The EOSC.ie project team is pleased to announce the publication of Building EOSC Ireland: Lessons from European EOSC Nodes, a report capturing lessons learned from a series of visits and consultations with established and emerging EOSC Nodes across Europe.
About the Report
Between February and May 2026, members of the EOSC.ie team engaged with representatives from:
- EOSC EU Node
- EOSC Poland (EOSC-PL)
- SURF EOSC Node (Netherlands)
- EOSC Finland (EOSC-FI)
- Photon and Neutron Open Science Cloud (PaNOSC)
- Life Sciences Connect (LS Connect)
The objective of these engagements was to learn from organisations that are actively developing and operating EOSC Nodes and to identify practical approaches that could inform the future development of EOSC Ireland.
Key Findings
Across all visits, a consistent message emerged:
Successful EOSC Nodes focus on coordinating and exposing existing services and infrastructures rather than building entirely new platforms.
The report highlights the importance of:
- Strong governance and coordination
- Sustainable funding and staffing models
- Metadata harvesting and discoverability
- Authentication and authorisation infrastructure (AAI)
- Interoperability and federation
- Community engagement and user support
- Approaches to sensitive data and trusted research environments
Areas Explored
The report examines lessons learned across six thematic areas:
Architecture, AAI and Federation
- How nodes are designed, connected and integrated into the EOSC Federation.
Service Catalogues and Research Services
- How services and resources are discovered, onboarded and made available to researchers.
Governance and National Coordination
- Approaches to coordination, decision-making and stakeholder engagement.
Funding, Staffing and Sustainability
- How mature nodes are funded and supported over the long term.
Sensitive Data, Security and Trust
- Approaches to cybersecurity, trusted research environments and sensitive data processing.
Community Engagement and Adoption
- Strategies for onboarding users and service providers and building active communities.
Why This Matters for EOSC Ireland
The report identifies a number of opportunities, risks and strategic considerations for EOSC Ireland as participation in the EOSC Federation continues to evolve.
Lessons from European nodes suggest that successful implementation will depend on:
- Taking a phased approach to developmentAcknowledgements
- Building on existing Irish services and infrastructures
- Supporting interoperability from the outset
- Establishing sustainable governance and funding models
- Investing in community engagement and support
- The EOSC.ie project team would like to thank colleagues from across the EOSC community who generously shared their time, expertise and experiences. Their openness in discussing both successes and challenges has made a valuable contribution to the ongoing development of EOSC Ireland.
Acknowledgements
The EOSC.ie project team would like to thank colleagues from across the EOSC community who generously shared their time, expertise and experiences. Their openness in discussing both successes and challenges has made a valuable contribution to the ongoing development of EOSC Ireland.
Read the Report
Sabatino, R., O’Neill, J., Smyth, E., Ronan, J., Kugel, M., Golden, D., Collins, D., Dowling, L., & Farrell, G. (2026). Building EOSC Ireland: Lessons from European EOSC Nodes. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21825601