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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MERIL-2 (MERIL-2 MAPPING OF THE EUROPEAN RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE LANDSCAPE)

Teaser

Summary

The MERIL-2 project aims to create an authoritative, comprehensive online source of information on European Research Infrastructures (RIs) of more than national relevance. It addresses the work programme priorities of promoting the development and coordination of policies and access to information on RIs across countries and scientific disciplines. MERIL-2 builds on the successful development of the original MERIL project and research infrastructures mapping exercise initiated by the European Science Foundation (ESF) membership. MERIL-2 aims to achieve step changes in terms of: the comprehensiveness of RIs identified in the portal from 900 to 1200+ and the full publication of those identified from 500 to 800; the utility of the portal in terms of functionalities, analytical capacity and intermediation; stakeholder value in terms of policy relevant data including financial and human resource dimensions and coverage of RI mapping processes in a standardized form. These objectives will be met through a synergistic partnership of three organisations; European Science Foundation (ESF), the Greek National Documentation Centre (EKT-NHRF) and Agency for the Promotion of Research (APRE), that harnesses the complementary strengths of advanced portal design, European member state communication systems and deep knowledge of the RI landscape and data acquisition requirements under the guidance of an expert advisory committee. On a practical level, the approach will include redesign of the portal with enhanced functionalities, expert/ESFRI and National Data Intermediaires (NDIs) consultations on policy data needs and parameters, a complementary review of RI data policies and strategies and policies including implications of policy data provision and resourcing a publishing completion function for non-responsive RIs. These actions will lead to an enhanced MERIL-2 portal with comprehensive coverage of the European RI landscape and high quality systems and data of stakeholder interest with flexible, open and user oriented interfaces.

Work performed

Since the beginning of the project, the MERIL-2 consortium has performed an in-depth assessment of the content and quality of the previous MERIL portal in order to identify weaknesses and define the improvements needed. An extensive stakeholders consultation that included national authorities, research funding agencies representatives, policy makers and representatives of the RI community was conducted during the first six months in order to identify priorities and data collection strategies as well as confirm the feasibility of the planned approach within MERIL-2. As a result, a new data model, fully based on the CERIF (Common European Research Information Format) standard was designed and implemented onto a new IT portal. The data model is structured around three main modules containing core, additional and advanced information which reflect the priority and type of information addressing different stakeholder groupsâ€™ needs and taking into account the availability of such information.
The definitions and the eligibility criteria for inclusion of RIs into the MERIL database have been revised and clarified as to allow for easier assessment and check of entries. All the relevant documentation was made publicly available on the portal.
The data from the previous MERIL portal were successfully migrated onto the new IT platform and a thorough data quality check was performed, leading to the cleansing and formatting of information for over 500 Research Infrastructures entries.
In parallel, the network of National data Intermediaries (NDIs) covering 30 EU and H2020 Associated Countries was renewed and updated leading to the completion of national RI MERIL eligible lists over 50% of the countries. The collection of the input from the remaining countries is in progress.
Besides input and validation from national authorities, MERIL-2 has been encouraging the identification and self-nominations of RIs directly by the research community which, together with the revisions of national lists, has resulted in a total of more than 940 valid RIs entries included in the database to date. A gap analysis on the current MERIL dataset has been performed allowing to identify specific areas in which to focus on in the future (eg. social sciences and humanities, e-infrastructures, mathematics, engineering).
The MERIL-2 team has established links and communications channels with a number of European and international initiatives and projects dealing with RI policy, road mapping and international collaboration ( StrESFRI, InRoad, RISCAPE, RITrain, OECD Global Science Forum, eInfraCentral, RICH, Science Europe RI Working Group, etc. ).
The new MERIL portal has been previewed at an event in Rome in June 2017 to representatives from national and regional authorities, the research community and the public which was accompanied by press-releases, extensive social media coverage, a newsletter and articles in the press.

Final results

In the second half of the MERIL-2 project the main focus will be on increasing the coverage and data completion for RI entries across European countries and scientific disciplines with the objective to further populate the database with new and up-to date information. A major effort will be directed towards the identification of new eligible RI entries through existing sources such as national roadmaps, thematic RI networks and projects.
The team will also explore the interoperability between MERIL and other databases that gather information about RIs either at the national level or within a specific research area in order to optimise the efficiency and quality of data collection in the future.
MERIL-2 will strive to continue to act as a driver for the progressive harmonisation of RI data collection practices at the European level and internationally by engaging in deeper collaborations and information exchanges with relevant policy stakeholders but also at the practical implementation level. As such, the MERIL platform plans to develop into an online information hub and dissemination platform that provides standardised data sets to a variety of stakeholders but can also respond to specific requests. MERIL team will therefore also propose services such as data analysis, benchmarking and statistical overviews to policy makers, national authorities, RI managers or researchers who need evidence for better planning, monitoring and networking of RI resources in Europe.