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Dear readers,
In this September issue, we are going beyond the latest news to bring you a range of opportunities to get directly involved in the EOSC community. Dozens of institutions have already applied for support through Open Science III, while Open Science II is opening up further opportunities for mini-projects and their evaluators. EOSC-A Task Forces and the EOSC Association Board are also looking for new members.
Alongside these current opportunities, we take a closer look at the journey of research data in practice. In an article mapping the findings of a new EOSC CZ survey, you will learn where Czech researchers actually store their data – and whether they do so at all. Together with Petra Černohlávková, we then explore the role metadata play along this journey and why they can now represent a “gold mine”. From the Czech research environment, we then head to Florence, where four Czech experts will present their contributions at the EOSC Symposium. And if you would like to experience science beyond the screen, Science Night and Open Science Week are also just around the corner.
We wish you an enjoyable read – and perhaps, this time, an opportunity to get actively involved.
The EOSC CZ Team
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The projects submitted by participating institutions are now undergoing evaluation, with the funding requested as of 23 September 2026 totalling approximately CZK 264 million out of the CZK 500 million total allocation.
Each institution can submit one project focused on developing competencies in FAIR research data management. Would you like to strengthen these competencies at your institution too? Find out more about the call and prepare your own proposal. If you are unsure how to get involved, email us at info@eosc.cz. We will be happy to help you find your way around the process.
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Help select research projects that will receive financial support. We are looking for experts from a range of research fields to evaluate mini-projects submitted under the Open Science II project. Relevant expertise includes biomedicine, materials science, data infrastructure, artificial intelligence, as well as the social sciences and humanities.
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The EOSC Association has issued a call for candidates for three positions on its Board of Directors. The new members will be elected for a three-year term (2027–2029), a period that will see further development of the EOSC Federation, preparations for a future governance and funding model for EOSC, and its integration into the EU’s 10th Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP10). Applications can be submitted until 23 October, with the election taking place on 27 November during the EOSC Association General Assembly.
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The mandate of the current EOSC-A Task Forces will also come to an end at the close of this year. For the following two-year period, a new structure of five Task Forces is being established, focusing on data quality and trustworthiness, health data, semantic interoperability, FAIR data, AI, and long-term data preservation. Experts from across the EOSC community are invited to contribute to the work of the Task Forces. The call is open until 30 September.
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Experience from building EOSC in Czechia will head to Florence in October. Four Czech contributions were selected through the open call for this year’s EOSC Symposium, each highlighting a different aspect of the work behind EOSC CZ. Luděk Matyska will share experience from building the EOSC Node Czechia, Vojtěch Bystrý will present a solution for working with sensitive genomic data, Michal Med will focus on semantic interoperability, and Martin Golasowski on AI in data science. The Czech node will also have its own stand in Florence.
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Where do Czech researchers store their data?
A new EOSC CZ survey of 193 respondents has revealed a surprisingly diverse range of practices: researchers mentioned a total of 70 different repositories, databases, and other storage solutions. Zenodo was by far the most frequently mentioned, accounting for almost 27% of all responses, while 18% of respondents said they do not store their data in repositories at all. The results also reveal significant differences between disciplines, as well as the frequent use of specialised databases in the life sciences.
Share your experience too. We are keeping the questionnaire open, and new responses will be included in the next round of analysis.
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What goes on behind e-INFRA CZ, and how do its capabilities contribute to research in Czechia? A three-part series on Lupa.cz introduces its individual services and technologies, while also showing how they are used in practice through real-world examples. Martin Friák from the Czech Academy of Sciences, for example, explains how advanced computing technologies support the modelling and research of new materials. The full series offers a closer look at how e-INFRA CZ works and the opportunities it provides to researchers.
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What has changed in recent months?
The technical infrastructure for repositories continues to evolve, while new tools are being introduced to make day-to-day data management easier for both researchers and data stewards. Alongside the ongoing development of core repository systems, new applications, features and guidance materials are also being created:
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DDRApp is an application for transferring data from registered instruments to a trusted institutional storage system, processing the data, adding basic metadata, creating a dataset and submitting it to a repository – much of this can be automated. The application is designed to be deployed within an organisation’s IT environment.
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Data Stewardship Wizard (DSW) now supports knowledge model translations, the creation of custom user roles, and improved authentication via e-INFRA CZ AAI.
You can find these updates in the DSW installation you normally use or in the EOSC CZ DSW instance.
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A researcher may collect data for years. But if the data remain on their hard drive without proper documentation, others may never find out about them, and the potential of often costly research may go unrealised. High-quality metadata makes it possible for others to find, understand, and reuse data correctly. We spoke to Petra Černohlávková, Head of the Repository and Metadata Management Department at the National Library of Technology, about what makes metadata truly high-quality, why their form is influenced by the choice of repository itself, and how artificial intelligence is becoming part of working with them. According to her, rich metadata are quite literally a “gold mine” for AI tools.
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You can find the full range of training courses on the EOSC CZ Training Centre website. Recordings of past training sessions are available to watch on the EOSC Czech Republic YouTube channel.
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Tips on further training
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Fri 16 Oct
The online workshop, part of the SSH Open Marketplace series, will focus, among other things, on identifying CLARIN services and standards for managing and analysing language data, as well as understanding the challenges related to FAIR principles and the legal and ethical issues specific to language data.
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Mon 19 Oct
Another event in the regular NFDITalks series, covering topics such as data management, new services, practical examples, and other current issues.
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One photograph can be larger than an entire floppy disk — and reveal far more about you than you might expect. At European Researchers’ Night on 25 September, EOSC CZ in Brno will take you on a journey from the history of data storage through secure data sharing to programming with artificial intelligence. In both Brno and Ostrava, we will also introduce citizen science and show how members of the public can get involved in real research. Come along and bring your family and friends too — this time, the programme is aimed primarily at them.
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Citizen science in practice at Open Science Week
How can the public contribute to real research? On 19 October in Prague, Open Science Week (OSW) will host an interactive workshop on citizen science across the natural sciences, technical disciplines, and humanities. At a series of activity stations, participants will have the opportunity to experience the role of a citizen scientist for themselves and meet people with first-hand experience of involving the public in research. The workshop will take place at the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, and advance registration is required.
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Call for posters
You can submit your poster or practical demonstration of an application for the IDCC27 conference by 19 October. The best poster will receive an award.
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The programme for PIDfest 2026, taking place 27–29 October in Leiden, the Netherlands, has now been published. You can register to attend in person or join online free of charge.
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