Action 6: Shared Data Storage Service Pilot

Action 5.2.1: Develop a national shared data storage service for active data, starting with a pilot for a small number of research groups with the aim to grow the service into a national service

The Shared Data Storage Service Pilot project is a two-year project funded under the National Open Research Forum 2022 Open Research Fund. The pilot will enable users to access a national shared storage infrastructure and a suite of data  management services during the active phase of the research data life cycle to verify appetite for such  services, their fitness for purpose and will conclude with a report for policymakers and funders defining a sustainable national scale production service.

Objectives
The project will create a specification of a national research data infrastructure for active research data based on the results from a structured pilot. The need for this infrastructure is clearly stated in the National Action Plan for Open Research 2022-2030 and the National
Shared Data Storage Infrastructure NORF Policy Brief Series, December 2021.
The project focuses on the following:
• Understanding researcher data storage and sharing requirements by engaging with a manageable cohort of researchers to compile a detailed set of requirements.
• Building technical expertise around open source and established tools, specifically the EUDAT frameworks, and build a platform to be tested and used by researchers for the duration of the pilot.
• Design of a management, operational and governance model appropriate for the service.
• Leverage findings to develop a formal proposal to set up a national production-based environment covering service design, architecture, resourcing, funding and sustainability proposals.

Approach

The pilot will initially, until June 2023, use services from EUDAT (https://eudat.eu) to kick-start the process and enable the project team to build knowledge and expertise to verify the services are fit for purpose for the active phase of the research data life cycle. Having tested and developed skills on the EUDAT infrastructure, the project will transition the pilot service to infrastructure based in Ireland in partner institutions. This takes place from July 2023 through to Q2 2024.
The project avails of 11 research groups who have expressed interest in acting as pilot users. The research groups are from different scientific disciplines and from a wide range of institutes in Ireland, hence giving a good representation of the real user base in Ireland. The pilot users are members of a User Advisory Forum (UAF), whose remit is to advice on fitness for purpose, management and performance of the services offered. The project interacts with the broader research, and research support community in Ireland via a Stakeholder Advisory Forum (SAF).

Expected results
The project will deliver a specification for a national production quality service, with a sustainable business model, accessible by all researchers in Ireland. It will enable the sharing of active research data, both nationally and internationally, thus improving the quality and impact of research outputs. It will lead to the creation of a distributed national competence of technical and end-user Research Data Management (RDM) in line with the EOSC and FAIR principles, helping to ensure that Irish based researchers adhere to RDM best practice, and therefore compliance, within the funded projects (such as Horizon Europe, etc.).