The EPOS data portal: FAIR in practice for Solid Earth Science

Thursday, January 11, 2024, from 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM, Open Science Café with Daniele Bailo, Massimo Cocco, Federica Tanlongo, and Valentina Pasquale.

Open access to scientific data requires community involvement in quality control and data management, known as Research Data Management (RDM). RDM is a process that necessitates both governance and expertise along with human and technological resources. Integrating research infrastructures for sharing and accessing scientific data assumes the involvement of scientific organizations in RDM governance and the adoption of sustainable practices for interoperability.

EPOS (European Plate Observing System, www.epos-eu.org) is the European research infrastructure dedicated to sharing and reusing research data and products in the field of Solid Earth Sciences. EPOS integrates scientific data generated by various national and international research infrastructures (located in 26 countries) and provides researchers access to a wide range of geological, geophysical, and geodetic data through a single portal, the EPOS Data Portal (https://www.epos-eu.org/dataportal).

With the proliferation of the Open Science paradigm, the application of FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) in managing Solid Earth Sciences data has become increasingly crucial. This presentation offers an overview of the solutions adopted by EPOS, focusing on how FAIR principles influence both the data generation and curation process and the use of associated data and services in the field of Solid Earth Sciences.

The EPOS Data Portal, integrating data, services, and research products from more than 250 service providers, is a comprehensive platform that allows researchers easy access to FAIR data from various disciplines grouped into 10 different thematic communities. During the presentation, we will explore the technical architecture of the portal, demonstrating the innovative approach that combines semantics, web services, and metadata to ensure data FAIRness.

Over two decades of work that harmonized multidisciplinary data involving various communities within Solid Earth Sciences, EPOS has developed fully in-house software technologies that are already being used by other projects and have a much broader potential application: for instance, for other scientific communities, as well as for SMEs and industry, thanks to the EPOS Data Portal source code recently released as open source under GPL3 license (https://epos-eu.github.io/epos-open-source/). The goal now is to expand the developer community by involving those working on source code reuse in other projects and strengthening various training and collaboration activities.

Who will speak

Daniele Bailo: born in 1978 in Rome, Italy, holds a graduate degree in Computer Sciences and Engineering and a Ph.D. in Material Science. His early career, spanning from 2005 to 2011, involved innovative work at the Istituto di Struttura della Materia (ISM) - CNR, where he specialised in the design and implementation of Virtual X-ray spectrometry Laboratories, contributing significantly to research on plastic solar cells, the main topic of his PhD thesis. Since 2011, Daniele has been integral to the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), particularly within the European Plate Observing System (EPOS). As an IT Officer, he has been pivotal in orchestrating the EPOS Portal's development and shaping the IT strategies of the initiative. His research interests are diverse yet focused, encompassing e-infrastructure management, system interoperability, metadata standards, Virtual Research Environments, FAIR principles, and the advancement of open Science. Daniele has authored numerous peer-reviewed scientific articles and actively participates in various European projects, representing the EPOS community. He also lends his expertise to advisory boards as an ICT specialist in system integration and geoscience system design. For more information, please visit www.danielebailo.it

Massimo Cocco: Born on August 4, 1960, in Rome, Italy. Senior Researcher, Seismologist at the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). He is a Director of Research at the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Earthquakes Department, Seismology and Tectonophysics Division, Rome. His research interests are focused on the physics of earthquakes and faults. More specifically, his work deals with earthquake dynamics, fault interaction, seismicity patterns, and fault frictional properties. He is interested in both theoretical studies and observational research. He has interests in all aspects of the mechanics of earthquake and faulting from observations of natural faults through geophysical and geological measurements to experimental faults at the laboratory scale. His expertise also covers the management of seismic networks and monitoring research infrastructures. His skills include scientific data generation and integration as well as research infrastructure management. He has coordinated the Preparatory Phase and the Implementation Phase of the European Project named EPOS: European Plate Observing System. He has been the Executive Director of EPOS ERIC (2018-2021). The EPOS mission is the long-term integration of research infrastructures for solid Earth Science (www.epos-eu.org). He is currently involved in the EPOS ERIC Executive Coordination Office. His interests and skills include open access to scientific data and products and research data management. He is currently one of the Principal Investigators of the FEAR (Fault activation and EArthquake Rupture) ERC Synergy project. FEAR aims to perform controlled experiments of fault stimulation and earthquake initiation in a new deep underground experimental facility in the Swiss Alps (Bedretto Underground Laboratory).

Federica Tanlongo: heads the Communication Unit at EPOS ERIC, the European organization managing the European Plate Observing System, a multidisciplinary and distributed Research Infrastructure dedicated to integrating and reusing scientific data and products in the solid Earth science community in Europe. With a degree in Philosophy of Science, Federica completed a second-level ICT Master's in Management and Design for Publishing and Multimedia Communication at Sapienza University. Before joining EPOS, she coordinated the Communication Unit of GARR, the national network for universities and research, for nearly 20 years. Since her debut in 2018, Federica has contributed to the establishment of ICDI, a working group gathering representatives from major Research Infrastructures and Digital Infrastructures in Italy, aiming to promote synergies in the field of open science at a national level, particularly in her competence centre on open science. Representing ICDI, she contributed to drafting the initial version of the EOSC Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda. Subsequently, she actively contributed to various working groups and projects associated with the European Open Science Cloud, currently including Skills4EOSC. An expert in traditional, web, and multimedia communication, and technical-scientific dissemination, she has been involved in numerous international projects, addressing communication, training, and managerial aspects.

Valentina Pasquale (moderator): works as a Research Data Management Specialist at the Italian Institute of Technology, where she coordinates support services for research data management and open science. She leads the GO FAIR Data Stewardship Competence Centers Implementation Network. Before focusing on research data, she earned a PhD in Humanoid Technologies at the University of Genoa in 2010 and worked for several years in the field of Computational Neuroscience.

Who should attend?

The webinar is designed for the Italian community and is aimed at researchers, research support staff, technicians, and technologists interested in learning about topics related to open science and FAIR principles.

Mandatory registration at the following link: https://learning.garr.it/enrol/index.php?id=270

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