Build on the science cluster approach to ensure the uptake of EOSC by research infrastructures and research communities

This topic aims to extend the level of cross-domain collaboration and EOSC alignment initiated in Horizon 2020 with the science cluster projects[[The science cluster projects result from the H2020 topic call INFRAEOSC-04-2018: “Connecting ESFRI infrastructures through Cluster projects”: ENVRI-FAIR (grant 824068), EOSC-LIFE (grant 824087), ESCAPE (grant 824064), PANOSC (grant 823852), SSHOC (823782). These five science cluster projects address the following large thematic research domains: Biomedical Science, Environment and Earth Sciences, Physics and Analytical, Facilities, Social Science and Humanities and Astronomy.]]. It also capitalises on the experience gained by these cluster projects in enabling open science practices, FAIR implementation and managing open calls for disciplinary and multi-disciplinary science projects to involve smaller or less structured communities with less experience in open science, and to support communities lacking relevant competence centres.

Proposals should cover the following two activities:

1) Consolidate common EOSC approaches between the RI communities involved in the five science clusters, help to sustain composable EOSC-onboarded services from and across RIs participating in these clusters and support community-based competence centres for continued EOSC-alignment and extended outreach towards new or underrepresented user communities.

This activity should contribute to firmly install the connection to the EOSC ecosystem (including the EOSC onboarding of digital resources), the implementation of open science practices and the management of FAIR research digital objects into the core operation of ESFRI projects and landmarks and other relevant world class research infrastructures with a European dimension. The activity should increase the use and impact of RI resources especially through increased customisation and composability of services, higher amount of FAIR and open data for reuse and strengthened exploitation of the EOSC-Exchange.

Through pilots, the activity should test models by which services intended for users of one infrastructure are made available cross-border to a wider audience via the EOSC Exchange, as well as financial models for cross-RI service provision through the EOSC.

This activity should also further develop and extend existing networks of competence centres on FAIR and open practices and EOSC resources provisioning, enhancing relevant support to all research communities. Focus should be put on aligning and networking those competence centres to also support and train less-engaged, less-structured communities. The activity should establish a mechanism to collect operational needs coming from the user communities and to interact with future operator(s) of the EOSC platform.

2) Demonstrate and pilot the use of EOSC resources by multiple research communities through cross-RI and/or cross-domain open science projects and services.

This activity aims to engage with multiple research communities (academic and industry) to address multi-disciplinary questions of high societal relevance and to accelerate their uptake of RI and EOSC resources (data, services, policies, interoperability framework). Targeted user communities for these open science projects and services should extend beyond the RI communities involved in the H2020 science clusters. Special attention should be put on involving user group(s) also from outside the H2020 INFRAEOSC community including - when relevant - citizen scientists and “the long tail” of science. Proposals should demonstrate how the project plans to reach out to multiple scientific communities. The role of University Associations or Learned Societies to trigger community engagement in this activity should be explored.

This activity should be implemented through open calls for cross-RI and/or cross-domain science projects and services through a cascading grant mechanism. Given that the financial support to third parties is a primary aim of the action, at least EUR 18 million of the EU contribution for this topic should be used in this scope[[Including reasonable administrative and management costs related to the open calls for the financial support to third parties.]]. The activity should build on the experience already gained by the science clusters in calling for expressions of interests, implementing open calls and carrying out science projects. The financial support to third parties related to these open calls should be sized between EUR 100 000 and 250 000 for a duration of 12 to 24 months. The open calls should encourage, where applicable cross-RI and/or cross-domain collaborations. They should foresee the use of data and services already on-boarded to the EOSC platform and/or bring new research digital objects and RI services to the EOSC Exchange. The proposals should support the FAIR principles and take up relevant FAIR metrics and EOSC policies. The open calls under this activity should respect the conditions laid out in Section B of the General Annexes, including transparency, equal treatment, conflict of interest and confidentiality. Research infrastructures which are beneficiaries/affiliated entities of the consortium awarded may exceptionally also be recipients of financial support to third parties. Proposals must explain how they will ensure that such beneficiaries/affiliated entities are not involved in the selection procedure of the calls, in order to avoid conflicts of interest and maintain confidentiality.

To ensure complementarity of outcomes, proposals are expected to cooperate and align with activities of the EOSC Partnership and to coordinate with relevant initiatives and projects contributing to the development of EOSC including relevant actions awarded under the topics of the HORIZON-INFRA-2021-SERV-01 call, and under the topics HORIZON-INFRA-2022-EOSC-01-06 and HORIZON-INFRA-2022-EOSC-01-03. To this extent, proposals should provide for dedicated activities and earmark appropriate resources.

In this topic the integration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in research and innovation content is not a mandatory requirement.