Periodic Reporting for period 1 - reSEArch-EU (reinforcing SustainablE Actions, resilience, cooperation and harmonisation across and by the SEA-EU Alliance)
Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2022-06-30
In the reSEArch-EU Project the European University of the Seas commits to the integration of the research infrastructures and resources of its six founding partners (University of Cadiz, University of Split, University of Gdansk, Kiel University, University of Malta, University of Western Brittany). Such a process is inspired by a common understanding of the many challenges for academic research in today’s world and the needs of the European Research Area. With this project, SEA-EU is implementing high-performing, efficient management structures able to learn from disruptive events and use them as a growth driver. Attention is being paid to the academia-business relations and the potential networking opportunities provided by the Alliance for both companies and research groups established across the European coastline. Furthermore, the Alliance intends to establish closer ties with the public and co-creation projects, where citizens can be part of the scientific community with their collaboration at different stages of research. Since SEA-EU strongly supports open science, reSEArch-EU incorporates the design of common policies and systems for open research data management as a vital part of its work. Lastly, all efforts made in this project feed into a thorough assessment of the scientific production created at each partner university and the consolidation of a long-term research plan for SEA-EU based upon each of its partners’ strengths and fields of specialization.
Given the highly ambitious goals set for the Alliance in this project, and considering the existing challenges faced, from legal barriers to technical and organizational differences, the Alliance does not assume reSEArch-EU as an isolated project with a limited scope and a mere series of tasks to be achieved; instead, reSEArch-EU is understood as the necessary tool to create the Research Area of the European University of the Seas and the results achieved within this project are designed to be sustainable and to bring long-term benefits to the members of the Alliance.
Given the highly ambitious goals set for the Alliance in this project, and considering the existing challenges faced, from legal barriers to technical and organizational differences, the Alliance does not assume reSEArch-EU as an isolated project with a limited scope and a mere series of tasks to be achieved; instead, reSEArch-EU is understood as the necessary tool to create the Research Area of the European University of the Seas and the results achieved within this project are designed to be sustainable and to bring long-term benefits to the members of the Alliance.
In the last eighteen months, reSEArch-EU has contributed to the creation of a joint knowledge base that has allowed the SEA-EU partners to have a deeper knowledge of each other, thus providing the necessary platform for mutual learning and harmonisation of research management processes and structures.
In the field of Open Science, a scoping survey was shared with library staff from the different partner universities with the objective of identifying the current state of art in open research data management. Then, based upon the results of that survey a summary report on current practices in open research data management was produced. Once all this information was collected and the library staff could learn about one another’s internal processes in research data management, an Open Science Staff Week was held at the University of Malta. In the months following this Staff Week, the Open Research Data Officers from all partner universities have met monthly to discuss the design and implementation of a policy framework for research data management for the SEA-EU Alliance. The Open Science Ambassadors are working in parallel to deliver a series of local workshops aimed to inform each partner university’s research community about open science practices and how they can help improve not only accessibility, but also transparency and reliability of research.
In terms of science democratization, reSEArch-EU has allowed the SEA-EU Alliance to know more about every partner’s previous experience with co-creation projects and any other scientific enterprises where citizens were called to contribute to the creation of scientific knowledge. After three consecutive workshops on inter disciplinary research and a thorough data collection process, the report on stakeholder engagement approaches and strategies was published, summarizing the steps taken so far by the Alliance. Then, a series of pilot activities with the active participation of different stakeholders kicked off: the first Transformation Lab was held in Brest in April, and then the Kieler Marktplatz in Kiel in May.
To increase institutional resilience and promote antifragility at our universities, the SEA-EU Anti-Fragility Think Tank started a round of discussions to look for answers that may help the Alliance to thrive successfully in case of potential disruptions in the future. At the same time, a case study on experiences with remote research was conducted and made publicly available. The insights provided by the above-mentioned discussions and case studies are contributing to the design of the SEA-EU Academy. These efforts are accompanied by a shared objective of reducing the carbon footprint originated by research activities – an objective stated clearly in the SEA-EU Position Paper on carbon footprint, along with an explanation of the reasons why reducing the environmental impact of activities held in higher education institutions is critical and prospects on possible ways to achieve such objectives.
In the field of Open Science, a scoping survey was shared with library staff from the different partner universities with the objective of identifying the current state of art in open research data management. Then, based upon the results of that survey a summary report on current practices in open research data management was produced. Once all this information was collected and the library staff could learn about one another’s internal processes in research data management, an Open Science Staff Week was held at the University of Malta. In the months following this Staff Week, the Open Research Data Officers from all partner universities have met monthly to discuss the design and implementation of a policy framework for research data management for the SEA-EU Alliance. The Open Science Ambassadors are working in parallel to deliver a series of local workshops aimed to inform each partner university’s research community about open science practices and how they can help improve not only accessibility, but also transparency and reliability of research.
In terms of science democratization, reSEArch-EU has allowed the SEA-EU Alliance to know more about every partner’s previous experience with co-creation projects and any other scientific enterprises where citizens were called to contribute to the creation of scientific knowledge. After three consecutive workshops on inter disciplinary research and a thorough data collection process, the report on stakeholder engagement approaches and strategies was published, summarizing the steps taken so far by the Alliance. Then, a series of pilot activities with the active participation of different stakeholders kicked off: the first Transformation Lab was held in Brest in April, and then the Kieler Marktplatz in Kiel in May.
To increase institutional resilience and promote antifragility at our universities, the SEA-EU Anti-Fragility Think Tank started a round of discussions to look for answers that may help the Alliance to thrive successfully in case of potential disruptions in the future. At the same time, a case study on experiences with remote research was conducted and made publicly available. The insights provided by the above-mentioned discussions and case studies are contributing to the design of the SEA-EU Academy. These efforts are accompanied by a shared objective of reducing the carbon footprint originated by research activities – an objective stated clearly in the SEA-EU Position Paper on carbon footprint, along with an explanation of the reasons why reducing the environmental impact of activities held in higher education institutions is critical and prospects on possible ways to achieve such objectives.
In its first reporting period, SEA-EU set up the basis for its Research Area via its reSEArch-EU project. Now, it is the time to build a virtual ecosystem able to significantly improve research management across the Alliance. Such an ecosystem will lie upon three pillars: training, networking and open science. The SEA-EU Academy, whose Guiding Principles have been defined and whose first version has been launched, will provide researchers across the Alliance with virtual training to improve their digital skills thus preparing them for future scenarios where remote access to research infrastructures will be a day-to-day reality. The SEA-Innovate Hub will allow any company to get in contact with research groups from the Alliance which provide either products or services, thus boosting these groups’ outreach and giving companies a straightforward way to relate and take advantage of the opportunities that academia may bring to them. The SEA-EU Open Research Data policies and systems will align the efforts made at the Alliance level so that the number of both open access publications and datasets made available on the consortium members’ repositories increases substantially; at the same time, the efforts of the Open Science Ambassadors will contribute to spread within the research communities the values and opportunities offered by Open Science.
Finally, the quest for answers around resilience and antifragility, the resources produced to strengthen business-academia collaboration, the pilot activities aimed at empowering our stakeholders by promoting co-creation research, as well as the establishment of common policies and systems for the implementation of Open Science will contribute to raise the SEA-EU members’ awareness of their strengths and specific areas of excellence in research and innovation and lead eventually to the consolidation of a common, long-term research agenda that allows to align and make compatible each partner’s specific goals with those of the Alliance and the European Research Area.
Finally, the quest for answers around resilience and antifragility, the resources produced to strengthen business-academia collaboration, the pilot activities aimed at empowering our stakeholders by promoting co-creation research, as well as the establishment of common policies and systems for the implementation of Open Science will contribute to raise the SEA-EU members’ awareness of their strengths and specific areas of excellence in research and innovation and lead eventually to the consolidation of a common, long-term research agenda that allows to align and make compatible each partner’s specific goals with those of the Alliance and the European Research Area.