serve as a key starting point, with RDA demonstrating the benefits of higher maturity levels. Projects integrating RDA outputs into their methods streamline resources for EOSC, fostering early-stage data sharing practices. Examples include:

Disciplinary Communities: The Future of EOSC Engagement Strategy

As an outcome of the RDA/EOSC Future open calls scheme, Domain Ambassadors were appointed to facilitate engagement. These experts provide valuable insights into data sharing, RDA adoption, dissemination efforts, and promotion of Open Science in their communities. The result is regular feedback and promotion of EOSC, making it relevant to new audiences through onboarded resources and providers.

A total of 14 Domain Ambassadors were selected. They helped to bridge disciplinary community needs and awareness of EOSC with domain insights, ultimately supporting communities in engaging with Open Science practices.

You can also find blogs from ambassadors here.

Reaching out across disciplines

Within and across disciplines, the RDA/EOSC Future open calls programme supported exchanges. Get insights on RDA/ESC Future Cross-disciplinary Outputs in the EOSC Environment: Third Bulletin (below).

Fresh off the press: Grantees in the news

Throughout the project, RDA/EOSC Future grantees and project partners were vocal about their work and achievements. Some of these are featured in a series of Science|Business articles. Others were the focus of different types of events.

Domain Ambassadors at the RDA Plenary

Connecting EOSC with the Global Research Commons

EOSC Future collaborated with the Global Open Research Commons (GORC) International Model RDA Working Group, at the time in the final stages of developing a roadmap for the global alignment of priorities around the coordination of setting up international science commons. This included collaboration with the broader GORC Interest Group providing a neutral arena for discussing Open Research Commons.

As a result of this collaboration, the EOSC Future technical team was invited to contribute to the GORC final review of its attribute model v0.6, released as a draft in July 2023. In September 2023, consultation workshops were held providing an opportunity for EOSC Future to comment on certain elements in the framework and to influence the model, transferring European EOSC technical components into practices on the international scene. 

The EOSC Future project also submitted a proposal for a ”Birds of a feather” (BoF) session during the Salzburg RDA Plenary in October 2023, with the goal to create an RDA Ambassadors group to further strengthen the sustainability of the community. 

Read more about ‘Galvanising The Commons – Building Global Bridges For Commons And Disciplines‘, the post-event article from P20 event.

Engaging new and underrepresented communities

During the project, 10 new underrepresented disciplinary communities were engaged with EOSC and the respective disciplinary webpages and/or disciplinary infosheets were made available on the RDA website targeted at underrepresented research communities, promoting participation in EOSC and encouraging community onboarding of resources.

Other materials developed by the EOSC Future project to engage communities:

This production is a part of the EOSC-Future project, co-funded by the European Union Horizon Programme under the INFRAEOSC-03-2020 call, Grant Agreement number 101017536. Our sincere appreciation goes to the European Union for their support in bringing this resource to the PaN community. Special thanks as well to the DAPHNE4NFDI project for their valuable contribution, providing one of the interviewees featured prominently in this video.

Read this report on Gaps in Open Science Support in Europe: Disciplinary Perspectives fom the EOSC Future Project or these summary cards prepared by EOSC Future.

Other RDA/EOSC Future links

More information can be found on the RDA website