The RESILIENCE partners have submitted the application for the Research Infrastructure to be included in the ESFRI Roadmap 2021. The inclusion of RESILIENCE in this Roadmap will assure partners that a framework to actually start the preparation phase of the infrastructure is in place.
Discerning the increasing interest in research on Religious Studies and the growing importance of these studies, RESILIENCE aims at improving access to knowledge related to religion. At the same time, tools and support are needed, in order to make available, interpret and handle this knowledge. RESILIENCE will respond to this need, establishing a permanent European Infrastructure on Religious Studies.
Building on the traditions of participating institutions, RESILIENCE’s history dates back to 2014. Since September 2019 the partners have been working on reaching the maturity required to be included in the ESFRI Roadmap 2021. A design has been made for the future infrastructure and the services have been defined, along with a sustainable budget and a stable governance model, which basically means that the Research Infrastructure is ready to start.
Inclusion of RESILIENCE in the Roadmap will assure partners of a framework to actually start in the near future the preparation phase of the infrastructure.
Characteristic in the infrastructure design is that it includes physical as well as digital access to knowledge about religion, and that it is uniquely user-centered: RESILIENCE supports its future users in finding, handling and sharing this knowledge. Although scholars in particular will make use of the research infrastructure, also others involved in religious matters such as librarians, policy makers and representatives of religious communities can benefit.
RESILIENCE will further enable researchers to integrate in a developed research society and be recognized for their research, by helping them to access more resources, to enhance digital skills, to participate in projects, to promote their research, to build a professional network etc.
The permanent research infrastructure has a minimum life cycle of 34 years and an estimated budget of around € 318 millions. 80% of this amount will be covered by the partners themselves through in-kind contributions, mostly dedicated to physical access services.
Alberto Melloni, Director of Fscire, on the need for the Research Infrastructure: “Like the single research in physics needs a big accelerator to discover the infinitesimal part of an atom of matter, religious history and Religious Studies need scientific tools of a long history in order to understand the single choice and the single move deriving from a religious belief, its profile or its change or its mutation.”
Francesca Cadeddu (Fscire) about the submission and the importance of the Research Infrastructure: