RDA Open Call for RDA Working Groups

EOSC Future

Research Data Alliance

17 January 2022 - 12:00 am CET

21 March 2022 - 05:00 pm CET

Individuals or Organisations

€15.000

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

In this context a series of targeted calls around setting up EOSC-focused RDA Working Groups (WG) is launched. This call iteration specifically targets individuals or groups aiming to establish RDA Working Groups focusing on the development of solutions for EOSC. The RDA WG outputs are defined as “technical and social infrastructure solutions developed that enable data sharing, exchange, and interoperability”.  In the case of the WGs established as an outcome of this call, the outputs developed would be particularly focused on enabling solutions supporting the technical developments around EOSC, and / or addressing social barriers and increase adoption and community participation to EOSC. The goal is to leverage the RDA global community of experts and the RDA structures in support of EOSC.  

Examples of existing structures that already benefit EOSC include the existing RDA Global Open Research Commons (GORC) Interest Group and its Global Open Research Commons International Benchmarking Working group, as well as the RDA Funders Forum and associated Interest Group. These groups could be leveraged in this call. 

RDA provides an open forum where solutions are discussed and experience shared via its community ethos. EOSC is a new concept for many disciplinary communities and this call provides the perfect opportunity for a deeper understanding and to enable a two-way communication, collaboration and awareness raising around the EOSC core and associated services. A working group around EOSC is a timely addition to the RDA existing working groups.  

About the RDA Working Groups 

WGs are short-term (18 months) and come together to develop and implement data infrastructure, which could be tools, policy, practices and products that are adopted and used by projects, organizations, and communities. Embedded within these groups are individuals who will use the infrastructure and help in making it broadly available to the public. Any RDA member can join or initiate a WG. See the existing Working Groups here.  

Broader areas of interest suggested but not limited to. WGs can be focused on specific aspects of any of these or related topics:  

  • EOSC Services: PIDs for EOSC, EOSC Marketplace, PID policies and compliance, AAI and security coordination, Service management, Research products, services and data sources Registry, EOSC Monitoring and Accounting, Core Helpdesk 

  • ESOC Exchange: Data transfer, Research data as a service, Research software as a service 

  • EOSC Interoperability Framework: resource description, policies, AAI, PIDs, metrics, metadata and other frameworks. A feasibility study on ways of implementing the interoperability framework, also within from a disciplinary perspective 

  • Competence / skills and training for EOSC 

  • Disciplinary approaches in support of the EOSC Science clusters and beyond, disciplinary specific implementations 

  • Feasibility of EOSC services for the long-tail of research data 

  • Cross disciplinary approaches to benefit the EOSC  

  • Global approaches, including global open research commons initiatives  

  • Alignment with EOSC Task Forces and the EOSC SRIA  

Context and Background   

RDA is running a series of calls in the context of the EOSC Future project, to further enable 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 of research data and RDA to EOSC. Ultimately these grants should contribute to the enabling of communities outside of EOSC leverage EOSC services, and 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

Reproducibility in the analysis of brain data

What:

The WG Neuroimaging aims to create a community around the special case of reproducibility in the analysis of brain data.
 

Continuous activities of the RDA ambassadors on the EOSC Future website:

Over the 18-month of the WG:

  • A call for participation in the community will be announced, and support will be arranged where it is need, in the form of financial support to plan and budget training, scaffolding and agreement with host institutions to carve training time for participants in the community, etc.
  • Monthly meetings will be planned with the objective of scoping needs of the community and form working groups. Such projects may include, for instance:
    • the creation of training curricula, including teaching material, exercises and pedagogical documentation;
    • the review of typical analytical pipelines, and identification of best practices;
    • or the evaluation of current data sharing practices, and scoping of what might a sustainable practice look like as neuroimaging incorporates tools and methods in database management, machine learning and advanced statistical methods.

Who:

Etienne Roesch is an applied statistician and researcher at the University of Reading

Scientific Domain:

Software engineering

Your Promotion and Networking:

Promotion of domain specific Open Science practices/EOSC/RDA at meetings and conferences, publications and presentations. For example: ORCID/LinkedIn profiles, project homepages, document repositories etc.

http://repro.school

Your Outputs:

Country:

United Kingdom

Psychology RDA Interest Group

What:

Aligning with RDA’s mission, the purpose of the Psychology RDA Interest Group (IG) is to raise awareness of the importance of data sharing, and to provide support with respect to the technical skills needed for FAIR data sharing within the Psychology community. This IG brings together Psychology researchers with an interest in open, transparent, and reproducible research methods and practices.

Who:

Jim Grange is a Reader in Cognitive Psychology at Keeele University

Scientific Domain:

Psychology

Your Domain specific Engagement:

Shared perspectives and joined conversations, discussions and communication of domain specific requirements between EOSC/RDA and the specific community)

Your Promotion and Networking:

Promotion of domain specific Open Science practices/EOSC/RDA at meetings and conferences, publications and presentations

Country:

United Kingdom

Data Visitation Working Group

What:

The EOSC-Future & RDA Artificial Intelligence and Data Visitation Working Group (AIDV- WG) will address ethical, legal, and social challenges of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Visitation (DV) affecting of state-of-the art data technology impacting scientific exchange in the context of data sharing and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).

Who:

Francis P. Crawley, Executive Director of the Good Clinical Practice Alliance – Europe (GCPA) and the Strategic Initiative for Developing Capacity in Ethical Review (SIDCER) located in Leuven, Belgium.

Biography:

Scientific Domain:

Data ethics, AI ethics

Country:

Belgium

FAQs

RDA welcomes applications from people, organisations 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 €15.000,00 and a total of 10 grants with this focus will be awarded over the lifetime of the EOSC Future project.  Eligible costs will be covered.  

 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 WG set-up, activities and output delivery  

  • 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.   

  • Reside and/or work in a EU country or associate countries.      

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 a 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 Working Group. The call is equally suited to complement the work of existing RDA Working Groups and to expand and supplement any ongoing work within that Working Group 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 the Western Balkans are encouraged, to complement a goal of EOSC Future to raise broader geographical EOSC awareness. 

  • As stated above, only EU based individuals or their EU-based organisations may apply to this call, however the rationale is that all the RDA Working Group members will benefit from the allocated grant, regardless of where they are located. 

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, understanding 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%)    

2. 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 uptake of the developed solution and for continuing the work beyond the funding period. Methodology of application. The proposal must be thought through, well-written, clear and demonstrate the methodology. (25%)    
  • Implementation (quality and efficiency):     

  • A summary of the proposed WG, the resources used and how the work is relevant to RDA and addresses EOSC related gaps. 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 10 grants of maximum €15,000.00 per grant to support the work in this area over the course of the EOSC Future project   

This call is closed