The FAIR-IMPACT project launched a support programme for national-level initiatives. This programme targeted organisations with a national scope, included (but not limited to) those mandated by EOSC, to assist participants in developing their FAIR implementation activities.
Through this programme, participants had the opportunity to engage with experts in a series of virtual workshops covering a range of topics, including training, funding, convincing decision-makers, engaging researchers, and showcasing national initiatives. These sessions aimed to provide comprehensive insights into what is achievable at the national level for FAIR.
Participants also received support from the FAIR-IMPACT team to help them draft their FAIR implementation plans.
This programme was an opportunity to gain valuable insights and guidance for advancing your organisation's FAIR practices. The programme started in September 2024 and ended in January 2025.
1st support programme: January - september 2024
Four organisations participated in the first support programme. In total, 14 people with different roles within these organisations participated in the first support programme. The workshops were also open to the public. An average of 40 people attended each session.
Seven workshops were held between January and September 2024. These sessions aimed to inspire participants to develop strategies for implementing the FAIR principles at national level. Overall, the programme aimed to guide participants in identifying objectives relevant to their national context for promoting FAIR.
In parallel to the workshops, peer exchange sessions were organised to promote mutual learning among participants. These sessions encouraged participants to share challenges and solutions specific to their national settings and organisational contexts. Participants also benefited from mentorship, with one-to-one meetings providing an opportunity to ask questions and receive guidance on structuring their FAIR Action Plans.
Throughout the programme, participants demonstrated a strong commitment to finding practical solutions to take FAIR forward at national level. They worked actively on their plans and began to engage with their networks, including ministries, universities and repositories, on FAIR-related issues. The FAIR-IMPACT team was pleased to see their achievements at the end of the programme.
As part of the FAIR-IMPACT project, Implementation Stories are shared on the FAIR-IMPACT website, drawing on the experiences of all participants. These stories aim to provide concrete examples of different national contexts, highlighting both challenges and opportunities, and illustrating how countries are moving towards the adoption of the FAIR Principles at national level.
2nd support programme: September 2024 - January 2025
At the end of September 2024, the second support programme for national level initiatives was launched. This new phase involves around 38 organisations from 16 different countries, with around 75 participants. Over four months, they took part in a programme of 10 workshops and peer exchanges.
Between September 2024 and January 2025, the FAIR-Impact project organized ten workshops as part of the support for FAIR implementation on National Level. The first eight workshops covered specific target groups (e.g. funders and researchers) and related topics (e.g. methodology, competence centers). The two peer exchange workshops were the last ones in the series. They can be considered as specific use cases in which representatives of different countries presented their main objectives to engage on FAIR at National level, the partners that are active in this process, the main challenges encountered, and the solutions found until today.
The first session was organised on December 6, 2024, and contained presentations of the following countries: Romania, Ireland, Uk, Estonia, France, Bulgaria, and Greece. The second peer exchange session was organised on January 16, 2025, and contained presentations of representatives of Italy, Finland, North Macedonia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Hungary, Portugal, and Croatia.
The presentations covered sharing knowledge, identifying good practices and addressing shared challenges to implement and support the FAIR principles. Each country's presentation consisted of four topics. First, the main objectives to engage on FAIR at the national level. Second, an overview of the main partners in the process. Third, the key challenges to achieve FAIR at the national level. And fourth, the solutions found to date. Challenges mentioned in several presentations were lack of (long-term) funding, lack of awareness and training, fragmentation, ethical and legal constraints, lack of a unified national strategy and limited expertise. All countries have a national strategy for Open Science. Each country has its own way regarding the coordination and implementation of this strategy. Details on this are given in the country presentations. Each workshop ended with a discussion based on questions from the participants.
Read more about the resources for NLI here
Details about the support programme
Download the detailed support programme
- What will my organisation achieve by participating in this support programme?
-
Support to develop an action plan for implementing FAIR in your country. Knowledge of existing tools and examples of good practices in different countries for the practical implementation of FAIR methodologies to engage decision-makers, research performing organisations and researchers. An opportunity to share knowledge and learn from peers.
- How will the programme be implemented?
-
- 7 thematic workshops (2 hours each) with experts
- 2 peer-exchange sessions (2 hours each)
- Individual support from the FAIR-IMPACT team
- 1 self-assessment checklist to be completed at the beginning
- 1 FAIR implementation action plan to be delivered at the end
- How can I join the programme?
-
No call for applications
It's enough to be an EOSC Mandated Organisation or an organisation with a national scope for FAIR (Research infrastructures included) - Do I need to be a senior decision-maker in my country to take part?
-
No! We welcome participation from a wide range of actors who are involved in implementing FAIR within their country. This could be those in senior decision making roles but equally those working to deliver national level services and support.
- Who should take part in the workshops?
-
We recognise that in most cases many individuals, operational units and possibly several organisations will be involved in implementing different aspects of FAIR within your country. We are happy to have teams join this support programme and each team can then decide who will attend each of the thematic workshops.
For further questions, please contact: national-initiatives-support [at] fair-impact.eu