Building consensus around EHRI-ERIC: Working with the SAB and the BGR and establishing the iGA
Ensuring buy-in from all stakeholders – scientific and political – into the strategies developed by EHRI-PP was a critical component for the project’s success. This was achieved through frequent meetings with external advisory bodies established in the first reporting period; most importantly the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) and the Board of Governmental Representatives (BGR).
While the SAB furnished the project with independent scientific and strategic advice, the ministerial representatives of the BGR scrutinized and agreed all the base documents of the ERIC application, thereby ensuring optimal alignment with national strategies and requirements. Towards the end of the project, the BGR was transformed into the interim General Assembly (iGA) of EHRI-ERIC. Ten countries signed a MoU to facilitate the establishment of EHRI-ERIC and thereby became members of the iGA, and Poland, who is in the process of signing the MoU, was invited as an observer. A first meeting of the iGA was held on in June 2023, which resulted in the formal approval of the step-1 ERIC application, and its subsequent submission by the Dutch Ministry.
Drafting Statutes and Policies
Following the selection of the ERIC as the most suitable legal framework for EHRI and the Netherland as its hosts, statutes and more fine-grained policies (HR, IPR and quality, risk and performance management) were drafted to ensure the permanent RI will have a solid foundation. These documents were developed with input from the BGR and the SAB, as well as the EHRI-PP Consortium.
Financial Strategy
During the final reporting period, the financial focus shifted to reaching consensus on the funding model for EHRI-ERIC. Discussions during meetings with the EHRI-PP Consortium and the BGR have led to an agreed financial strategy and contribution model that were unanimously approved by the prospective member countries of EHRI-ERIC. Decisions on internal policies with a focus on in-kind contributions were also made.
Access, Research and Technological Strategies
Extensive user engagement activities led to the creation of access, training and user engagement policies that will ensure that EHRI-ERIC’s activities and services are conformant with user requirements. A User Advisory Board was established to ensure that users’ expectations continue to shape EHRI’s services. Foresight studies identified long-term research trends and informed EHRI’s long-term research strategy. EHRI’s technological infrastructure was continuously developed and readied for long-term operation, while successful foundations for the EHRI-ERIC data management policy were laid.
Sustainability & Implementation
EHRI-PP expanded on its successful outreach to national stakeholders during the first reporting period by focusing on geographic expansion and the harmonization of the work that will be conducted by the various National Nodes. National Nodes are in an advanced state of development in the eleven prospective founding member countries of EHRI-ERIC, while preparatory work was initiated in six additional countries (IT, FR, SE, HU, LU and CH).
The creation of a comprehensive business plan and a detailed implementation strategy further enabled EHRI to step firmly on the path towards becoming a permanent RI. The ESFRI monitoring framework was used to assess EHRI’s maturity and define key activities and milestones for EHRI’s implementation phase.
Dissemination & Communication
Dissemination of project activities and results via various channels continued to be very effective, and led, for instance, to a substantive increase in visitors to the ERHI website (4,300 monthly visitors, an increase of 25% in comparison to the first reporting period). An important dissemination activity was the organization of the successful Foundations of the Future: Towards a Permanent EHRI Organisation conference in May 2023. Attended by high-level representatives from various stakeholder groups – national ministries, policymakers, scientific audiences – the event underlined the importance of a permanent EHRI and looked forwarded to its establishment as an ERIC.
