Training the trainers and data stewards is an important aspect of CLARIN’s broader strategy. CLARIN is actively participating in initiatives within the European Open Science Cloud ( ) and Research Data Alliance ( ), as well as other relevant networks focused on making training materials FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) and establishing Data Stewardship networks.
Towards FAIRification of Training Materials
The FAIR data principles have become an important component of open science, both in research data management, as well as the development and sharing of open educational resources.
CLARIN is participating in the newly established FAIR SSH working group, which aims to coordinate efforts related to the adoption and implementation of the FAIR data principles within the SSH research infrastructure communities. In the context of this working group, CLARIN is an observer in the SKILLS4EOSC project and is exploring how the FAIR-by-Design methodology can be adopted to further improve CLARIN learning and training materials. See this poster for more information.
In collaboration with the ELIXIR infrastructure community of trainers, CLARIN has contributed to a FAIR Training Handbook on Github. This handbook shows developers of training materials how to make them FAIR by designing them with reuse in mind, using consistent metadata to describe them, assigning persistent identifiers and open licences, and making them accessible and discoverable through public registries and repositories. Chapter 5 contains some examples from the CLARIN community of trainers.
Research Careers, Data Stewardship and Curricula
CLARIN’s participation in Horizon Europe projects related to EOSC, such as EOSC Focus, FAIRCore4EOSC, OSCARS, OSTrails, and representation in the relevant EOSC Task Forces, also contributes to educating researchers about the Open Science and FAIR Data principles.
EOSC Winter School
The EOSC Association, in collaboration with the EOSC Focus project and other EOSC-related initiatives, organised the EOSC Winter School from 30 January to 1 February 2024, in Thessaloniki, Greece. The event aimed to facilitate knowledge exchange and collaboration among the EOSC-related Horizon Europe projects. Participants included representatives of the European Commission, facilitators from EOSC Focus, and the EOSC Association’s Board of Directors. The event featured sessions for six ‘Opportunity Areas’ (OA), ranging from persistent identifiers to open scholarly communication.
CLARIN participated in the OA5 group Skills, Training, Rewards, Recognition & Upscaling, which identified and discussed existing learning paths and methodologies, competence centres, engagement strategies at the national level, metadata standards for learning materials, data stewardship curricula, training catalogues and platforms, as well as the alignment of training certification and accreditation. The actions and recommendations resulting from the discussions are summarised in Section 2 of the EOSC Winter School Report. The expert group will continue to convene and serve as facilitators and advisors among the various EOSC stakeholders to ensure alignment of past and new training-related activities.
EOSC Task Force Data Stewardship Curricula and Career Paths
CLARIN also participated in the EOSC Data Stewardship Task Force, which aimed to consolidate existing insights on data stewards' roles and core activities in supporting researchers in making their research data FAIR. The task force produced a Report on Data Stewardship that is also relevant for the universities in the CLARIN national consortia seeking to employ data stewards to support their researchers.
EOSC Task Force on Research Careers and Curricula
This EOSC task force worked on incentives and rewards for researchers to manage and share their data and other research activities. The task force produced a Report on Fostering Open Science in Europe, which provides general strategies and recommendations for universities and research-performing organisations to adopt, implement, and promote Open Science.
Competence Centres and Training Materials on Open Science, FAIR and RDM
In the framework of new EU projects launched in 2024, CLARIN collaborates with other SSH RIs to develop training and educational instruments.
In ATRIUM, CLARIN collaborates closely with DARIAH, ARIADNE and OPERAS to expand and improve the infrastructure services, such as optical character recognition (OCR), handwritten text recognition (HRT) and automatic speech recognition (ASR), to meet the needs of researchers studying archaeology. After a thorough assessment of the skills researchers need to use the ATRIUM services, a new curriculum will be designed and published on DARIAH-Campus to improve their data management practices.
In the OSCARS project, which brings together five Science Clusters to foster the uptake of Open Science in Europe, CLARIN is contributing to the development of the SSHOC competence centre. This virtual hub will provide disciplinary expertise, best practices and services related to Open Science, as well as facilitate cross-disciplinary collaboration.
In OS Trails, which aims to improve how researchers plan, track and assess scientific knowledge, CLARIN contributes to the development of new training modules and events related to Open Science, FAIR data principles, and Research Data Management for specialists and trainers. The training materials and courses will be published on OpenPlato.