Trusted frameworks for secure and efficient data sharing in EOSC (EOSC Partnership)

Expected Outcome:

Project results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:

• Countries, research communities and institutions are equipped with data sovereignty frameworks harmonised within EOSC and aligned with EU legislation and international agreements.
• Improved mechanisms and solutions for effective control over sensitive data and for enabling lawful data use and sharing across EU member states, scientific disciplines and third countries with EU adequacy decision in place.
• More harmonised guidelines, support and training to researchers and data stewards on applying EU and national legislation and international agreements for data access, sharing, reuse, licensing and associated services within EOSC.
• Increased interoperability with relevant solutions of other European data spaces for secure data management and processing.

Scope:

Research data sovereignty refers to the possibility for effective control by data owners of data usage and sharing when necessary. Effective and transparent community-driven data sovereignty frameworks are important enablers of open science, in particular ensuring safe and trusted management of personal or sensitive data, safeguarding the quality of curated research datasets and the effective application of related EU and national digital and data legislation. Data sovereignty mechanisms can also improve the resilience and preparedness of research and data infrastructures against risks related to access to and preservation of critical data and services, including risks related to data generated and stored outside the EU/EEA.

The exponential growth of available research data and the increasingly collaborative and cross-disciplinary research has accentuated challenges related to secure, efficient and lawful cross-border data sharing for research purposes. Removing barriers to data sharing while ensuring data sovereignty is crucial to realise the potential of EOSC to foster trusted cross-country and cross-discipline scientific collaboration.

This topic aims to support data sovereignty while enabling seamless and trusted data sharing and access across scientific disciplines, EU Member States and third countries where the EU considers sufficient data protection is in place, tackling different regulatory regimes and procedures.

Proposals should include the following activities:

• Development and implementation of national, community and/or institutional research data sovereignty frameworks, including policies for data sharing and access, harmonised and aligned with EU digital and data legislation and international agreements such as adequacy decisions and digital partnership agreements, as well as best practices from EOSC, related common European data spaces and international data-sharing standards and initiatives.
• Demonstration and validation of concrete adoption cases of data sovereignty policies by national, community or institutional actors, aligned with open science and the FAIR data principles.
• Development of harmonised governance frameworks, ensuring smooth enforcement of data sovereignty policies.
• Development of comprehensive data provenance tools to trace and verify the quality and lineage of data used in research, and demonstration through identified use cases within relevant selected thematic areas.
• Development of templates and guidelines for secure and sovereign data management, including template agreements on data sharing, publication, and reuse, and guidelines for licensing.
• Development of guidelines for classifying critical data and services based on sensitivity and relevance to scientific communities and European policies, and for managing risks related to access to and preservation of such critical data and services.
• Analysis of data categories and definitions across scientific disciplines, incorporating compliance with security requirements set out in EU and national legislation.
• Development of recommendations for the establishment of a support centre, linking with relevant national and thematic competence centres, focused on compliance of data management with EU and national legislation, and proof of concept of its integration and sustainable operation in the EOSC Federation.

Projects are encouraged to explore synergies with relevant EU initiatives such as other common European data spaces that address sensitive data or data critical for research. To ensure complementarity and use of latest research results, proposals should build on ongoing and previous INFRAEOSC projects such as those funded by topics 2023-EOSC-01-06, 2023-EOSC-01-04 and 2024-EOSC-01-04 and align with the EOSC Federation policies and standards^[1]. This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership for the European Open Science Cloud^[2].

[1] As described in the EOSC Federation Handbook and other relevant documentation potentially adopted by the EOSC Federation

[2] https://eosc.eu/partnership/