The SURF EOSC Node federates the SURF Research Cloud, FAIR data repository, and EFSS services, bridging Dutch national infrastructures with European-level services.
SURF is the ICT cooperative for Dutch research and education institutions, providing compute, storage, data management, AAI, security, publishing, and innovative services such as quantum and AI fabrics. As an innovator, SURF will bring together key national stakeholders to contribute to the development of a Dutch EOSC Node. These activities will bring together resources and capacity with the aim of making them available to the EOSC Federation and will assess how resources from other EOSC Nodes can be made available to the research community in the Netherlands.
To support research and education in the Netherlands through computing, data and networking services, consultancy, training and contracting. Through the EOSC Federation, SURF will explore offering these services cross-border to the wider EOSC community.
FAIR data
The SURF EOSC Node offers a comprehensive collection of Dutch open research information, covering publications, research data sets, research software items, from Dutch institutional repositories and research information systems (CRIS), linked to research grants (NWO) and research performing organisations (UNL, VH, KNAW, NFU).
Scientific use cases
Federating CERN's REANA pipelines
The REANA science case focuses on enabling near-data computation—sending computational workflows to where large scientific datasets are stored, rather than transferring massive volumes of data to the researcher.
The use case demonstrates this concept through particle physics—a field that generates enormous data volumes—but it is applicable to many other domains, including astronomy and life sciences. The project aims to show how researchers can execute their analyses directly at the data source, using REANA—CERN’s Reproducible research data analysis platform—to manage containerized workflows across federated computing resources.
Imaging data workflows on Galaxy
This science case on imaging data workflows on Galaxy demonstrates how a federated, open-access computational platform can transform the way imaging data are processed, shared, and reused across diverse scientific domains.
The use case leverages the Galaxy platform to integrate data from a wide range of imaging-based research fields—such as life sciences (microscopy), astrophysics (telescope data), climate science (satellite data), and marine science (underwater imagery)—into a unified analysis environment. The goal is to demonstrate that Galaxy can be integrated into the EOSC Federation’s common infrastructure to serve many disciplines simultaneously, allowing researchers to share workflows, reuse methods, and access powerful computational tools without needing specialised technical expertise.
Multi-centric validation of AI models for prostate-cancer screening
Advances in digital pathology are transforming cancer diagnosis by enabling high-resolution imaging of tissue samples and the application of artificial intelligence (AI) for clinical decision support.
Prostate cancer, one of the most prevalent malignancies among men worldwide, represents a critical case for early and accurate diagnosis, as survival rates are strongly tied to timely detection and treatment. The objective of the multi-centric validation of AI models for prostate-cancer screening (MCVAL) use case, coordinated by the BBMRI-ERIC EOSC Node, is to create a secure environment in which AI models for prostate cancer screening can be validated using data from different hospitals. Rather than building new diagnostic systems from scratch, the project focuses on testing an existing model trained on whole-slide images and assessing how well it performs when applied to data processed elsewhere.
Other use cases
- Federating Enterprise File Sync & Share (EFSS) services
- Processing and analysis of sensitive data within EOSC using Trusted Research Environments
- Tools to the Data — adoption of the EESSI software stack across EOSC Nodes
- Federated Trusted Research Environments — TRELLIS proposal / emerging cross-node work
Status
Candidate National EOSC Node (Minimal Viable Dutch EOSC Node targeted for end 2026)
Deliverables
- Project Charter for the SURF pilot Node
- Target Operating Model for the Dutch EOSC Node
- Business Case and Sustainability Model
- Implementation Roadmap
- Dutch EOSC Node Implementation Proposal
Technical status
Completed
- Application workflow management (containers, Jupyter, SLURM, Kubernetes)
Ongoing
- Federated AAI (SRAM is the existing AAI basis; alignment with the EOSC Federation AAI is ongoing)
- Onboarded service catalogues (currently implemented via the EOSC EU Node with SURF supplying information)
- Helpdesk (existing SURF helpdesk capability will be extended for the EOSC Node)
- Management system (extension toward the EOSC Federation is under exploration)
- Service monitoring
Planned
- Service and research product accounting
- Order management
Interactions with other EOSC Nodes
How to access the Node
Rules of Participation
SURF services are available to SURF members, with cross-border provisioning models in place for specific use cases. Access policies for others are under development.
Access points
Via home page (eosc.nl)
Node capabilities
Federated services
- AAI SURF Research Access Management
- Workflow integration (SURF High Performance Data processing)
Data repositories
SURF FAIR data repository
Compute and storage
- SURF Data archive
- SURF object store
VRE
- SURF Research Cloud
- VRE
- Jupyter
- RStudio
- Galaxy
- container-based workflows
File sync-and-share
SURF ResearchDrive (OpenCloudMesh API)
Other
- SURF Filesender for large file transfer
- NL Research Portal as a resource catalogue
Coordinating organisation
Node organisation
Coordinator
Laurents Sesink
Co-Operation Manager
Ivar Janmaat
Co-Operation Manager and Deputy Coordinator
Maarten Kremers
Security Officer
Niek Bosch
Communication Officer
Iza Witkowska
Node Architect
Maarten Hoogerwerf
Contributing organisations
100+ universities, universities of applied sciences, UMCs, research institutions, Thematic Digital Competence Centers (NES, LSH, SSH), OS-NL, eScience Center, DANS and Health-RI.
