RDA Open Call for RDA Communities of Practice

EOSC Future

Research Data Alliance

17 January 2022 - 12:00 am CET

21 March 2022 - 05:00 pm CET

Individuals or Organisations

€7.500

RDA is running a series of Open Calls, in the context of the EOSC Future project, to further enable integration and take-up of EOSC services. The purpose of these grants is to engage communities outside of EOSC, encourage adoption of EOSC solutions and a wider participation to EOSC.  

In this context a series of targeted calls around setting up RDA Communities of Practice is launched. This call iteration specifically targets individuals or groups looking to establish RDA Communities of Practice in support of EOSC.  

RDA Communities of Practice (CoP) investigate, discuss and provide knowledge and skills within a specific discipline and/or research domain. Composed of experts from that area, CoPs are committed to directly or indirectly enabling data sharing, exchange and/or interoperability by serving as THE coordination focal point for RDA in those specific disciplines/research domains. These global communities of practice play a fundamental role in engaging users and providers in EOSC as well as social and technical alignment across national, regional and discipline specific open science / open research commons / clouds. The call will complement the activities of RDA in supporting the engagement of underrepresented scientific and research communities in EOSC Future.  

Successful applications should consider the set –up of a community of practice (CoP) under the RDA umbrella in order to address:    

  • Consolidating new domain / disciplinary communities around EOSC to address specific requirements and implementations 

  • Disciplinary developments in support of the existing EOSC Science clusters brought forward by the global approaches adopted within the RDA  

  • Cross disciplinary approaches to benefit the EOSC 

  • Global approaches, including domain specific global open research commons initiatives  

Context and Background   

RDA is running a series of calls, in the context of the EOSC Future project, to further enable development, integration and take-up of EOSC services. The purpose of these RDA Open Calls is to engage the community from a bottom-up approach to contribute their know-how to EOSC. The grants are designed to help enable communities outside of EOSC to leverage EOSC services. At the same time, the grants aim to support and encourage examples of adoption of existing RDA recommendations and outputs which can benefit the community around EOSC and to promote examples and lessons learnt.    

This call is closed

Meet the grantees

Improving Global Agricultural Data Community of Practice in the Republic of Moldova

What:

The project focuses on expanding Improving Global Agricultural Data Community of Practice             (IGAD CoP) in the Republic of Moldova to facilitate the adoption of RDA recommendations, inviting experts to join and enrich the dialogue and encouraging researchers to share their experiences.

Who:

Viorica Lupu, Vice Director at the Republican Scientific Agricultural Library of the Technical University of Moldova.

Biography:

Scientific Domain:

Social Sciences

Country:

Moldova

Expanding the IGAD CoP in South Caucasus Region – Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan

What:

Expanding the Improving Global Agricultural Data Community of Practice (IGAD CoP) in South Caucasus Region – Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Who:

Marina Razmadze, Deputy Director and Researcher at the Central Institute for Scientific and Technical Information – TECHINFORMI

Biography:

Scientific Domain:

Computer Science

Country:

Georgia

FAQs

RDA welcomes applications from people or groups who are active in RDA and are committed to the RDA vision and efforts around open data sharing, FAIR-isation of data, quality data management and stewardship, interoperability and federation.  These can be junior/senior researchers, mid-career data professionals, and data scientists. They can be based in research groups or institutions, or SMEs across Europe, provided they meet the criteria below. Each grant will be awarded for €7.500 and a total of 5 grants with this focus will be awarded over the lifetime of the EOSC Future project.     

Criteria and conditions    

  • Applicants should demonstrate that they have been or are currently involved in RDA as an active member, participant, chair or contributor to a WG or IG especially in the last 12-18 months.  

  • Have a good understanding of RDA processes around Communities of Practice 

  • Be proactive and willing to contribute to RDA recommendations or outputs testing and adoption particularly in European institutions.   

  • Have a good understanding of EOSC, the FAIR movement.   

Further conditions   

  • This call is not open to members of the EOSC Future consortium. Staff working on the EOSC Future project (i.e., directly funded through a beneficiary (its department or unit executing EOSC Future activities), as an LTP or seconded personnel) are not eligible to apply for grants under the RDA Open Calls and will be asked to tick a Declaration of Honour box upon application. Other staff of these participating institutions are eligible.   

  • The call may support the establishment of a new RDA Community of Practice. The call is equally suited to complement the work of existing RDA CoPs and to expand and supplement any ongoing work within that CoP, e.g., support the coordination and delivery of a concrete output, or coordination efforts.

  • All successful applicants will have to provide a plan for a sound dissemination of the outputs created, openly licensed. A mid-term and final term report will be submitted, following a contractual agreement, highlighting progress, use cases and lessons learned.    

  • All results will be made available on the RDA site for 4 years. Successful applicants may be asked to share their details (photo, bio) for dissemination purposes.    

  • Complementary proposals for Working Groups would be considered, and applicants from new EU countries and Western Balkans are encourages, to complement a goal of EOSC Future to raise broader geographical EOSC awareness.

How your application will be evaluated: These are the criteria and weighting   

Your proposal will take into account the RDA Guiding principles and demonstrate commitment to it. Proposals should drive the principles of openness and community activities.    

 

Candidates will be asked to submit an application that will be evaluated according to the following criteria   

    

  1. Excellence:     

  • A statement describing the commitment to the vision of EOSC, the FAIR movement, national Open Science agendas (implementation), links to European data infrastructures or similar federated infrastructures. (25%)    

  • A brief summary of previous and current activities demonstrating the applicant’s involvement and contributions to RDA related activities, Working/Interest Groups, development and/or promotion and/or adoption of RDA Recommendations and Outputs in European Institutions. (25%)    

  1. Impact:  

  • Technical capacity - Sustainability and impact potential of the proposal and how this can be carried forward within the context of EOSC and RDA. Applicants should put forward plans for continuing the work of the CoP beyond the funding period. Methodology of application. The proposal must be thought through, well-written, clear and demonstrate the methodology works. (25%)    

  1. Implementation (quality and efficiency):  

  • A summary of the proposed CoP, how the proposed resources are planned, how it is relevant to RDA. Include a clear statement on how the group will directly benefit EOSC (and other global commons). Outline the activities planned and associated timeline, the relationship to and impact on EOSC, and how an accompanying technical update can be created. (25%) 

  • The evaluation process will also consider the following criteria to establish balanced and diverse distribution of the grants:         

  • Geographical balance,         
  • Gender balance,         
  • Preference to candidates in underrepresented fields within RDA.    

Evaluators   

The applications will be independently evaluated by experts with insights to the RDA and group recommendations who have no conflict of interest (the applicant is not employed by the evaluator’s organisation nor is/are the recommendation(s) a direct result of their work).   

Word limit for applications    

The word limit for your application will be via fields in a form each with a specific word limit. You can start with an application and save it in the system to return to it later. You are allowed to upload accompanying documentation, e.g., project plan and methodology.    

Financial Contribution   

The RDA Open Calls programme will offer up to 5 grants of maximum €7.500,00 per grant to support the work in this area over the course of the EOSC Future project.   

This call is closed