The mission of COMFOCUS was to advance the FCS field beyond its current level of fragmentation, that is preventing it from being the data-rich science that it could be in support of European healthy food choices, public policies and private strategies. The strategic objective of COMFOCUS was to bring together, integrate and open up key European research infrastructures in the interdisciplinary field of FCS to all European researchers (from both academia and industry) to promote their optimal use and joint development. The result is a library of meta data and digital service tools, accessible on the COMFOCUS Knowledge Platform. This platform serves as an accessible focal point for European researchers and will comply with the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Inter-operable & Re-usable) and RRI (Responsible Research & Innovation) principles.
To contribute to the mission and to reach the objective, COMFOCUS implemented a coordinated set of activities on (see also Figure 1):
1) Networking activities – these allowed better use of the existing research infrastructures and strengthen collaboration across FCS groups, disciplines and borders by close interactions with academic and industry users and technology developers.
2) Joint research activities – these activities developed harmonised protocols and research approaches on self-reported data and emerging technologies in the FCS field, as well as defining, structuring, linking and integrating data.
3) Virtual and Transnational Access (VA/TNA) – these activities, in the form of Open Calls, introduced (early career) researchers to a “new way of working” and provided them the opportunity to build and expand their network and to have access to other research groups and facilities, while they also contributed data as ‘proofs of principle’ to further build the COMFOCUS Knowledge platform. Researchers got access to 10 different key European infrastructures (including an Easy Questionnaire Tool, reconstructed/virtual reality, eye tracking, heart rate, galvanic skin response, electro encephalography and face reader). Promotion and dissemination of COMFOCUS outcomes and VA/TNA was supported by the Stakeholder Forum and International Advisory Board.
