Besides relying on in-kind services provided by national nodes, RESILIENCE is also preparing some core services during the Preparatory Phase (2022-2026). Those are mostly based on existing initiatives in the European e-Infrastructure landscape and work done in previous projects, although some small steps are taken towards new initiatives as well in preparation of the Implementation Phase.
Resources to onboard, implement and bring existing services to a higher level are limited as the Preparatory Phase focuses on service preparation and setting up the governance, legal and financial frameworks. Nevertheless, the core services being prepared address the main needs of our user community and align with the identified priorities, which are 1. Discoverability of data sources and data access, 2. Networking, mobility and transnational access, and 3. Research data management and data deposit according to the FAIR principles.
Zenodo is a general-purpose open repository developed under the European OpenAIRE program and operated by CERN. It enables researchers to deposit research papers, datasets, software, reports, and other digital artefacts, providing each submission with a persistent Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for easy citation. Given its broad scope – accepting not only datasets but also publications, posters, presentations, and more – Zenodo is particularly appealing to the religious studies community, where such resource types are more familiar than research data. This versatility helps lower the barrier to adopting data repositories, encouraging wider use by the community. A dedicated RESILIENCE community on Zenodo can play a vital role in promoting open access and data-sharing practices, offering an accessible platform where researchers can publish their data and receive proper citation and credit.
The RESILIENCE community on Zenodo has been configured into a three-tier structure that separates project-specific deliverables from infrastructure-wide resources, yet keeps everything findable through a single aggregation point.
The RESILIENCE TNA Programme offers physical and virtual in-person access across national borders to the most significant tools and sources in those disciplines related to the study of religion. The TNA service is an answer to the need of scholars to have direct and effective access to sources located in different countries. Often, such collections have not been digitized, and access to these sources is restricted. In order to provide excellence-driven access to its physical resources, TNA partners offer assistance to researchers seeking to conduct a research visit at one of the host facilities offering this service. The goal of TNA therefore is to facilitate direct and effective access for scholars to the objects of their research: TNA hosts grant access to their collections of manuscripts, rare books, documents and materials, and provide instructions to effectively make use of their collections. Most of the programme’s activities will be managed within the national nodes, with the exception of a few key financial, legal, and governance responsibilities that will partially or wholly need to be managed at RESILIENCE’s headquarters.
To resolve the need for discoverability of data sources that give access to a wide variety of digital objects, RESILIENCE currently has two services – RelReSearch and IxTheo – available among its partners. ReIReSearch was developed as part of the ReIReS project to create a discovery platform where diverse digital resources and databases relevant to religious stgudies could be searched in a standardised and streamlined manner. Designed to meet the increasing demand from scholars for easy and efficient access to large datasets, ReIReSearch enables users to explore metadata coming from various providers on a single platform. Recognising the shared objective of providing access to primary and secondary resources and data related to religion, RESILIENCE has integrated ReIReSearch into its service catalogue. This ensures ongoing hosting and maintenance of the platform, while also creating opportunities for future enhancements and the addition of new collections.
From the Implementation Phase onwards the RESILIENCE consortium will increase its effort towards RDM (Research Data Management) support. As such, following actions have been identified to ensure the adoption of the FAIR principles within the broader community:
1. Developing Customised Training Materials
2. Organizing Workshops and Webinars
3. Curating Online Resources
4. Building a Support Network
5. Promoting Success Stories
Further details on these activities can be found in ‘D2.4 – Data Management Plan’, which also highlights the importance of incorporating a dedicated expert in OS practices, particularly within the SSH domain, with a specific focus on religious studies.
Besides RDM support for researchers dealing with small to normal data volumes, we can also benefit from the involvement of CINECA as a partner in RESILIENCE. The expertise of this partner will be utilised to provide services offering large-volume and secure data storage and transfer solutions to the religious stgudies community that adhere to RDM best practices. Also, the development of the EOSC EU Node is of interest. The EOSC EU Node is a reference node for EOSC, provided by the European Commission, that offers access to a diverse range of research outputs, services, and tools.
Source: Deliverable D2.1, Services Preparation and Implementation Strategy, version 24.07.2025.