The EOSC EU Node will take part in the upcoming Kick-off Workshop for the build-up phase of the EOSC Federation, organised by the EOSC Tripartite Governance under the auspices of DG RTD, on 17-18 March 2025 in Brussels, Belgium. This event will bring together representatives from 12 invited organisations and one consortium, the European Commission with the EOSC EU Node contractors, and the EOSC Association to shape the early phase of the EOSC Federation build-up.
As the first reference node in the unfolding EOSC Federation, the EOSC EU Node implements core federating capabilities and provides horizontal infrastructure and application services to support cross-node scientific workflows. The workshop will create a unique opportunity to present the EOSC EU Node’s technical architecture and solutions to the other node candidates and actively contribute to discussions on the key aspects of the early federation building exercise, ensuring alignment with the common interests of all involved organisations and other stakeholders of the EOSC ecosystem.
The workshop agenda will focus on:
- Planning the main activities of the build-up phase based on draft project proposals of the node candidates.
- Defining the organisational modalities for effective collaboration.
EOSC EU Node representatives will contribute to discussions across
multiple highly relevant topics:
- Identity and resource management
- How can we ensure seamless authentication and authorisation (AAI) across the EOSC Federation? What role do PIDs, metadata standards, and resource discovery play in enabling interoperability?
- Federated workflows, application orchestration, and monitoring
- How can we enable cross-node scientific workflows? What tools and standards should be in place for workflow management, orchestration, and Virtual Research Environments (VREs)?
- Security, privacy, and policy frameworks
- What security policies and IT certifications should the EOSC Federation adopt? How do we ensure GDPR compliance and define clear Rules of Participation (RoP) for nodes and services?
- Scientific services, FAIR research objects, and use cases
- How do we ensure EOSC services and research objects (data, software, workflows) are FAIR? What are the best practices for data curation, provenance tracking, and real-world use cases?
- Skills, training, and engagement strategies for the EOSC Federation
- What training and capacity-building efforts are needed to support researchers and service providers? How do we engage new communities and structure EOSC onboarding processes effectively?
The EOSC Federation is taking shape through 12 organisations and one consortium, selected by the EOSC Tripartite Governance based on their technical, organisational, and scientific capacity to support the build-up phase. They are:
- BBMRI ERIC
- CERN
- CNR (Blue-Cloud 2026)
- Life Science Research Node (on behalf of four Life Science Research Infrastructures: ELIXIR, EMBL, Euro-BioImaging ERIC, and Instruct-ERIC)
- ESRF (PaNOSC)
- EUDAT
- CNRS (Data Terra)
- CVTI SR
- CSC-IT Center for Science
- Foundation ICSC
- NCN
- NFDI
- SURF
Why This Is Important
The EOSC Federation is taking shape as a distributed and interoperable ecosystem, where multiple nodes contribute to a seamless “European Open Science Cloud” experience of the researchers and other end-users. This workshop is a crucial step in:
- Defining how EOSC will operate by harmonising technical solutions and governance structures.
- Ensuring that services, workflows, and policies are aligned to support cross-border, cross-discipline research.
- Strengthening collaboration among the involved organisations to create a robust and sustainable federated environment.
As an active participant in this process, the EOSC EU Node aims to support the EOSC Federation’s build-up and growth by providing the baseline federating capabilities and some horizontal services, supporting the evolving needs of other Candidate Nodes, and contributing to shared objectives. This engagement is key for the EOSC EU Node to refine its role, ensure its solutions remain relevant, and effectively strengthen the EOSC Federation.
Stay tuned for workshop reflections!
Details
- Publication date
- 5 March 2025