The meeting took place on 9 November 2026 and was opened by VŠPJ Rector Zdeněk Horák. Representatives from all the institution's departments attended, including four department heads and the Vice-Rector for Research and Project Activities. The opening EOSC CZ presentation introduced research data management services and tools, repositories under development and opportunities to access computing resources provided by the national e-infrastructure.
Much of the programme was devoted to discussion, with data security and access control among the main topics. Participants wanted to know how unauthorised access to stored data can be prevented, whether it is possible to track who downloads data, and how research results with patent potential can be protected. One of the solutions presented was the Authentication and Authorisation Infrastructure (AAI), which makes it possible to verify users' identities and manage access to services and data according to assigned permissions. After all, Open Science does not mean that all data must automatically be freely accessible.
From National Services to Support at the University
The EOSC CZ presentation was followed by an introduction to the work of data steward Magda Malenová, who provides methodological support to researchers and maps research data management needs across the institution. Further development of this support will be made possible by VŠPJ's project Open Science at VŠPJ: From Strategy to Practice, funded through the OP JAK Open Science III call. The institution also participates in the Open Science II project through a mini-project in the MATECH working group.
“From both an economic and strategic perspective, it makes no sense for the College of Polytechnics Jihlava to build isolated data infrastructure from scratch. The opportunity to use the emerging National Data Infrastructure (NDI) and share best practices is particularly valuable for a regional institution like ours,” said Zdeněk Horák in an interview with EOSC CZ, in which he also discusses the university’s plans for research data management and Open Science.
In their feedback, participants particularly appreciated the clear explanation of the basic principles of Open Science, information about data storage options and the different levels of access that can be applied to stored data.
The Jihlava meeting symbolically brought EOSC CZ's journey across Czech university regions to a close. It also confirmed the value of direct dialogue with researchers, which helps bring national services and infrastructure closer to the specific needs of individual research teams and departments.
