EOSC-ENTRUST: A European Network of TRUSTed research environments (EOSC-ENTRUST) (EOSC-ENTRUST)
Abstract
EOSC-ENTRUST aims to create a tightly knit network of nationally operated and governed TREs capable of supporting large-scale European research and analysis efforts on sensitive and restricted data linked to EOSC, and applicable to the health and social science domains and beyond. Specifically, we will achieve this through four project objectives:
Objective 1: Create a European network of Trusted Research Environments, linked to EOSC and EuroHPC, to enable transnational collaborative research on sensitive or restricted data.
Description: European researchers will, in partnership with their national or institutional TRE, be able to design and partner within transnational research and data analysis efforts that need specialist secure data capabilities. Interoperability of European TREs for these projects is established through a common framework of technology, terminology, organisational capabilities, and skills.
Key Results:
A catalogue of suitable national or institutional TREs as part of the EOSC offering (WP4, WP5)
A ‘starter pack’ of exemplar projects to demonstrate how networks of TREs can address European research priorities (WP2, WP3)
European researchers are aware of capabilities through communication and outreach events (WP2) and materials delivered to support national TRE training programmes (WP2, WP5)
Enable federated use via standards and technology for trusted researcher identity, data use and data access linked to developing European framework for trusted electronic identification of individuals (WP6)
Enable researchers and software developers to deploy across multiple TREs via secure FAIR digital objects and workflows (WP6)
EuroHPC capacity that meets the need for secure exascale and GPU (e.g., AI) computing can be identified and connected using the EOSC-ENTRUST framework (WP4, WP5).
Consortium assets: EOSC-ENTRUST includes national and institutional TRE from 14 countries and two EuroHPC pre-exascale sites. Project drivers covering applications such as administrative/register and social science data, human genomics and clinical research and consortium include deep technical, legal, and organisational expertise for user management and certification. Organisations like EUDAT and ELIXIR are experienced in orchestrating European-wide coordination and interfaces with other EU organisations and initiatives like EOSC
Objective 2: Trusted Research Environment providers implement, validate, and promote their capabilities through a European framework using common standards and shared legal, operational and technical language.
Description: TRE Providers are able to take the work they have done in preparing a secure environment, have it externally validated, and register their capability as a service for national and international uses as appropriate using a semantically clear, technically straightforward framework. Research Infrastructures can provide their own resources or build specifications based on the same language to rapidly design and deploy transnational solutions.
Key results:
An established European network of national and institutional TRE Providers (WP4)
A service blueprint that allows technical interoperability between TRE based on the EOSC Interoperability framework (WP5)
National and institutional TREs consistently set out their capabilities with common representation for validated legal, operational, semantics and technical aspects (WP4).
Define the security baseline and auditing procedures for TREs to support the Five Safes principles and capture requirements in guidelines for FAIR sensitive data in EOSC (WP5)
Drive TRE composability via policy and process interoperability and set out an EOSC compliant governance model for a TRE services network (WP4, WP5).
Consortium assets: ELIXIR, EUDAT and partners already have significant activities to promote FAIR Interoperability, HDR UK brings expertise on the building of consensus standards for multiple TREs.
Objective 3: National funders and governments understand the network of TRE capabilities serving their needs, and how TREs support their national priorities and their contributions to selected transnational programmes.
Description: Capital and personnel investment at an institutional level are foundational for the ability to deliver a TRE service. National funders and policymakers are key stakeholders for the success of the programme, and EOSC-ENTRUST will encourage their engagement by providing best practice and the ability to evaluate, benchmark and prioritise national investments.
Main outcomes:
A machine-readable catalogue of TRE capabilities allowing detailed, comparative analysis of technical capabilities and identification of gaps (WP4, WP5).
Policy briefs on the capabilities of the European TRE Provider Forum (WP2, WP4) and Use Cases of their application in research domains of high societal impact (WP3).
Connection between the EOSC-ENTRUST Provider Forum and the European Data Spaces (WP1, WP2).
Consortium assets: The Research Infrastructure partners in the project are all engaged with their local TRE providers and their funding agencies on a case-by-case basis. The EOSC-ENTRUST activity will put those discussions into an international context and allow national and EU priorities to be aligned.
Objective 4: The European Network of Trusted Research Environments (ENTRUST) is embedded in the European Open Science Cloud and the European Data Spaces and fosters an ecosystem of public, private and joint-venture providers of TRE services.
Description: Sensitive data handling underpins many of the goals of the European Data Spaces, and the European network of TRE capability will allow those to be built on a detailed understanding of existing capabilities and available best practice.
Key results:
National and organisational providers are incorporated into EOSC via national members and the European network form part of EOSC long-term strategy (WP1, WP2)
The emerging European Data Spaces build their capabilities on the network of existing and developing TRE providers (WP2)
Technological developments required by one Data Space activity can be directed to a forum of TRE specialists, reducing the need for duplication and coordinating investment in foundational technologies (WP4).
A driver project to demonstrate opportunities for public-private partnerships (WP3)
Consortium assets: The project partners are already engaged in the development of the Data Spaces, through pilot projects, technical working groups and governance roles. The TRE providers represent the current state of the art for TRE provision and will provide the Data Spaces with a valuable head start.
Runtime
2024-03-01 – 2027-02-28Partner
- Barcelona Super Computing Center
- Elixir/EMBL
- EUDAT OY
- STICHTING HEALTH RI
- MASARYK UNIVERSITY
- UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM
- University of Manchester
- Health Data Research UK
- university of Dundee
- SIGMA2 AS
- UNIVERSITET I BERGEN
- NORGES TEKNISK-NATURVITENSKAPELIGE UNIVERSITET NTNU
- UNIVERSITY I OSLO
- Surf BV
- DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET
- ASSOCIACAO BIP4DAB
- TURUN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULU OY
- TARTU ULIKOOL
- PNED GIE
- UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI
- EUROPEAN CLINICAL RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE NETWORK
- VSB TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF OSTRAVA
- VLAAMS INSTITUUT BIOTECHNOLOGIE
- SCIENSANO
- CESSDA ERIC
- TARKI ALAPITVANY
- University of Essex
- GRNET S.A:
- BIELEFELD UNIVERSITY
- UPPSALA UNIVERSITET
- TERVEYDEN JA HYVINVOINNIN LAITOS
- FUNDACIO CENTRE DE REGULACIO GENOMICA