Project description DEENESFRITPL A closer look at the making of the European Data Union Data is growing exponentially, and information stored in autonomous databases is becoming increasingly interconnected. Europe’s policymakers are building a Data Union – one of the largest real-life experiments of database interoperability – to facilitate public authorities’ access across diverse IT systems. This is important in terms of public security practices, institutional governance and protecting fundamental rights. However, little is known about how interoperability structures and rearranges modern power relations. In this context, the EU-funded DATAUNION project will theorise the socio-material practices that underpin database interoperability. It will evaluate the implications of the Data Union’s construction, develop a multimodal study of how digital technologies feed European security integration, and deliver new insights about the frictions shaping the making of a European Data Union. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective EU policy-makers are constructing a European Data Union. Its ambition is database interoperability with information stored in autonomous databases becoming interconnected and available to authorities across Europe. However, database interoperability is not a mere technical fix, but an inherently political process. In the design of existing and future databases lays the foundations of future European security integration and the redefinition of some of its core dimensions: security practices, institutional governance, and relation to fundamental rights. Despite its political importance, little is known about how database interoperability actually structures and re-arranges modern power relations. The construction of the European Data Union, as one of the largest real-life experiments of database interoperability, represents a fascinating opportunity to unpack this issue. Hence, the DATAUNION project will pursue four objectives: (1) Theorizing the socio-material practices that underpin database interoperability through the innovative notion of security tinkering, defined as the processes through which conflicts and solutions related to database interoperability are addressed, dodged or solved; (2) Developing a ground-breaking multi-modal approach bringing Critical Making Practices to the study of security practices in order to retrace how database interoperability is implemented on the ground; (3) Delivering new empirical knowledge on the processes and challenges of all three main European interoperability initiatives, and how they shape the future of European security integration; and (4) Evaluating the ethico-political implications of the construction of the European Data Union. Overall, the DATAUNION project will transform Critical Security Studies’ conceptual and methodological repertoire and will have a major impact on International Relations’ and EU Studies’ understanding of the role of digital technologies in European security integration. Fields of science social sciencessociologygovernancesocial sciencespolitical sciencessocial scienceslawhuman rights Programme(s) HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2021-STG - ERC STARTING GRANTS Call for proposal ERC-2021-STG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC - Support for frontier research (ERC) Coordinator VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL Net EU contribution € 1 499 750,00 Address Pleinlaan 2 1050 Bruxelles / brussel Belgium See on map Region Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/ Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale/Arr. Brussel-Hoofdstad Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00
