SALZBURG — As part of International Data Week’s SciDataCon 2023 programme, the EOSC Focus project, the EOSC Association (EOSC-A), and Austrian EOSC-A Mandated Organisation ACONET Verein organised a panel discussion: Initiatives for data and service federation that can connect local and global practices.
The hybrid session took place on the afternoon of 23 October, and was moderated by Stefan Hanslik of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research’s Open Science Austria.
The panel featured five speakers from four continents, who shared their views on opportunities and obstacles for global collaboration on Open Science Commons. The panel also addressed the pathway forward to the wider interoperability of services across linguistic, regional and disciplinary boundaries. The panelists were:
- Francesca Frontini (CNR/ILC, Italy); member of the EOSC-A Data Stewardship, Curricula and Career Paths Task Force
- Sarah Jones (GÉANT); member of the EOSC-A Board of Directors
- Tshiamo Motshegwa (AOSP); Director, African Open Science Platform
- Wouter Schallier (UN/ECLAC); Chief Librarian, Hernán Santa Cruz Library and Web Services Unit, Chile
- Lee Wilson, Director of Research Data Management, Digital Research Alliance of Canada
The discussions settled on the fact that reinforced global interoperability is much needed to overcome the barriers that have been thrown up by a diverse group of regulatory frameworks established for upcoming data spaces. These will have impacts for data production and the federation of data services, both for research-performing organisations and industry.
The following topics were identified as aspects for which strong regulatory and practical support is urgent:
- Interoperability: at all relevant layers
- Skills development: the provision and use of federated services
- Multilinguality issues: transcultural boundaries/obstacles, diversity of methodology and linguistic competences, translation needs
- Alignment of regional and global governance models
The EOSC Focus project will develop follow-up activities with the panelists and the organisations they represent in order to elaborate on and advance the recommendations that emerged from the discussion.
To view the panelists presentations, and for more information on the larger IDW event in Salzburg, please refer to the event page.
