PATH2EOSCUK

The UK has a long-standing commitment to open research, and UK organisations have been instrumental in building the foundations of EOSC and driving its ongoing implementation through numerous EC projects. Many UK DRIs are already contributing to thematic nodes being developed in other countries. What is needed now is broader awareness within the UK research community of what EOSC is and what it offers.

The project has two main objectives. The first is to enable Jisc, the UK’s National Research and Education Network, to work in partnership with UKRI, the Digital Curation Centre (DCC), and other UK stakeholders to map existing infrastructure against EOSC Federation requirements and identify concrete pathways toward a UK EOSC Node aligned with the UK’s DRI landscape. The second is to run an engagement programme that informs that mapping, raises awareness of EOSC, and encourages participation from UK RPOs.

Key deliverables include a mapping of UKRI DRI against EOSC requirements; a project charter and plan for a UK EOSC Node covering key services, use cases, and participation commitments, underpinned by a full value proposition and logic model; and an engagement programme with supporting resources to raise awareness of EOSC benefits for UK RPOs and researchers.

Open science is integral to both the EU research policy agenda and UKRI’s mission, underpinned by federated research infrastructure.

UKRI’s Digital Research Infrastructure strategy is built around four strategic priorities. Interconnected DRI focuses on breaking down silos, promoting collaboration, and creating open, inclusive, user-friendly infrastructure, including federated systems and cross-disciplinary technical support. Human DRI recognises and invests in the people who build and maintain research infrastructure, promoting careers and professional development to ensure a skilled, diverse workforce. FAIR DRI ensures infrastructure is accessible, interoperable, and reusable through adoption of FAIR principles, increasing research efficiency and enabling broader collaboration. Sustainable DRI addresses the long-term health of research infrastructure by tackling efficiency, security, environmental, and financial challenges.

Open research is equally central to UKRI’s wider mission to deliver economic and social benefits. UKRI’s ambition is to lead improvements through policy, practice, and technological innovation, working toward an internationally connected open research system. This means supporting the adoption of open research through collaboration with national and international partners, driving the transition toward an open and transparent research system through policy, rewards, and incentives, and ensuring open access and open research data remain core priorities.

These priorities map directly to EOSC SRIA objectives: rewarding and teaching Open Science practices so they become the new normal; enabling the definition of standards and development of tools that allow researchers to find, access, reuse, and combine results; and establishing a sustainable, federated infrastructure for open sharing of scientific outputs.

A key strength of this proposal is its close alignment with UKRI’s current priorities, including its DRI programme and open research policies. The project is designed to kickstart activities within EOSC that will then progress in step with existing national initiatives, ensuring both sustainability and scalability from the outset.

Consortium members and UK stakeholders bring a long history of active engagement across the full arc of EOSC development, from foundational projects such as EOSCpilot and EOSC Hub, to FAIR data implementation through FAIRsFAIR and FAIR-IMPACT, to capacity building at organisational, national, and disciplinary levels through EOSC Synergy, Skills4EOSC, and PaNOSC. Many are also active in current and legacy EOSC Working Groups and Opportunity Areas, reflecting a sustained commitment to the EOSC vision.

The path from this project to a fully established UK National Node is clear. The charter developed here will serve as the basis for further community discussions leading to a final Node application. Engagement will continue through UKRI’s DRI channels and events, including the DRI Congress and the DCC DRI webinar series. Use cases will be further developed and refined. The UK Node Charter will be presented at major events including the EOSC Symposium, UKRI DRI Congress, and the RDA Plenary in London, before sign-off by UKRI and formal submission.