EOSC Working Groups Insider Issue 3

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Working Groups Insider

June 2020 Issue

The Working Groups Insider provides a digest of all the latest activities of the EOSC Executive Working Groups. Their work and outputs are a vital part of the implementation of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). In this edition, you can also find out about the latest activities and works done in each of the Working Groups.

Latest from the Working Groups

The Architecture Working Group is currently working on the Technical Aspects of the Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda (SRIA) Document. Status, gaps and priorities are being identified within several topics like Identifier, Metadata & Anthologies, Authentication and Authorization infrastructure.

The AAI task force has created the document "EOSC AAI First Principles" and is initiating further activities to shape the global common ecosystem for identity and access control infrastructures within the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).

The FAIR Working Group is currently working on the Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda (SRIA) Document, emphasising gaps and priorities in several topics like FAIR metrics, interoperability standards, metadata and ontologies.

The draft document on the EOSC Interoperability Framework has been released by the members of the FAIR and Architecture Working Groups. The document is now out for feedback on the EOSC Liaison Platform. Please log in to leave your comments. Legal issues will be included in the next version, based on recommendations from a commissioned study.

The second draft of Persistent Identifier (PID) policy for the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) was released by the PID Task Force at the beginning of May 2020.

Juuso Martilla, with contributions by Neil Chue Hong, Stefano Cozzini, Marta Hoofman Sommer, Rob Hooft (Chair of the team), Liisi Lembinen, Marta Teperek, has also posted a blog post on recent progress towards FAIR practice in EOSC.

The EOSC FAIR WG has organised a webinar on "How to move from FAIR principles to FAIR practice?" and how to learn the current practices and recommendations for the future. Anyone with an interest in FAIR practices is welcome and encouraged to participate. The webinar takes place on Thursday, July 9 at 14:00 CEST.

Spring 2020 was a successful season for the Landscape Working Group (WG). Firstly, the Landscape WG Validation Workshop gathered over 150 stakeholders. The virtual and fruitful discussions broadly validated the preliminary findings collected in the first interim version of the Landscape Report. For more information related to the event, check out the latest blog post of the Landscape WG!

Secondly, the Landscape Report received specific attention during the EOSC Consultation Day thanks to a session chaired by Jan Hrusak (Chair of WG Landscape) and John Womersley (Co-Chair of WG Landscape) on the future outlook of the landscaping activities. If you missed the session and are interested in finding out more about the discussion surrounding the Landscape Report among the EOSC Community, you still have the opportunity to watch the recording.

Finally, the WG will work on the implementation of the feedback gathered during the Validation Workshop and a new analytical part of the report will be processed with valuable support from the Digital Curation Center. The Working Group is planning a 2nd Validation Workshop in Autumn 2020 to validate the whole Landscape Analysis.

Would you like to get in contact with the Landscape WG? Please don't hesitate: inform-landscape-wg@eoscsecretariat.eu!

Since the last round of consultation with the EOSC projects, the Rules of Participation (RoP) Working Group has been working extensively on the revision of feedback received on v0.2 of the Draft EOSC Rules of Participations. The next version of the document - set to be released in June - is already being integrated in a dedicated section of the EOSC SRIA, while the final version is set to be released this autumn, to be officially presented at the EOSC Symposium 2020.

In order to cover all interested areas and increase inclusiveness, the working group plans to widen the WG membership with new members from the EOSC projects.

A study on legal aspects of the EOSC RoP is also foreseen to be requested by the working group via an open call this summer.

EOSC Skills & Training Working Group (WG), the youngest of the Working groups, has had a rather fruitful and productive Spring 2020. In the past couple of months, the 40 members of the WG have been working in three Task Forces: (1) the Minimal EOSC Skill Set, (2) the Organisation Models for Competence Centres and (3) the National Digital Skills Strategies. A fourth Task Force on Specifications for Training Catalogues kicked off in May.

The Group is currently working on the Rules of Participation (RoP) for EOSC training service providers in collaboration with the RoP WG, as well as, with the EOSC Glossary Interest Group on skills, competencies, capabilities and training related terminology.

Last but not least, during May the Working Group delivered a draft of the Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda (SRIA) highlighting the gaps, the types of skills needed and the key priority areas in terms of skills development, training and education.

The Sustainability Working Group (WG) is currently working on the final version of the "Solutions for a Sustainable EOSC" report (known informally as the "Iron Lady" version), building on the previous versions known as "Tinman" and "Strawman". Feedback on the Tinman document was received from the EOSC Executive Board, Governing Board, EOSC Working Groups and EOSC-related H2020 projects. The Sustainability WG has established a dedicated task force (TF) that has conducted and published a thorough analysis of the feedback received and is currently working to integrate the results into the Iron Lady version. The final document (final Iron Lady version) is expected in October 2020.

The "Legal Entity" Task Force of the Sustainability WG is working towards the establishment of the EOSC legal entity before the end of this year, and has developed a second draft of the statutes for the future EOSC Association, an AISBL under Belgian law. "Candidate" initial members has been nominated by the EOSC Governance Board and Executive Board and are supporting the Legal Entity Task Force in the drafting of the statutes and analysing the feedback received. The feedback was either directly incorporated in the draft statutes or flagged for further discussion where opinions diverged. The task force also liaises with a law firm to ensure that the statutes will be compliant with Belgian law.

Moreover, the Sustainability WG is preparing and monitoring a number of studies on costing structure and business models for the future EOSC, on funding possibilities and risk assessment. The results of these studies will contribute to the published version of the Iron Lady document.