Getting Started With the EOSC EU Node

Overview

The EOSC EU Node helps you get started quickly with your research. It is Europe’s first platform designed to support multidisciplinary and multinational workflows, bringing together tools and services built on FAIR and Open Science principles.

Within the EOSC EU Node, you can: 

• Launch projects and collaborate with colleagues across Europe
• Share and reuse high-quality datasets
• Deploy analysis and visualisation tools in a few clicks
• Explore an expanding catalogue of research services and resources

Hosted in Europe and fully GDPR-compliant, the EOSC EU Node keeps your research data under your control and supports you at every step, from planning and execution to sharing and reuse. 

Logging in

Access the EOSC EU Node using your existing institutional credentials. No new account registration needed; the system recognises your institutional identity automatically.

• EduGAIN - For university and research institution researchers and staff.
• EU Login - For European Commission staff and registered users.
• eIDAS (via EU Login) - For users with national electronic IDs.

Each of these methods consider specific role and country requirements that determine authorisation, i.e., access group eligibility. Learn more about authentication and authorisation here. 

User Space

User Space is your personal dashboard for managing your research within the EOSC EU Node. Here, you can deploy and manage services and tools, upload, process, and share your data, and collaborate with peers by creating or joining Groups. You can also track your service usage and credit history, monitor your remaining balance in your personal wallet, mark favourite tools and resources, follow orders, and more. All from one place. 

Access & Credits

Once inside the EOSC EU Node, the system assigns you an access level based on your institutional role. You receive virtual credits from the European Commission according to this access level.

These credits are used to access EOSC EU Node services. They automatically replenish every 90 days, and you can monitor your usage and remaining balance in your personal dashboard. 

Wrong access level? If your assigned access group does not reflect your actual institutional role, follow these steps:

1. Check your User Settings to see your current access group and identity provider attributes
2. Verify your institutional role with your organisation’s IT department
3. Contact your identity provider to ensure correct role information is shared
4. Submit a ticket to the EOSC EU Node Helpdesk if the issue persists. Include proof of role (official letter or directory listing).

Learn more about the different access groups here and about credit allocation here. 

Services

Once your credits are active, you can start using the services available through the EOSC EU Node.

These include the six services provided directly by the European Commission and third-party services integrated under the EOSC Federation.

Offered Services: These six services are operated within the Node and provide the foundation for most research workflows: 

• File Sync & Share Your personal cloud storage for collaborative research
• Interactive notebooks A shared space for coding, analysis, and collaboration
• Large File Transfer Fast and secure file transfers
• Virtual Machines Scalable cloud computing for reliable and reproducible results
• Cloud Container Platforms Simplified Kubernetes for scalable research
• Bulk Data Transfer Smooth high-volume data transfers

Third-Party Services: In addition to these services, you can access third-party services operated by trusted EOSC partners. These services are technically integrated into the EOSC EU Node and appear directly in your User Space, where you can discover, access, and use them with the same login, credit, and monitoring experience as the services offered by the EOSC EU Node.

Tools Hub

The Tools Hub is your central space for discovering and using research applications that run directly on EOSC EU Node infrastructure. It offers pre-configured tools designed to help you analyse, process, and visualise data without the need for manual installation or setup.

Within the Tools Hub, you can: 

• Browse and search for ready-to-use applications tailored to different research domains
• Launch tools instantly using your EOSC EU Node credits
• Combine multiple tools to build and automate research workflows
• Mark favourites for quick access from your User Space dashboard 

Groups

Within the EOSC EU Node, you can create or join Groups to collaborate and share access to services, data, and credits within a shared research environment.

Creating a Group 

• Only Investigator-level users can create Groups and act as Group Owners.
• Each Investigator can have up to two active Groups at a time.
• When a Group is created, regardless of the number of their members, it automatically receives 6,000 credits, replenished every 90 days.

Joining a Group 

• Any authenticated user (Observer level or above) can be invited to join a Group as a Member.
• Members inherit the Group’s access rights to services and resources.
• A user can belong to a maximum of four active Groups.

Guides

Curious to learn more about using the EOSC EU Node and its services? Visit the EOSC EU Node Learning Center on OpenPlato (login via the EOSC EU Node) for quick tutorials and in-depth courses.  

Follow the EOSC Research Practitioner learning path to explore the platform from the basics of navigation to designing and running complete research workflows. Real examples and service walkthroughs help you build practical skills and confidence in using the EOSC EU Node.