The workshop, "Navigating Data Lakes for Earth and Marine Science", held on 27 September 2023, was organised as a side event of the Open Science FAIR Conference. With the goal of promoting the adoption of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data practices in the fields of marine science and related disciplines, the workshop, co-organised by the EU-funded initiatives, Blue-Cloud and FAIR-EASE, gathered key actors in the open science field.
Open Science has been making substantial progress, involving researchers, institutions, funding agencies, and infrastructure providers. However, this progress has introduced various models and systems, resulting in a seemingly fragmented ecosystem.
In order to enable international and interdisciplinary research it is essential to maintain interoperability across communities and services while supporting diverse workflows and knowledge systems.
Blue-Cloud and FAIR-EASE aim to overcome this challenge by building data platforms in the marine and Earth sciences that federate data infrastructures that follow FAIR principles.
The workshop's central theme revolved around data lakes and their application in Earth and Marine Sciences. It emphasised the importance of FAIR data management and service interoperability. Specifically, it highlighted the development and uptake of FAIR service descriptions, which expand FAIR software and include methods for assessment.
Data lakes, whether federated or distributed, offer a solution to manage and provide access to vast amounts of data. However, they present technical bottlenecks and sustainability constraints:
The workshop shed light on the challenges faced by:
The workshop highlighted the significance of FAIR data practices in Earth and Marine Science with practical examples coming from two flagship European projects.
During the workshop, Blue-Cloud and FAIR-EASE project members had the opportunity to share the floor and present the main achievements of the initiatives:
Trust-IT leads the activities related to outreach, engagement, and education, bringing to the table our expertise on website development, digital communication including social media, event management, monitoring activities, as well as stakeholder engagement in the coordination of a synergies programme with other relevant initiatives in the blue economy, Open Science, and digital twinning communities for both Blue-Cloud 2026 and FAIR-EASE.
Trust-IT took the lead in organising the workshop titled "Navigating Data Lakes for Earth and Marine Science" during the OSFAIR conference. This role encompassed coordinating organisational aspects, co-preparing the agenda with the other speakers, creating graphic materials, and moderating the workshop sessions.
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Blue-Cloud 2026 | X: @BlueCloudEU | LinkedIn: /company/blue-cloud-org | Newsletter: https://blue-cloud.org/#newsletter
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