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Is EOSC-Nordic on the right track towards a complete EOSC?

Lene Krøl Andersen (DeiC), Project Manager of the EOSC-Nordic
20.05.2020

Eight different nationalities from three continents; Australia, Europe and the US met online on Wednesday the 6th of May. For some participants it was almost midnight and for others it was early morning or late afternoon. One thing we all had in common was a curious and motivated mindset getting ready to look into the heart of EOSC-Nordic and evaluate its first nine months of progress. In other words, the EOSC-Nordic had its first International Advisory Committee (IAC) meeting!

The EOSC-Nordic International Advisory Committee consists of no-less than seven international experts: Francoise Genova (France), Andrew Treloar (Australia), Ingrid Dillo (Netherlands), Wilco Hazeleger (Netherlands), Ana Proykova (Bulgaria), Christine Kirkpatrick (USA) and Daniel Mallmann (Germany).

Their mandate is to advise and support the Executive Board in its effort to carry out the project of EOSC-Nordic. Besides the international experts the IAC holds the three following ex officio members of the EOSC-Nordic project; Coordinator Gudmund Høst (NeIC), Project Manager Lene Krøl Andersen (DeiC) and the International Liaison Damien Lecarpentier (CSC). The EOSC-Nordic Project Office also runs the secretariat functions for the IAC.

The meeting was chaired by Coordinator Gudmund Høst, while the EOSC-Nordic International Liaison Damien Lecarpentier provided the project overview in the context of EOSC as a complete system. Each work package leader presented their individual highlights of both successes and challenges and then the IAC feedback really took off! One of the IAC members even mentioned never having experienced such a lively chat activity with continuous feedback, questions and reflections. It was quite clear that it is the right experts who are part of this work.

The following eight concrete expert advices were passed on to the EOSC-Nordic team from the IAC:

  1. EOSC-Nordic should look for real occasions to exchange with the other 5b projects on the project activities, findings and lessons learnt, even if what is done can likely not be reused as is in other regions.
  2. The project could benefit from having more bilateral contacts.
  3. For the next meeting the project should pose questions to the IAC in advance. The project should also be open for questions between now and next time we meet.
  4. The project could consider engaging an ethnographer to study how a consortium works.
  5. The IAC would like to receive a project update every six months (instead of yearly).
  6. The project should focus on cross-domain activity rather than domain specific.
  7. There was some concern that too much was taken on board and it was suggested for each WP to aim for very tangible results which could help to shape ideas and the actual implementation of EOSC.
  8. The IAC strongly encourages to engage with the Cluster projects and ESFRI, in order to ensure sustainability.

The advices will be presented and discussed at the next EOSC-Nordic Executive Board meeting on August the 28th.

The IAC was overall impressed by the fast take-off of EOSC-Nordic. This builds upon the existing Nordic e-Infrastructure collaboration platform; NeIC and the similar working cultures in the Nordic and Baltic countries.

EOSC-Nordic thanks the IAC for providing their expert view and advice to the project. On behalf of the whole EOSC-Nordic team; we feel privileged to have such strong experts in the field guiding the project.

We in the EOSC-Nordic was indeed left with the feeling that the project is on the right track towards a complete EOSC!

Fact box
Read the minutes from the IAC meeting here.
See a list of the IAC members here.