Distributed Research Infrastructure Research Articles

IRIS-A New Distributed Research Infrastructure on Applied Superconductivity

IRIS-A New Distributed Research Infrastructure on Applied Superconductivity

The lifeblood of LifeWatch ERIC: national in-kind contributions

A distributed research infrastructure such as LifeWatch ERIC necessitates close cooperation among the various components that constitute the research infrastructure and contribute to the overall services, facilities and resources it offers to the user community. In-kind contributions are non-monetary contributions, consisting of labour, services, facilities and access to resources, typically provided by the distributed components of the research infrastructure. The financing for in-kind contributions is usually provided by the national funding agency on behalf of the LifeWatch member country or by the member directly, with a value being accredited towards the member's funding obligations to LifeWatch ERIC. The management and validation of in-kind contributions towards shared objectives are integral to the legal framework supporting LifeWatch ERIC. This involves a rigorous assessment process to verify each in-kind contribution. This short article outlines that process and explores the function of the In-Kind Contributions Committee (IKCC) at LifeWatch ERIC.

Mobilising Long-Term Natural Environment and Biodiversity Data and Exposing it for Federated, Semantic Queries

Biodiversity and ecosystems cannot be studied without assessing the impacts of changing environmental conditions. Since the 1980s, the U.S. National Science Foundation's Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network has been a major force in the field of ecology to better understand ecosystems. In Europe, the LTER developments are led by the the Integrated European Long-Term Ecosystem, critical zone and socio-ecological system Research Infrastructure (eLTER RI), a currently project-based infrastructure initiative with the aim to facilitate high impact research and catalyse new insights about the compounded impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss, soil degradation, pollution, and unsustainable resource use on a range of European ecosystems and socio-ecological systems. The European LTER network, which forms the basis for the up-coming eLTER RI, is active in 26 countries and has 500 registered sites that provide legacy data e.g., historical time-series data about the environment (not only biodiversity). Its site information and dataset metadata with the measured variables are available to be searched at the Dynamic Ecological Information Management System - Site and dataset registry (DEIMS-SDR, Wohner et al. 2019). While DEIMS-SDR data models utilize parts of the Ecological Metadata Language (EML) schema 2.0.0, location information follows the European INSPIRE specification. The future eLTER data is planned to consist of site-based, long-term time-series of ecological data. The eLTER projects have defined eLTER Standard Observations (SO), which will include the minimum set of variables as well as the associated method protocols that can characterise adequately the state and future trends of the Earth's systems. (Masó et al. 2020, Reyers et al. 2017). The current eLTER network consists of sites that differ in terms of infrastructure maturity or environment type and may focus on one or several of the future SOs or they are not yet executing any holistic monitoring scheme. The main objective is to convert the eLTER site network into a distributed research infrastructure that incorporates a clearly outlined mandatory monitoring program. Essential to this effort are the suggested variables for eLTER SOs and the corresponding methods and protocols for relevant habitat types according to the European Nature Information System (EUNIS) in each domain. eLTER variables are described by using the eLTER thesaurus "EnvThes". These descriptions are currently enhanced by the use of the InteroperAble Descriptions of Observable Property Terminology (I-ADOPT, Magagna et al. 2022) framework to provide the necessary level of detail required for seamless data discovery and integration. Variables and their associated methods and protocols will be formalised to enable automatic site classifications, by building on existing observation representations such as the Extensible Observation Ontology (OBOE), Open Geospatial Consortium's Observation and Measurement, and the future eLTER Standard Observation ontology. DEIMS-SDR will continue to be used as a core service with an RDF representation of its assets (sites, sensors, activities, people) currently being implemented. This action is synced with the Biodiversity Digital Twin (BioDT) project to ensure maximum findability, accessibility, interoperability and re-usability (FAIRness; Wilkinson et al. 2016) of data through FAIR Digital Objects (FDO). Other (digital) assets such as datasets, models and analytical workflows will be documented in the Digital Asset Register (DAR) alongside semantic mapping and crosswalk techniques, to provide machine-actionable metadata (Schultes and Wittenburg 2019, Schwardmann 2020). The Biodiversity Digital Twin (BioDT) project is bringing together biodiversity and natural environment data from seven thematic use cases for modeling. BioDT prototypes rely on openly available data that comes from multiple heterogeneous sources using a multitude of standards and formats. In the pilot phase, merging data requires "hand picking" from selected sources, and automation of workflows would still require many additional steps. There are ongoing efforts in both the BioDT and eLTER projects to find best ways and practices to bring the raw data together by using suitable standards but also to harmonise the other environment variables by referring to vocabularies and possibly express the data as FDOs. Currently both the EML schema and Darwin Core standard (Darwin Core Task Group 2009; with registered extensions) allow referring to external schemas and vocabularies, which give flexibility but may still prove to be too narrow for the multitude of data types and formats the natural environment data requires. We welcome discussion about how to create good practices for enriching and harmonising natural environment data and species occurrence data in a meaningful way. GBIF's new data model and enriching the raw data with semantic artefacts may prove to be the way to provide thematic data products that combine data from multiple sources.

Building a novel strategic research agenda for METROFOOD-RI: design process and multi-stakeholder engagement towards thematic prioritization.

The European research landscape suffers widely from fragmentation and little cross-border research collaboration. Efforts are underway to bring the European Research Area to a higher level of performance and capacity in cutting-edge science, with high anticipations for the promotion of multidisciplinary research infrastructures of transnational engagement. A European distributed research infrastructure active in this framework is METROFOOD-RI, committed to promoting metrology in food and nutrition with particular focus on measurement research related to agrifood systems. For research infrastructures, streamlining resources among partner organizations and establishing priorities around specific topics is critical for ensuring smooth operation. Similarly, METROFOOD-RI faced the challenge of exploring its strategic direction and research priorities as revealed in its first Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA). This report details how the internal process of topic identification and prioritization progressed within the METROFOOD-RI SRIA and what obstacles were encountered along the way. A dual-track strategy was taken for locating future SRIA topics, applying a top-down and bottom-up approach, followed by internal consultation with METROFOOD-RI experts. The topic prioritization drew on a vote among the METROFOOD-RI Management Committee employing a custom-designed numerical rating scale questionnaire. Based on the maximum scores obtained for each topic, appropriate thresholds were introduced for classifying individual topics into high, medium, low, and very low priority ones. A total of 80 topics categorized into eight major clusters of challenges were located as potential SRIA candidates. Upon prioritization, 9 topics of very high priority and 16 topics of medium priority were identified as key research thematic areas of the newly developed SRIA. As a strategic framework, the SRIA occupies a central position and sets not only the scientific focus of the research infrastructure in the coming years, but also contributes to realizing the full potential and excellence of METROFOOD-RI, selectively expanding the existing portfolio and thus contributing to maximum efficiency and sustainability. It is anticipated that the lessons learned by METROFOOD-RI and its experiences shared are a valuable stimulus and guide for those who are taking on the challenge of setting-up a SRIA and are looking for edifying and constructive information on how to do so.

The International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories Presents Abstracts from Its Annual Meeting

The International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories Presents Abstracts from Its Annual Meeting

European Research Infrastructure Consortium: The Organizational and Legal Form of Research Infrastructures in the European Union

Problems setting. The scientific work is devoted to the legal form of research infrastructures in the European Union the European Research Infrastructure Consortium. The ERIC Regulation facilitates the quicker establishment of European Research Infrastructures by saving time in avoiding the repetition of negotiations, project by project, to analyse and discuss the best legal form for such international research organisations, with related advantages and disadvantages and the time saved in avoiding discussions in each national parliament related to the approval of a needed international agreement in case the ERIC Regulation would not have existed. Analysis of recent researches and publications. The issue of the functioning of research infrastructures in the EU in the form of ERIC has been relevant in European scientific literature for the last decade. In particular, it is worth noting studies by Maria Moskovko, Arnljotur Astvaldsson and Olof Hallonsten, Carlo Rizzutto. In Ukraine, some issues of legal regulation and information support of research infrastructures were studied by Golovashchenko O.S., Lyubchych A.M., Mamayev I.O. There are no thorough studies of the legal status of research infrastructures in the national jurisprudence, which is due to the novelty of this topic in the law of Ukraine. Target of the research is to provide an overview of the dominant legal form of functioning of research infrastructures in the European Union, the history of its implementation, legal regulation, features of activity. Article’s main body. The European Research Infrastructure Consortium is a legal entity established by a decision of the European Commission. It has legal personality and full legal capacity recognized in all EU Member States. The internal structure of the European Research Infrastructures Consortium is defined in the statute by its founding countries. The ERIC legal framework can be used for new or existing research infrastructures, locally located or distributed research infrastructures. The European Research Infrastructures Consortium has been granted the status of an international organization within the EU legal system, but it is not an international organization according to the international law, as the decision to establish ERIC is taken by the European Commission. Much attention is paid to the EU legal framework that allowed the introduction of the European Research Infrastructure Consortium – Council Regulation (EC) No 723/2009 on the Community legal framework for the European Research Infrastructures Consortium. The article specifies the law that applies to the European Research Infrastructures Consortium. The activities of the European Research Infrastructures Consortium are governed by EU law, additionally by the national law of the Member State where it’s located, and the statute, internal documents of ERIC. The legislation of the host state is to be applied in resolving issues related to the implementation of the statutory tasks of ERIC. Conclusions and prospects for development. The implementation of the legal framework of the European Research Infrastructure Consortium has resulted in removing legislative obstacles that hindered the development of cooperation of EU Member States with partners from other countries in the field of science. It has also led to the establishment a common European legal framework for scientific activities and thus has resulted in the development of the European Research Area. Despite the fact that more than ten years have passed since the implementation of the legal regulation of the functioning of research infrastructures in the form of ERIC, it is still in its infancy and questions arise in the process of its application. However, the rapid establishment of research infrastructures in the form of ERIC shows that it is effective for the development of research infrastructures in Europe and the establishment of the European Research Area.

Стратегическое планирование экономического развития Китая

Strategic planning is one of the most important functions of strategic management. The state uses different strategic planning tools when developing and implementing strategies. China boasts one of the most effective best practices in strategizing, which can be expanded to other countries. This review covers the main approaches to strategic planning in China. The methodology relied on the theory of strategy and methodology of strategizing developed by Vladimir L. Kvint, Dr.Sc.(Econ.), foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Chinese system of strategic planning takes into account the latest achievements of strategizing, including Dr. Kvint’s ideas. Its longterm, medium-term, and short-term development is compiled by the Academy of Sciences, research centers of the State Council, and the Committee for Development and Reform. Chinese regional development strategies are based on the modern global trends. However, the regions evaluate their own resources and development rates, as well as use estimates from various central and regional departments. The policy differs from region to region, depending on both objective factors, e.g., geography, and various subjective features. Large investments in R&D are a necessary part of innovation-driven strategy, but they not always ensure high innovation performance. In fact, Chinese R&D needs more attention to provide innovative development. The regional economic structure fails as a result of unbalanced regional development. Eastern China has better science and technology than the less developed Central, Western, and North-Eastern regions. However, the high population density and the close interregional collaboration compensate for the uneven development for the country, as well as provide a centralized management of economic growth and distributed research infrastructure. Conclusion. The experience of strategic planning in China can serve as a role model for other countries. The prolonged strategic interests, goals, and objectives increase the effectiveness and motivation. In addition, China is constantly developing the field of strategizing theory, methodology, and practice, thus increasing its scientific and innovative potential.

A Federated and Distributed Data Management Infrastructure to Enable Public Health Surveillance from Intensive Care Unit Data.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) monitors the actual number of COVID-19 patients requiring intensive care from aggregated data reported by hospitals in Germany. So far, there is no infrastructure to make use of individual patient-level data from intensive care units for public health surveillance. Adopting concepts and components of the already established AKTIN Emergency Department Data registry, we implemented the prototype of a federated and distributed research infrastructure giving the RKI access to patient-level intensive care data.

Data integration and FAIR data management in Solid Earth Science

Integrated use of multidisciplinary data is nowadays a recognized trend in scientific research, in particular in the domain of solid Earth science where the understanding of a physical process is improved and made complete by different types of measurements – for instance, ground acceleration, SAR imaging, crustal deformation – describing a physical phenomenon. FAIR principles are recognized as a means to foster data integration by providing a common set of criteria for building data stewardship systems for Open Science. However, the implementation of FAIR principles raises issues along dimensions like governance and legal beyond, of course, the technical one. In the latter, in particular, the development of FAIR data provision systems is often delegated to Research Infrastructures or data providers, with support in terms of metrics and best practices offered by cluster projects or dedicated initiatives. In the current work, we describe the approach to FAIR data management in the European Plate Observing System (EPOS), a distributed research infrastructure in the solid Earth science domain that includes more than 250 individual research infrastructures across 25 countries in Europe. We focus in particular on the technical aspects, but including also governance, policies and organizational elements, by describing the architecture of the EPOS delivery framework both from the organizational and technical point of view and by outlining the key principles used in the technical design. We describe how a combination of approaches, namely rich metadata and service-based systems design, are required to achieve data integration. We show the system architecture and the basic features of the EPOS data portal, that integrates data from more than 220 services in a FAIR way. The construction of such a portal was driven by the EPOS FAIR data management approach, that by defining a clear roadmap for compliance with the FAIR principles, produced a number of best practices and technical approaches for complying with the FAIR principles. Such a work, that spans over a decade but concentrates the key efforts in the last 5 years with the EPOS Implementation Phase project and the establishment of EPOS-ERIC, was carried out in synergy with other EU initiatives dealing with FAIR data. On the basis of the EPOS experience, future directions are outlined, emphasizing the need to provide i) FAIR reference architectures that can ease data practitioners and engineers from the domain communities to adopt FAIR principles and build FAIR data systems; ii) a FAIR data management framework addressing FAIR through the entire data lifecycle, including reproducibility and provenance; and iii) the extension of the FAIR principles to policies and governance dimensions. .

Long-term sustainability of a distributed RI: the EPOS case

The European Plate Observing System (EPOS) is a distributed research infrastructure (RI) with the mission to establish and maintain sustainable and long-term access to solid Earth science data and services by integrating the diverse national research infrastructures under a common federated framework governed by EPOS ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium). This paper presents the EPOS approach to ensure financial viability and to tackle the challenge of long-term sustainability of the RI during its operational phase. The EPOS approach to sustainable operation considers the scientific impact and the promotion of scientific research as the preconditions to achieve long-term sustainability. Enabling scientific excellence implies that high-quality data and services are provided reliably and continuously to establish the RI as the enabler of investigations to solid Earth scientists. The strategic approach and the solutions adopted by EPOS ERIC to address the long-term sustainability of a pan-European distributed RI are discussed in this paper focusing on the governance structure, considered as the qualifying dimension that gathers and connects the financial, legal and technical dimensions. The governance and the financial models are discussed to delineate the legal framework necessary to operate the EPOS RI relying on the implemented technical solutions. A sufficiently stable investment environment is necessary to allow the RI to concentrate on providing high quality services for their user communities. This paper discusses the current actions and challenges to be addressed for achieving this goal.

Strategic Priorities of the Scientific Plan of the European Research Infrastructure METROFOOD-RI for Promoting Metrology in Food and Nutrition

The pan-European distributed Research Infrastructure for Promoting Metrology in Food and Nutrition (METROFOOD-RI) has evolved in the frame of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) to promote high-quality metrology services across the food chain. The METROFOOD-RI comprises physical facilities and electronic facilities. The former includes Reference Material plants and analytical laboratories (the ‘Metro’ side) and also experimental fields/farms, processing/storage plants and kitchen-labs (the ‘Food’ side). The RI is currently prepared to apply for receiving the European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) legal status and is organised to fulfil the requirements for operation at the national, European Union (EU) and international level. In this view, the METROFOOD-RI partners have recently reviewed the scientific plan and elaborated strategic priorities on key thematic areas of research in the food and nutrition domain to which they have expertise to contribute to meet global societal challenges and face unexpected emergencies. The present review summarises the methodology and main outcomes of the research study that helped to identify the key thematic areas from a metrological standpoint, to articulate critical and emerging issues and demands and to structure how the integrated facilities of the RI can operate in the first five years of operation as ERIC.

Development of research infrastructure in the condition of globalization: the experience of the Czech Republic

Problem setting. The research is devoted to the analysis of the development of research infrastructures of the European Union based on the experience of the Czech Republic. The article analyzes the legal basis and practice of the functioning of research infrastructures in the European Research Area, considers the typology of large research infrastructures. The purpose of the article is to analyze the development of research infrastructures in the EU, in particular, on the example of the Czech Republic. Analysis of resent researches and publications. Today, aspects of the development of innovation systems and research infrastructures of the European Union are a topic for research of many domestic scientists. However, the issue of integration of the scientific and innovative system of Ukraine into the European Research Area remains urgent. Article's main body. Research infrastructures means a research facility necessary for conducting comprehensive research and development with high financial and technology demands, approved by the Government and established to be also used by other research organizations. The Czech Republic has responded to the increasing importance of research infrastructures and for the purpose of showing them as one of the key elements of the national research and innovation system. The Act on the Support of Research and Development is the principal document defining the support for R&D in the Czech Republic. It defines the key forms of financing research and development, the main governmental bodies responsible for R&D and the procedural steps for their assignment and use of this type of financial aid. According to the Roadmap of Large Research Infrastructures of the Czech Republic, the basic typology of research infrastructures divides facilities into three groups: single-sited research infrastructures situated in one place, distributed research infrastructures including a larger number of capacities situated in different places, and virtual research infrastructures. From the perspective of life cycle stages, research infrastructures are classified into research infrastructures in the preparatory phase, implementation/construction phase, operation phase and decommissioning phase. All of the above types of research infrastructures can also be found in the research and innovation system of the Czech Republic. Conclusions and prospects for the development. In recent years, the research infrastructure of the EU has undergone significant development, as evidenced by the example of the Czech Republic. As for Ukraine, which is just beginning its path in this direction, an important step was the adoption of the Concept of the State Target Program for Research Infrastructures in Ukraine until 2026, as well as the approval of the Roadmap for integration of Ukraine's research and innovation system into the European Research Area.

Demonstrating public value to funders and other stakeholders—the journey of ELIXIR, a virtual and distributed research infrastructure for life science data

AbstractOpen Science is a founding principle of ELIXIR, a pan‐European research infrastructure for life science data, with 21 Member countries plus the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. The mission of ELIXIR is to coordinate bioinformatics resources so that they form a single, integrated and pan‐European infrastructure, which can be used freely by academic and private‐sector researchers across the globe. As a recipient of public and charitable funding, ELIXIR must demonstrate its value, and the need to produce evidence in support of this is intensifying. Our practice‐led journey towards demonstrating public value is articulated around five main challenges and, for each, we present our pragmatic approach for tackling it. We begin by showing how we are working towards demystifying what research infrastructures do. We then shed light on the sort of evidence our funders and other stakeholders are asking us for, how this evidence varies in nature and scope, and our tactics to satisfy them. We follow‐on by providing our thoughts on possible barriers and solutions to embedding impact evaluation in our activities. Finally, we provide lessons learned, which we believe are sufficiently transferable and will be inspirational to other research infrastructures as they embark on their own journeys to demonstrate public value.

Visualising the Collaboration Network of a European Marine Research Infrastructure

Collaboration has been recognised as an effective mean to foster the performance of research organisations. Throughout the years, numerous initiatives and investments have been made towards building research capacity and promoting collaborative research.
 With a focus on the effects of the implementation of a distributed Research Infrastructure on Marine Sciences – the European Marine Biological Resource Centre (EMBRC-ERIC), this study applies bibliometric approaches and social network theory to examine the structure, characteristics and trends in the collaboration network of the European Marine Sciences research community over the last 20 years.

A sustainable ECHI-shortlist

Abstract Background The European Core Health Indicators (ECHI) list provides a 'snapshot' of European public health (including care). It is the result of consecutive EU-wide projects in response to a 1998 European Commission (EC) call to establish an indicator list as the core of the EU public health monitoring system. The current list contains 88 indicators, a large part of which have been implemented and used across the EU. Using ECHI to internationally compare public health aspects adds value to national health information. Currently, EC maintains a tool in which the indicators can be consulted. However, no formal governing entity exists. The aim of this study, under the Joint Action on Health Information (InfAct), is to explore the future of the policy guiding role of the ECHI list, the process of adapting and innovating the list and the role of current member state initiatives in this. Methods Relevant technical information, available via 'doc(umentation) sheets' dating from 2012, was subjected to an update process. Potential improvements in content (additions, deletions, and adjustments), overall balance and policy relevance were suggested by health information experts (via survey and expert meetings). This work will be expanded in the near future of InfAct. Results Peer-reviewed updates of the doc sheets included aligning with meta information from relevant data collecting bodies and reviving web links. A process to guide content changes to the list is in development, balancing sustainability and updates for public health policy. Online background ECHI information is disseminated via ECHI.eu. Conclusions Health information experts still consider the ECHI shortlist important for EU health policy, but it needs to be modernized and promoted. A formal structure is needed to ensure the highest value to EC and MS health policies. The future distributed research Infrastructure on population health (DIPoH) may host the shaping and governing the ECHI, in liaison with EC and MS.

14.I. Workshop: Strengthening the impact of national health information systems in policy and practice

Abstract Health information (HI) includes data on population health, on health determinants, health care systems, and health-relevant policy developments. Duly prioritised HI is essential to inform decision-makers, researchers and the public. However, getting evidence into the hands of key stakeholders is still a challenge in many European countries. Depending on the respective target groups: decision-makers, clinical care providers, allied health professionals, health advocates and patients, various challenges arise for leveraging this data for intervention. While public health agencies aim to improve health for all, building bridges across stakeholder groups for a more efficient implementation of evidence-based recommendations requires concerted efforts and exchange of best practices and innovations in HI. This workshop aims to provide delegates with a clear understanding of the strategies that can strengthen the impact of national health information systems (HIS) in policy and practice. Within InfAct, the EU Joint Action on Health Information (InfAct), EU-Member States have taken significant steps towards building such an integrated infrastructure to advance the use of HI for analysis, decision-making and intervention. Five case examples of this consortium will be presented. The objectives are two-fold: 1) to provide delegates with an overview of the latest developments in public health reporting and monitoring across European countries, and 2) to present solutions that focus on strengthening the impact of national HIS in policy and practice. The workshop will begin with an introduction to national strategies that have been implemented across Europe to identify and prioritise HI needs; good practice recommendations for public health reporting will also be provided. At EU level, the 88 European Core Health Indicators (ECHI) have been widely adopted to provide a 'snapshot' of European public health (including care), and we will explore the future of the ECHI list in guiding decision-makers. There is also increasing interest on how to facilitate the uptake of evidence in the health system but also across sectors; this relies on taking into account the broader socio-political context and envisioning new partnerships with civil society and non-state actors. Therefore, our workshop will explore the latest developments in monitoring knowledge integration into national policies and civil society. Dialogue on what can be done, and what is needed for better knowledge management will be fueled by an interactive voting poll during the session. The Mentimeter poll will prompt the audience to share, in real time, their perspectives and expectations for HI production, dissemination and use across countries. For example, on the role of health literacy in facilitating the implementation of evidence-based recommendations. The delegates will take the perspective of the public, the public health researcher and the health policy maker in this. Key messages Mapping health information (HI) priorities and reporting approaches across countries facilitates the exchange of best practices in the context of building a sustainable EU Health Information system. The future EU distributed research infrastructure on population health (DIPoH) may hold a key role in informing national and EU-level interventions in health policy and practice.

ACTRIS and its Aerosol Remote Sensing Component

The Aerosol, Clouds and Trace Gases Research Infrastructure ACTRIS is currently being developed with support from more than 20 countries and more than 100 research-performing organizations in Europe. The pan-European distributed research infrastructure shall provide data and services related to short-lived atmospheric constituents to facilitate high-quality Earth system research in the long term (over at least 20 years). While some of the activities are already in place, ACTRIS functionality will be further ramped up until full operation in 2025. The observation of aerosol, clouds and reactive trace gases with in-situ and remote-sensing techniques in ACTRIS is supported by six Topical Centres, which are responsible for common standards and quality assurance. Free and open virtual access to ACTRIS data is provided by the Data Centre. International users will also have physical access to ACTRIS observatories, atmospheric simulation chambers and mobile platforms as well as remote or physical access to calibration services, digital services and training. Access provision is organized through a single-entry point by the Head Office. In this contribution, the general principles and structure of ACTRIS are introduced, and the observational component related to aerosol remote sensing, which builds on the heritage of the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) and the European part of the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET-Europe), is explained in more detail.

Ancillary vegetation measurements at ICOS ecosystem stations

Abstract The Integrated Carbon Observation System is a Pan-European distributed research infrastructure that has as its main goal to monitor the greenhouse gas balance of Europe. The ecosystem component of Integrated Carbon Observation System consists of a multitude of stations where the net greenhouse gas exchange is monitored continuously by eddy covariance measurements while, in addition many other measurements are carried out that are a key to an understanding of the greenhouse gas balance. Amongst them are the continuous meteorological measurements and a set of non-continuous measurements related to vegetation. The latter include Green Area Index, aboveground biomass and litter biomass. The standardized methodology that is used at the Integrated Carbon Observation System ecosystem stations to monitor these vegetation related variables differs between the ecosystem types that are represented within the network, whereby in this paper we focus on forests, grasslands, croplands and mires. For each of the variables and ecosystems a spatial and temporal sampling design was developed so that the variables can be monitored in a consistent way within the ICOS network. The standardisation of the methodology to collect Green Area Index, above ground biomass and litter biomass and the methods to evaluate the quality of the collected data ensures that all stations within the ICOS ecosystem network produce data sets with small and similar errors, which allows for inter-comparison comparisons across the Integrated Carbon Observation System ecosystem network.

Celling The Concept: A Study of Managerial Brand Mindsharing of A Distributed Biobanking Research Infrastructure

ABSTRACTThis interview study investigates how managers/associates of a failed distributed large-scale Research Infrastructures perceived their brand and the role mindsharing played in light of the organisation’s ultimate failure. Specifically, the study looks at BioBanking and Molecular Resource Infrastructure in Sweden (BBMRI.se), an organisation that involved collaboration between several medical and technical universities and sought to harmonise biobanking in Sweden. The aim was to discern the respondents’ degree of mindsharing in regards to their perception of the organisational brand. The four stages the branding process investigated were: Brand Strategic Analysis, Brand Identity, Brand Operationalising, and Post-Implementation Reflections. The results indicated that the mindsharing was present at the initial two stages, but dissipated throughout the ensuing two final stages, resulting in a fragmented brand perception, thereby forgoing the ability of generating a “pull-effect” for the BBMRI.se brand. The study’s implication is for branding to account more for social and individual motivations and less for instrumental motivations, e.g. mission statements.

The 4 I’s of Entrepreneurship: A Study of the Entrepreneurial Perspectives behind A Failed Large-Scale Distributed Research Infrastructure

AbstractThis case study investigates whether collective entrepreneurial team cognition remains consistent throughout all stage processes when setting up a large-scale, distributed research infrastructure. A new “action phase model” has been devised, known as the “4 I’s of entrepreneurship”, with each “I” elucidating the entrepreneurial rationale behind various stages of the creation process:Intention, Initiation, ImplementationandIntrospection. The case investigated was BBMRI.se (BioBanking and Molecular Resource Infrastructure in Sweden) – a Swedish large-scale distributed research infrastructure aimed at harmonizing biobanking standards. Managers and key personnel involved in founding and/or operating the organization were interviewed. The results showed there was agreement regarding the need for the research infrastructure, while there were disagreeing perceptions of what the organization should be doing and regarding the difficulties it had faced. These developments would ultimately lead to BBMRI.se’s demise. The homogenous mindset would begin to dissipate once theInitiationstage was reached and worsened throughout theImplementationstage. The results indicate that BBMRI.se’s managerial structure, personal ambitions and lack of transparency and communication were key contributors to its ultimate failure. The implications highlight the risk of fragmented motivations as collective entrepreneurs turn their ambition into reality, if given too much autonomy.