An in-person meeting of 22 EOSC Association (EOSC-A) Task Force co-chairs and seven of the nine members of the EOSC-A Board of Directors took place on Friday, 10 February, in Brussels. Also on hand were representatives of the EOSC-A Secretariat, including the newly minted team of six Task Force support officers (TSOs), who were on-boarded in December of last year.
The 13 EOSC-A Task Forces were convened in 2021 to investigate key areas of EOSC implementation by identifying strategic gaps and areas for investment to input to the EOSC Partnership’s Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA). Altogether, the Task Forces have pulled together more than 400 volunteer members.
The meeting began with an extensive 90-minute strategy update from the EOSC-A Board and Secretariat to set the scene for the year ahead. The Task Force co-chairs then assembled into thematic breakout groups moderated by members of the EOSC-A Board. These included Technical task forces, Education task forces, Participation & Sustainability task forces, and Data Interoperability task forces.
The breakout groups reported back into plenary on their discussions, bringing perspectives from different parts of the SRIA action areas together.
With the overall picture assembled, a lengthy session on the “Pathway to SRIA 1.2 and SRIA 2.0” was held to define the collective work plan for 2023. This includes defining the SRIA’s Multi-Annual Roadmap (MAR) for 2025-2027 by end of the second quarter, and closing out the Task Force work to prepare for SRIA 2.0 over the second half of the year.
The direct interaction between the Board liaisons and the Task Force co-chairs has streamlined their ways of working going forward. It was also established that the existing Advisory Groups structure should be maintained, but that some of the Task Forces would benefit from an immediate review of their scope. The meeting closed with an agreement to establish monthly meetings between the Task Force co-chairs associated with each of the five Advisory Groups and the Advisory Group’s designated Board Liaisons.
