Royal Library of Belgium

Sven Lieber

Hi everyone,

if you are a researcher and you want to follow the FAIR data principles
you are not left alone. In today's edition I will try to explain what
ERIC is and what they have to do with FAIR data.

As for work updates: I was on a small camping vacation in France, so
there are no work updates, but I came back with many ideas for the
future! :-)

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# ❓ FAIR Buzzword Bingo: ERIC {#fair-buzzword-bingo-eric}

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There are already countless intertwined research and infrastructure
initiatives in the cultural heritage field, even more beyond it. Every
week I will focus on one of the many FAIR data-related initiatives, last
week I've covered [Europeana and the Cultural Heritage
Cloud](https://fair-data-digest.org/archive/5#§fair-buzzword-bingo-europeana),
**this week: the European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC)**

Some of the initiatives I will present in upcoming editions officially
have the ending ERIC, for example CLARIN-ERIC. **So what is an ERIC?**
An ERIC is a **E**uropean **R**esearch **I**nfrastructure **C**onsortium
([Q15808872](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15808872)). A *legal entity*
within the European Law that was established by the EU Council
Regulation 723/2009
([Q120506553](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q120506553)).

> *"An ERIC \[...\] should have as its principal task the
> **establishment and operation of a research infrastructure** on a
> non-economic basis and should devote most of its resources to this
> principal task"* - Council Regulation 723/2009
> ([Q120506553](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q120506553))

Since 2009 ERICs have been formed around various research disciplines,
from cultural heritage to marine biology or carbon dioxide storage. In
the open access article [The ERIC Consortium: A New Type of EU Research
Institution](https://doi.org/10.1051/epn/2020305), Carlo Rizzuto
stresses that the **more than 20 existing ERICs** have a **major impact
in extensive fields of research**.

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class="image-link image2" target="_blank"
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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F42112b11-4344-4c87-a694-6ccd4161a4a0_1004x391.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F42112b11-4344-4c87-a694-6ccd4161a4a0_1004x391.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F42112b11-4344-4c87-a694-6ccd4161a4a0_1004x391.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F42112b11-4344-4c87-a694-6ccd4161a4a0_1004x391.jpeg 1456w"
sizes="100vw" loading="lazy" width="526" height="204"
alt="ERIC Forum - Ceric" />
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<figcaption>Logo of the ERIC Forum:
https://www.eric-forum.eu</figcaption>
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Based on [additional funding](https://doi.org/10.3030/823798) of almost
€ 1.5 million, the **ERIC Forum**
([Q120510649](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q120510649)) was set up.
Representatives of each ERIC are organized within this forum. According
to their website, the ERIC Forum's aim is to *"advance operations of
ERICs and to strategically contribute to the development of ERIC related
policies."*. It does so by for example **strengthening the coordination
and networking** between ERICs.

## ERIC and FAIR data

In February 2023, the ERIC Forum published a [position
paper](https://web.archive.org/web/20230710193401/https://www.eric-forum.eu/2023/04/05/eric-forum-position-paper-2023/)
regarding the *"Public consultation on the past, present and future of
the European Research & Innovation Framework programmes 2014-2027"*.
**It mentions the acronym FAIR seven times!**

> *"ERICs are key enablers of Open Science and their quality-managed
> services facilitate FAIR research data and outputs"* - ERIC Forum
> position paper

Having support for FAIR data at such a basic level has of course
enormous advantages. By using standardized research infrastructure, the
creation of FAIR data isn't a burden for individual researchers anymore.
Instead, the underlying research data infrastructure is already FAIR
by-design and there would be trainings about it. I think this is
highlighted best in the following recommendation the ERIC Forum has for
the next Horizon Europe program with respect to experimental data:

> *"Funding for standardization efforts for experimental data as key to
> produce FAIR data. **ERICs are a 'central' structure to promote
> standard development** between different research institutions in
> Europe as well as beyond with their international partners"* - A
> recommendation from the ERIC Forum's position paper

**What do you think about ERICs?** Are you aware of any ERICs in your
field of research? Under the following link you can find a small fact
sheet about ERICs and a full list of existing ones.

[ERIC fact sheet and full
list](https://web.archive.org/web/20230710192614/https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/summary/european-research-infrastructure-consortium-eric.html){.button
.primary}

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That's it for this week of the FAIR Data Digest. I hope you found the
content interesting. Don't forget to share or subscribe. See you next
week!

Sven

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Hi everyone,  if you are a researcher and you want to follow the FAIR data principles you are not left alone. In today’s edition I will try to explain what ERIC is and what they have to do with FAIR data. As for work updates: I was on a small camping vacation in France, so there are no work updates, but I came back with many ideas for the future!

Messaggi di Rogue Scholar

FAIR Data Digest #6