The RESILIENCE Preparatory Phase Project is now more than halfway through, reason for taking stock: what have we achieved so far and what remains to be done? The results of this review are encouraging, indicating that a sustainable research infrastructure for the study on religion is increasingly in sight.
During the project’s review meeting mid-February, the leaders of each workpackage presented the progress made from June 2023 to November 2024 and what still remains to be done. You will find an impression below:
The team was able to deliver the financial sustainability plan, an important prerequisite for guaranteeing the sustainability of the research infrastructure. Much energy was also devoted to supporting applications in the various European countries for political and financial support, one of the conditions for becoming an ERIC. The expansion of the consortium with new partners and observers continues steadily, also of great importance for a good spread of different types of participating institutions throughout Europe.
As many as 18 deliverables could be published in the reporting period. They all relate in distinctive ways to the services that the RI will offer to future users. Besides, the team was able to offer webinars and workshops related to RESILIENCE’s core services, such as FAIR Data Management, ReIReSearch and the Transnational Access fellowship programme. Related to the planned IT services, results concerning maximizing engagement with other research infrastructures and IT infrastructures could be achieved, as well as concerning services reusability.
RESILIENCE PPP includes a workpackage concerned with exploring the needs of future users of the research infrastructure and its services. What do they need to do their research as well and efficiently as possible? From the 57 interviews conducted, it was possible to determine where those needs lie, namely in the area of accessibility, networking, mobility, transnational access, research data management and scientific support.
The team was able to reach its target audiences in Europa via several channels and touchpoints. The many presentations at a variety of events and the personal-level contacts to which the entire team contributed have been important in working toward the communication goals. Working with the vision and mission statement in more concrete terms is a task ahead of the team.
The WP was able to lead the project to the required organizational and financial achievements, among others by monitoring the progress of the whole project, by identifying risks and implementing effective control measures and by monitoring the quality of the deliverables. Besides, the RESILIENCE Data Management Plan could be translated into practice and put in place.
The review meeting proved to be not only a place to present and discuss the results during the reporting period, but also a perfect opportunity for the reviewers to provide tailored advice. This advice will be discussed internally and implemented as much as possible in the upcoming months.