Research data are a primary output of research. Sharing and re-using quality-assured data is considered good scientific practice. It allows research findings to be verified or reproduced based on the original data, and it increases the value of the initial investment: researchers can build on previous results without having to spend money on reproducing data.
Sharing and re-use of data are strongly promoted in the current move towards Open Science. Initiatives such as the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) play an essential role in this promotion.
Good research data management throughout the research process helps researchers to plan how, when, and where to share which data. Many research funding and research performing organisations have respective policies in place, especially for data management plans. Science Europe aims to align such policies and requirements across Europe.
This will make things easier for researchers from different organisations or disciplines to work together, and for researchers who change funders or home institutes. It will also make it easier for research organisations to evaluate data management plans and implement their own policies.
Science Europe also aims to ensure the sustainability of research data, including their long-term storage and accessibility. This requires research organisations and research data infrastructures (RDIs) to establish the necessary framework conditions, including organisational policies, technical preparedness, financial solutions, and training.
Science Europe actively promotes the principle that research data should be FAIR: findable, accessible, interoperable, and re-usable. It works with its Member Organisations and other stakeholders to align policies and procedures, and to provide clear guidelines to support researchers in their data management.
Science Europe is highly engaged in the development and promotion of the European Open Science Cloud. It supports the uptake of the EOSC in all of its activities on research data.
Together with experts from its Member Organisations, Science Europe has issued several publications on data management. These provide practical guidance to aligning policies across disciplines (2018) and across organisations (2019/2021). It has also provided best-practice examples from organisations that have successfully implemented data management policies to help guide organisations still setting them up. See also our page on Research Data Management.
| Country | Organisation | Acronym | Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | Austrian Science Fund | FWF | Katharina Rieck |
| Belgium | Fund for Scientific Research | F.R.S-FNRS | Jean-Claude Kita |
| Belgium | Research Foundation Flanders | FWO | Alexandra Vandervelde |
| Denmark | Danish council for Independent Research | DFF | Johanne Thorup Dalgaard |
| Finland | Academy of Finland | AKA | Harri Hautala |
| France | French National Research Agency | ANR | Zoé Ancion |
| Germany | German Research Foundation | DFG | Michael Royeck |
| Germany | German Research Foundation | DFG | Stefan Winkler-Nees (Chair) |
| Ireland | Health Research Board | HRB | Patricia Clarke |
| Ireland | Health Research Board | HRB | Sharon Kappala |
| Italy | National Institute for Nuclear Physics | INFN | Tommaso Boccali |
| Lithuania | Research Council of Lituania | LMT | Artūras Kaklauskas |
| Lithuania | Research Council of Lituania | LMT | Ramunė Rudokienė |
| Luxembourg | National Research Fund | FNR | Tom Jakobs |
| Netherlands | Dutch Research Council | NWO | Hans de Jonge |
| Netherlands | Dutch Research Council | NWO | Maria Cruz |
| Norway | Research Council of Norway | RCN | Anne Elisabeth Solsnes |
| Poland | Foundation for Polish Science | FNP | Barbara Wajnchold |
| Poland | National Science Centre | NCN | Laura Bandura-Morgan |
| Portugal | Foundation for Science and Technology | FCT | Filipa Pereira |
| Romania | Executive Unit for Financing Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation | UEFISCDI | Alina Irimia |
| Spain | Spanish National Research Council | CSIC | Fernando Aguilar |
| Spain | Spanish National Research Council | CSIC | Joaquín Tintoré |
| Sweden | Swedish Research Council | VR | Sanja Halling |
| Switzerland | Swiss National Science Foundation | SNSF | Isabel Bolliger |
| Switzerland | Swiss National Science Foundation | SNSF | Cornelia Sommer |
| United Kingdom | UK Research and Innovation | UKRI | Geraldine Clement-Stoneham |
| United Kingdom | UK Research and Innovation | UKRI | Mark Thorley |
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Ahead of discussions on 4 July in the European Parliament, Science Europe highlights its concerns regarding the potential impact of the Digital Services Act on the research and education sectors and the legal uncertainty that it is likely to create.
Research organisations, libraries, repositories, and university networks call for the the exclusion of not-for-profit repositories, digital archives, and libraries from the obligations of the Digital Services Act.
FAIRsFAIR has released additional guidance on making Data Management Plans FAIR, based on the January 2021 Science Europe DMP guidance.
We are pleased to announce that Science Europe is now issuing Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) for its publications and depositing its publications on the Zenodo platform.
On 27 January 2021, Science Europe presented the second, extended version of its Practical Guide to the International Alignment of Research Data Management during a webinar with more than 260 participants.
As it was unfortunately not possible to address all questions participants asked during the launch event, this document presents the answers to the questions asked to both Science Europe and the webinar speakers.
The interoperability and sustainability of research data are an indispensable element of the shift towards an Open Science system. At this event, Science Europe presented strategic guidance for research performers, funders, and data infrastructures to help ensure long-term preservation and accessibility of research data.
This Practical Guide provides guidance to ensure the long-term preservation and accessibility of research data. Three complementary maturity matrices provide funders, performers, and data infrastructures with a way to create a common understanding of the approaches needed.
The Science Europe General Assembly adopted the creation of a new working group on Open Science (WG OS) to develop a comprehensive approach towards the topic. WG OS will provide a platform to bring together the Open Science aspects embedded in all activities of Science Europe. It will also broaden the scope of our work in the area, to fulfill the objectives described in the new Science Europe Strategy and Multi-annual Action Plan.
The year 2020 saw a global pandemic attest to the value of science. In the race for COVID-19 treatments and vaccines, Science Europe’s Member Organisations were at the forefront of the global response and our association became more relevant and important than ever.
The Science Europe Practical Guide to the International Alignment of Research Data Management (RDM Guide) has seen an important uptake, being referenced and used by a large number of stakeholders within and beyond European borders.