A large-scale project to establish the ELKH Data Repository has been launched in collaboration with experts from three research centers in the Eötvös Loránd Research Network (ELKH): the Institute for Computer Science and Control (SZTAKI), the Centre for Social Sciences (CSS) and the Wigner Research Centre for Physics (Wigner RCP), supported by the ELKH Secretariat. The new digital infrastructure will create unique conditions for the long-term secure storage, management and sharing of research data in Hungary, thus ensuring access to international research infrastructures.
At institutional, technological and direct data connectivity level, the ELKH Data Repository will facilitate the integration of Hungary into European initiatives with similar objectives, the most important of which is the EOSC (European Open Science Cloud) pan-European research infrastructure.
"With the development of the ELKH Data Repository, our aim is to provide a solution for the secure storage, management and sharing of large volumes of data generated during research, thus preventing valuable data sets from being lost. This infrastructure, based on the latest digital technology of our time, will make the data available not only to the Hungarian and international research community, but also to higher education and the commercial sector, and even to the general public interested in science," emphasized Miklós Maróth, President of ELKH. The development is in line with the Position Statement on Open Science issued by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office and funding organizations, including ELKH, in October 2021, as well as with the European Commission's recommendations and international professional trends. "The leadership of ELKH is pleased to support the implementation of the project for the establishment and operation of the ELKH Data Repository," added Miklós Maróth.
The ELKH Data Repository is planned to be made available to users from the second half of 2023, and will ensure the implementation of the internationally agreed FAIR – Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable – principles for research data, under excellent technical and staffing conditions. The project will also ensure the dissemination of knowledge on the use of data repositories, the establishment of the policies and regulations on data management necessary at ELKH and institutional level, and the dissemination of national and international standards and recommendations for data and metadata management and storage, including best practices.
The establishment of the ELKH Data Repository will contribute to the achievement of the objectives set out in Hungary's Research, Development and Innovation Strategy (2021-2030), which include better exploitation of research results produced by public research institutions, the expansion of knowledge flows and knowledge production capacity.