FINAL ENVRIPLUSPROJECT REPORT

Prepared by Ar i AsmiMagda l ena B rusPao lo La jandWerne r Ku t sch on beha l f o f ENVRI PLUSconso r t i um

FUNDING SCHEME

Researchand Innovation action

PROJECT WEBS ITE

www.envriplus.eu

PROJECT NUMBER

654182

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ABOUT ENVRIPLUSENVRI PLUS lasted over 51 months with a very large number of activities,workshops, internal and external consultations, and creation of new tools andservices mainly for the benefits of the participating Research Infrastructures.The conclusions below represent the overall strategic conclusions from theaction, and how they reflect the development of European Research Area,particularly in respect to development of Environmental ResearchInfrastructures.

CONCLUSIONSOF THEACTIONCollaborative development saves effort, resources,and creates better services The ENVRI PLUS project collaboratively developed a wide variety oftechnical, e-science and other tools to be used throughout the cluster.Compared to individual developments by each Research Infrastructure, thishas been time and resource efficient, used hard-to-find expertise in anoptimum way, and created interoperable services. Due to large differences inmaturity and resulting expectations, such joint developments are notnecessarily easy and mapping which parts of the services are common andwhich parts need to be developed separately is non-trivial, and require theirown efforts.The experiences from the earlier ENVRI project(s) were very useful toovercome management and coordination challenges. Since we applied thesame co-development cycle (Research Infrastructure internal and externalexperts developing solutions together), the joint technical developmentswere extremely successful in creating common tools and services, and the

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practical operational increase in thecapacity of the ENVRI ResearchInfrastructures was demonstratedby the numerous Use Cases for theData-for-Science activities ofENVRI PLUS, this strategy clearlysets the foundations for fullyinteroperable data systems, a keyaspect of the upcoming EuropeanOpen Science Cloud.

Coordination ofheterogenousenvironmental RI fieldhas great potential ENVRI PLUS united a large numberof ESFRI projects, landmarks andinitiatives, with widely varyingmissions, disciplinary customs andoperational maturity. The broadapproach beyond the ESFRIRoadmap was applied on purpose inorder to include and engage thewhole landscape.The project clearly demonstratedthe added-value of enhanced

collaboration and demonstrated theneed for further collaboration andcoordination, especially on aspectssuch as interoperability of services,access provision to the facilities,possibilities of co-location, RI-to-RIservices and many other features.The bottom-up development systemof the ESFRI Research Infrastructures is excellent forproducing key services for selectedresearch communities, but evenmoderate coordination effortsdemonstrated to be very cost-effective. The project thus concludes thatcoordination mechanisms towards afurther development of theResearch Infrastructure landscapewould be extremely beneficial. Thisshould be done by combining atleast four different viewpoints: (1) multi-disciplinary scientificquestions,(2) overarching societal GrandChallenges, (3) common user expectations, and(4) economic benefits of synergies.

ENVRI PLUS27 RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURES19 WORK PACKAGES97 DELIVERABLES

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“Soft” developments canbe extremely beneficialfor the impact of theResearch Infrastructures The ENVRI PLUS experienceshows that actions not generallyconsidered to be crucial for theResearch Infrastructure operationscan be actually extremely beneficialboth for the Research Infrastructureand the interoperability ofthe Research Infrastructure cluster.For example, activities towardsenvironmental literacy and ethicsare crucial for the socioeconomicimpact of the ResearchInfrastructures. The same counts forthe provenance and reliability of theprovided services and data.Similarly, community building andcommunications can be crucial tokeep the ResearchInfrastructure staff efficient andwell connected – making theinteroperability and efficiency goalsfar easier to reach. Collaborationwith societal actors, such as schoolsand businesses can lead to farimproved long-term impacts of theinvestments to the ResearchInfrastructures. The experiences ofENVRI PLUS have proven that abroader thematic approach isstronger than a narrow focus ontechnical or data-related topics.

Joint strategic actionsmake the ENVRIResearch Infrastructuresbetter suited for societaland science impact The in-situ segment of the EarthObserving system is very complexand involves multiple players, manyof them now organized in theframework of ENVRI. Comingtogether and creating a strategicapproach has made the ENVRIResearch Infrastructures far morevisible and influential inthe international Earth Systemarena (e.g. via COPERNICUS, WMO,and GEO(SS)), and it hasstrengthened the impact of ENVRIResearch Infrastructures on

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European developments (e.g. inEuropean Open Science Cloud).Work is at initial steps but jointplanning and decision making in thecluster has been a very successfulway to align the downstreamactivities in EuroGEOSS projects.Clustering the ResearchInfrastructure collaboration have

This early, plan how you willmanage changes to the project

scope, budget, or schedule with achange management plan. This

ensures that any proposed.

had direct implications for thepartnership for the European privatesector, offering, for the first time, asingle voice and potentially offeringa much larger and potential marketfor innovation and collaborationwith industry, societal actors, andeducation facilities.

Figure 1: Following figure illustrates the different domains of the Earth system and theenvironmental Research Infrastructures operating in such system. These are 26Research infrastructures that have collaborated in ENVRIplus. (Note: not all RIs weworked with are depicted in this figure, since the landscape is constantly evolving)

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The ENVRI Research Infrastructures are major investmentsfrom many European Union members states and associatedcountries. It is expected that such investments will yield along-term return in the form of socio-economic impactson their societies. The ENVRI PLUS - as a project of mediummagnitude - is a very small additional coordination layer ontop of these multi-billion investments, but has been verysuccessful on leveraging the existing facilitiestowards societal, economic and scientific impacts.

SOCIO - ECONOMICIMPACTS

ENVRI PLUS has incubatedsome approaches responding to theincreasing demand formethodologies and tools that canassess the social and economicimpact of Research Infrastructures.

While Research Infrastructures. aredesigned for research needs, theirimpacts reach beyond science,particularly in the environmentalfield. ENVRIs have a specificsocio-economic impact because,

ENVRI PLUS received a 15 millioneuro funding from the EuropeanUnion's Horizon 2020 research andinnovation programme. Such investment makes the ResearchInfrastructures more efficient andharmonised, it improves theirinnovation potential and cost/benefitratio of the Research Infrastructureoperations.

15M€

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besides scientific interest tounderstand the Earth system,humans have a large stake in asound understanding of it to supporttheir own lives. Improved insightsinto the functions of the Earthsystem, in a rational world, shouldlead to an improved managementand behaviour. The related changes in policy leadto, or are in themselves, socio-economic impacts mainly byconserving existing rather thancreating new wealth. Thus, thedescription of socio-economicimpact of Research Infrastructuresis non-trivial. Some impact will beachieved far in the future, and it willbe hard to pinpoint them to aspecific project. Hence, the mainimpact the ENVRI PLUS candemonstrate is the increase in thepotential for new services andinteractions, which will (in thefuture) have significant benefits forthe society. Moreover, the worktowards making the data and dataproducts from environmental

Research infrastructuresmultidisciplinary, increases thequality of environmentalinformation, and encourage theinnovative use of existinginformation. These achievementsmay look small against the assetsthat are at stake related toenvironmental risks, but may becrucial in generating the knowledgeto avoid them. Economic efficiency ofthe Research Infrastructuresthemselves has been increased byjoint technical and datadevelopments that created far moreintegrated services for theparticipating RIs. Staff trainingand exchange improved operationalservices and enhanced the efficiencyof organisational structures.Integrated access mechanisms willimprove theusability of the RI services for thescientific users, particularly forinterdisciplinary research.

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OVERVIEW OF THERESULTS AND THEIREXPLOITATION ANDDISSEMINATION

The first steps towards integratedup and downstream collaborationwith the private sector was started,and this joint approach is a veryefficient way of providing for theSmall and Medium Enterprises(SMEs) a reasonable market basefor their operations. The commonbasis for new data services isdirectly impacting the EOSC servicedevelopment, and increases theusability of the Research

Infrastructure services for theCOPERNICUS service provision. The citizen science activities led toa development of several tools thatare now being used by the public.This will not only help to gather anew data, but also increase theawareness of the importance of(environmental) science within thesociety.

The ENVRI PLUS project was asuccessful endeavour to increase theefficiency, sustainability, operationalcapabilities and long-term strategicdevelopment of major Europeanenvironmental and Earth systemresearch infrastructures. For thesepurposes, the ENVRI PLUSconcentrated on six key activitygroups, with a corresponding set ofproducts and results, referencedbelow. Before going to the individual keyresults, it should be noted that themain target group of the whole

initiative were the researchinfrastructures themselves. Themain purpose was to delivercommon solutions from jointundertakings that benefit the actorsthemselves, and at the same time,create synergies and increaseefficiency at the landscape level. Results were never developedfor the internal purposes of a singleRI only. Experiences were alwaysshared and documented since theENVRI landscape is in constantchange and new ResearchInfrastructure initiatives

(e.g. recently funded IA projects) were included as Associate partners inthe project. Similarly, some of the results are of general usefulness onnational level, for other fields of science or for international infrastructuresoperating on other continents. Main results of the ENVRI PLUS project are presented in the followingchapters in six categories, following the overall Themes of the project.

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ensures that any proposed.ENVRI PLUS tree - this figure illustrates how the work was organized within the project.18 work packages of ENVRI PLUS were further clustered within so-called Themes.These were identified as key areas for the Research Infrastructure cooperation.

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Joint development of observationalcapabilities

The work concentrated on improving the Research Infrastructure’sabilities to observe the Earth System, particularly in developing andtesting new sensor technologies, harmonising observationmethodologies and developing methods to overcome common problemsassociated with working at remote sites with often harsh conditions.Most of the ENVRIs operate in such conditions, and the methodologiesare typically developed separately without coordination, especiallybetween facilities which are not closely connected. The diverse andseparated developments are challenging with regards to key nationaland regional metrological organisations or when developing newservices across traditional scientific disciplines. This heterogenousdistributed approach also makes the connection to the private sectorchallenging, as the size of the markets for technological solutions wasnot necessarily made clear.

During the ENVRI PLUS, thepartners joined their forces forimproving technical developmentsin many aspects. A commonevaluation and experience sharingof drone observation system [1]increased the feasibility of suchplatforms in ENVRIs. The developedtesting facility for on-site energyproduction [2] at extremeenvironments, including therecommendation manual for stationoperators increased thesustainability and reliability of theEuropean Research Infrastructureobservational facilities.

Similar developments led toformulating recommendations forsensor embedded processingcapabilities [3], leading to newpotential for network enabled sensorfields in the RI observation sites, andjoint development of best practiceson instrument reliability in extremeconditions [4], and a practicaldemonstrator application forenvironmental control [5] in theseenvironments. The ENVRI ResearchInfrastructures also collaborated oncommon observational inter-comparison experiments, such as

with marine pCO2 observations or for comparing atmospheric observationsfrom aircraft and ground platforms. Similarly, the ENVRI ResearchInfrastructures explored key methods for analysing heterogenous time series[6] – a common problem of many ENVRI Research Infrastructure products –and investigated how to implement them in potential new virtual services intheir data portals. The ENVRIs also worked together to create a better traceability ofenvironmental observations to the metrological standards [7], identifying themetrological needs of ENVRIs, including a gap analysis; currentmetrological and QC/QA practices for key parameters and derived bestpractices for the use of the ENVRIs; and a general assessment of thetraceability to standards in the Research Infrastructures of ENVRI PLUS.This work also included several liaison workshops with key NationalMetrological organisations, and practical implementations (e.g. IAGOS,SIOS and ACTRIS) of these metrological standards in researchinfrastructures. This standardisation activities were also directed towards major institutionaldata users for environmental data, specifically to increase the use of theENVRI Research Infrastructure data in COPERNICUS programme [8], in theCAMS, CMEMS, and CEMS services, and to provide ground validation for thesatellite products. One key element in data provision for these and othercritical users is their need for Near Real Time (NRT) environmental data [9].

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For that reason, ENVRI PLUS had aseries of actions towardsstandardising and streamlining thedata quality control closer to thehardware. However, employingcurrent standards was difficult toimplement as typically themanufacturers are using their ownproprietary sensor hardware andsoftware. Consequently, nostandards supporting ready-to-usesolution for data transmissionexisted until now. ENVRI PLUSdeveloped a robust hardwareprototype, which is capable tosupport standardised data collectionand transmission [10]. This OpenSource (both software andhardware) sensor dataharmonisation and communicationunit was built transformingmanufacturer specific, proprietarysensor output signals intostandardised formats. Similar NRTsolutions were developed foratmospheric LIDAR observations[11], together with a range of sharedonline QA/QC software tools [12]. The ENVRI PLUS also supportedindustry participation in theupstream and co-developmentmodels of innovation, by inviting themajor instrument manufacturers forthe 1st EU Environmental ResearchInfrastructures – Industry JointInnovation Partnering Forum [13]held in Grenoble during the 4th

ENVRI week. This work wasaugmented with the analysis ofemerging environmentalobservations technologies [14](sensors and platforms) that couldbe of reciprocal interest forResearch Infrastructures andindustry, and that represent anatural way to foster a linkage thathelps to develop all their marketpotential. The joint technical developmentsculminated in 2019 by anorganisation of the test cruise in theBlack sea [15]. Four ResearchInfrastructures joined their sourcesand studied methane transfer fromthe seafloor up to the atmosphere[16]. This highly successfulexpedition highlighted thesensitivity of methane emissions toperturbations, created a verysuccessful visibility for the ENVRIcommunity and acted as a test bedfor combining the measurementsystems in a holistic joint study.Similar, but smaller scale, directdemonstration of technologicaladvances was demonstrated bycollaboration between marine andsolid earth Research Infrastructuresin benthic stations for standardisedworkflows for seafloor time-seriesdata [17]. The combined use ofseveral ENVRI ResearchInfrastructures data, together withthe technological developments

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within the ENVRI PLUS project,proved the feasibility of joint workon the Research Infrastructureobservational capabilities. It isimportant to realise that eventhough all of the results produced inthe technological collaboration werenaturally disseminated usingstandard dissemination channels(articles, publications, conferences,social media, deliverables, etc), thekey point of the exploitation ofthese results comes from the directapplication of such advances in thenormal operations of theparticipating Research

Infrastructures, and sharing theseexperiences inside the ENVRIcommunity as well as to upcomingnew research facilities and networks.Many of the advances are alreadyused in the Research Infrastructureoperations, while others are activelybeing implemented throughout thenetworks. Importantly, many of the developedtechnological advances have alsobeen done in collaboration with aprivate sector, or, their potential forinnovation activities is beingevaluated.

A photo collage from the ENVRI PLUS methane cruise organized in Black sea. Scientistsfrom four different Research Infrastructures combined forces for a joint expedition. Theystudied methane transfer from the sediment up to the atmosphere. The process is crucialto understand in order to improve current predictions of climate change.

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The work began with an extensive evaluation of the current data systemsand management practices [18] in the ENVRI community, appraised usingthe extended and updated common ENVRI Reference Model (RM) [19].The ENVRI RM is capable of modelling the Research Infrastructure datageneration and curation processes from multiple organisational,computational and process viewpoints. Such evaluation helped to prioritisethe work needed and guided the development of common tools wherepossible. The understanding of the existing and planned data architectures wasstrengthened using developed ontology of Open Information Linking forEnvironmental research infrastructures (OIL-E), which specifies theterminologies and relationships to describe the Research Infrastructureprocesses. The ENVRI PLUS used the existing knowledge of the systemarchitectures to assess the possibilities of common data architectures, as

Joint development of datamanagement, processing andpublication

Most of the ENVRI community Research Infrastructures produce dataand other virtual products for the research communities. The amountand complexity of the data products is constantly increasing and cross-disciplinary use of such products is crucial for our ability to answercomplex socio-ecological questions. Additionally, almost allenvironmental (and other) Research Infrastructures will need todevelop their data management and service provision, particularly forthe upcoming requirements of the European Open Science Cloud.Common developments in this direction have been considered crucialfor the success of the ENVRI community. The work has been guided bythe ENVRI Reference Model (RM) approach. The ENVRI RM wasdeveloped during the precursor project and has been constantlyupdated during ENVRI PLUS. It has become a valuable archive and atoolbox for Research Infrastructures in the early stage of theirimplementation. Th ENVRI RM will also be an important tool to guidefor the further integration of the data life cycles of the ENVRIs andtheir connection to the EOSC.

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well as creating several practicaldemonstrators. The workconcentrated on getting away from“silo” approaching datamanagement, and evaluating thepracticality of using external serviceprovision. The data processing and analyticsmechanisms of the ENVRI ResearchInfrastructures were improved bycreation of several platforms andshared tools (particularly inD4Science platform). Themechanisms were stronglydemonstrated in a series of usecases for Virtual ResearchEnvironments (VREs) ofparticipating researchinfrastructures. The processingdevelopments also created severaloptimisations for used e-infrastructures, such as DynamicReal-time Infrastructure Planner(DRIP), virtual overlay forInformation-Centric Networking,and Data Subscription Service forEURO-ARGO data. The ENVRI PLUS evaluated therequired architecture forinteroperable data curation [20]between the Research Infrastructureproducts, together with relevant bestpractices for data curation in ENVRIResearch Infrastructures [21]. Similar activities on metadata

harmonisation and data cataloguesimproved the interoperability of theENVRI Research Infrastructures,particularly inside the subdomains(marine, atmosphere, terrestrialecosystem & biodiversity, solidearth). A key result of this activitywas a production of the ENVRIFlagship Data ProductCatalogue [22]. Other tasks includedjoint activities on improving andstandardising the documentation ofdata provenance [23] in the ENVRIResearch Infrastructures, often akey factor in a usability of criticalenvironmental data. Even with a functional andinteroperable data systems, theResearch Infrastructures would notbe able to support their activitieswithout a reliable way to follow thedata usage, and thus demonstratetheir value to the researchcommunity and to the society.Additionally, many of the ResearchInfrastructure operators aredependent on showing their owncontribution for their personalevaluation. Data citation practicesare one of the key issues in thisdevelopment, and ENVRI PLUS tookstrong actions to create thetechnological and cultural advancesfor their efficient use in relation tothe ENVRI RI data. The ENVRIPLUS created good practiceguidelines for for proper data

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citation and data publishing [24],based on practical demonstratorsand use cases shortcomings ofcurrent systems, e.g. on data lossbetween the content providers andaggregators. The guidelines wereactively tested in ENVRIinfrastructure data systems.Additionally, workshopswere held together with mainpublishers on creating a dialogue forgenerating a global data citationpractice, naturally, in this project,from the ENVRI ResearchInfrastructure point of view. Theseadvances were demonstrated inthree use cases [25] on publicationof marine biodiversity data frompeer-reviewed journal to EU datainfrastructure, on the developmentof a citation and usage trackingsystem for greenhouse gasmonitoring data and on facilitatingquantitatively correct data usageaccounting. All of the data servicesdevelopments were either by a real

world demonstrators, or, in manycases, involved in the operationalsystems of the participatingResearch Infrastructures [26]. The ENVRI PLUS work involvedservice prototyping andoperationalisation via nine sciencedemonstrators [27],covering many of the technologiesdeveloped in actual science cases,and documented promoted throughWiki and online videos. Perhapsmore importantly, they are alsoshared in the ENVRI and otherResearch Infrastructurecommunities, and the ENVRIcommunity has taken a strong partin the development of EuropeanOpen Science Cloud and furtherdisseminated and developed globallyvia Research Data Alliance. A booksummarising the findings andsolutions for the topics outlinedabove will soonbe published by Springer.

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Not all things you've listed in thebaseline will be followed to the

letter as the project moves along.

ENVRI PLUS created recommendations to be used as a reference for theEnvironmental Research Infrastructures when defining data and accesspolicies [28].This set of recommendations is based on the existing policies in ESFRI andother Research Infrastructures, research institutions and internationalprojects as well as on the current European policies and regulations in place.The document sets the base for a charter for access that specifically targetsenvironmental research infrastructures. It defines the types of accessprovided, the selection modes, the procedures to select users, the supportprovided to users, post-access provisions, data and access policies, as well asthe considerations related to access costs. Confidentiality and IPR rules, legaland ethical issues, and principles for the monitoring of ResearchInfrastructures performance are also considered. The recommendations werethen further developed in the Master plan to facilitate and encourageaccess to Research Infrastructures [29], and investigated the sustainability of

Development of access mechanismsfor Research Infrastructures

Access mechanisms for the researchers from their own domain todistributed networks of sites are the default model for ENVRIs. Thus,they access is often suited for the purpose of a specific researchinfrastructure. However, many of our environmental challenges cannotbe only approached from the viewpoint of a single discipline or domain.Indeed, multi- and cross disciplinary research is crucial to solve thesechallenges.Additionally, the distributed nature of most of the ENVRI ResearchInfrastructures provide a very good opportunity to use existingfacilities of another field of environmental research to support e.g.campaign-wise observations done by visiting researchers. However,creating this kind of multidisciplinary access to the facilities is notusually supported by existing access mechanisms, such asTransnational Access (TNA). ENVRI PLUS has piloted a novel modelfor multidisciplinary access and from the practical experiences madethere, a set of recommendations has been concluded.

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different access mechanisms [30]and funding mechanisms [32]needed to support them. Thisinformation is key for furtherdevelopment of existing and futureEuropean Research Infrastructures. ENVRI PLUS created a pilotprogramme for multidisciplinaryaccess [33] by supporting a set ofhigh-quality projects. The selectedprojects presented a clear addedvalue to ENVRI PLUS ResearchInfrastructures´ impact, beyond thelimits that a single environmentalResearch Infrastructure couldachieve. This programme consistedof a selected set of distributedobservation stations, with accessprovided on specificallymultidisciplinary projects, selectedin a series of competitive calls. Theexcellence of these proposals wasevaluated by an independentmultidisciplinary board, drawn fromthe participating ResearchInfrastructures. Thismultidisciplinary TNA pilot [34]

proved to be extremely successful increating new and innovative ways touse the facilities, and supportedmuch research which could beotherwise been hard or impossible toconduct. The feedback both fromthe researchers and from the siteswas extremely positive. In theanalysis of the TNA activities, theproject ended up in a set ofrecommendations on best practicesfor implementing physical access ininterdisciplinary research [35], withmain categories of identifying thefull capacity of joint observationsites; creating a central accessmanagement with coordinatedaccess process; enhancing the useand availability of multidisciplinaryresearch data; creating a fundinginstrument of physical access tomultidisciplinary research;coordinated communication andoutreach and coordinated accessframework being attractive to users.The access mechanisms and relatedstudies were widely distributed inthe ENVRI and ESFRI communities,

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Not all things you've listed in thebaseline will be followed to the

letter as the project moves along.

The Research Infrastructures are developed from bottom up, but the needsof the society and practical network coverage cannot often be achievedwithout a further analysis. The ENVRI PLUS evaluatedthe response of the environmental Research Infrastructures to three majorGrand Challenge classifications and created a landscape of the ENVRIResearch Infrastructures relating to challenges they respond to.These grand challenges were then also included in the ENVRI ReferenceModel development. The bottom up nature of the Research Infrastructuredevelopment has also led to a fact such Research Infrastructures facilitiesare distributed all around the Europe.Similar sites can be located near to each other, but operated by differentfacility providers. It is sometimes hard to understand, even for the ResearchInfrastructures themselves, how complex the organisational topology behindeach distributed site is, what are the Research Infrastructures it supportsand what are the organisations responsible for differentoperations. For this reason, the ENVRI PLUS also created a prototypedistributed site catalogue [35],

Societal interaction of researchinfrastructures

Environmental research has a specific interaction with societies sincethe knowledge transfer is immediate and of strong impact on societiesthat are facing environmental challenges such as climate change, lossof biodiversity or risks by natural disasters. The researchinfrastructures work together with societal actors in many ways. Thepriorities of environmental research should thus be developedconsidering the needs of the society. ENVRI PLUS has developed amechanism that enables ENVRIs to systematically explore theirrelation to Grand Challenges and to seek specifically cooperationamong each other across scientific domains or disciplines. The societalresponsibility is mirrored by ethical challenges that have beenthoroughly analysed and assimilated into ethical guidelines. Withthis work, the ENVRI Reference Model has been extended beyond thedata theme and has become a more general toolbox for ENVRIs.

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As research infrastructures aredesigned to provide societallyimportant information, thisnaturally requires an understandingof ethical issues linked to providingthese services. The society can usethe services, and how they arepresented can have a significanteffect on their uptake, and how theresults are perceived. ENVRI PLUSworked on several aspects ofbringing the ethical questions to allENVRI Research Infrastructures:The project surveyed the awarenessof ethical aspects among theResearch Infrastructure staff,created Ethical Label Template [36]for Research Infrastructureproducts, and the EthicalGuidelines for ENVRI ResearchInfrastructures [37]. These were thenextensively disseminated in thecluster and beyond. On a relatedissue, the research infrastructuresare often concerned on answering tosecurity of communities. However,how, when and how, can bechallenging, particularly when the

societal need is new to the facility inquestion. ENVRI PLUS developedfor these purposes, mainly based onexperience of EPOS infrastructure, awhite paper on general guidelines,recommendations, and bestpractices for communication anddecision making under uncertaintyfor environmental hazards andnatural disasters [38]. A necessary component ofenvironmental researchinfrastructures is and willincreasingly become participatory or“citizen” science. This is for two keyreasons: 1) it helps to raise thesocietal awareness and engagementabout environmental change andpublic’s understanding of science,and 2) it provides data that wouldotherwise be logistically inaccessiblefor monitoring change on our planet. The Citizen Science (CS) work inENVRI PLUS includedseveral practical applications andreal work CS tools.

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These included designing a gamified online image annotation toolinvolving citizens in processing marine biology images [39](deepseaspy.com), citizen science web app (Crab Watch) helping people bothlearn about, and submit records of, the crab species they find on the shoresaround Europe [40], developing the EMSC Quake Catcher network forearthquake detection and analysis, including a new hardware tooldevelopment for detection, and experience collecting from workshopsdedicated to the citizen science, culminating on the set of online trainingmaterial for Citizen Science inclusion in Research Infrastructure's activities[41].

Enhancing skills and knowledge

Running an environmental Research Infrastructure requires many skillsfrom the operators, managers and directors. Similarly, usage ofResearch Infrastructure products and services can often requiretraining material for the users. One aspect of ENVRI PLUS was todevelop different methods for sharing the experiences on running aResearch Infrastructure within the cluster and beyond, and to createeffective training materials for the results of the project itself.

The ENVRI PLUS created a widearray of training materials that areavailable on the ENVRI e-learningplatform [42]. The platform was aswell developed within the projectand is accessible to everyonethrough the ENVRI communityplatform. This included a set ofproducts from the science use casesfrom the data work packages, aswell as training material on e.g. useof the Reference Model [43]in mapping the RI functions.

A selection of videos, webinars,summer schools and workshopssharing the gained tools werealso developed. An own videochannel to store and share thewebinars was also launched withinthe project. These tools wereactively marketed and disseminatedinside and outside the projectconsortium. The e-learning platformwill be available after the end of theproject.

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A second major concentration oftraining was aimed towardssecondary schools [44], and includedmultimedia education [45] (25courses in total). The trainingaddressed the major thematicresearch areas and challenges inBiodiversity and EcosystemServices, Greenhouse effect andEarth Warming, Ocean acidification,and Environmental sustainability.These materials were augmentedwith a development of the ENVRIPLUS Serious Game(http://scientificgame.envri.eu)focusing on four different topics (i.e.Biodiversity and Ecosystems,Hydrogeological Risks, ComputingEnvironment and Marine Science).These games were used in practicein several secondary schoolsaround the Europe. The training activities also targetedthe management of the researchinfrastructures, and through acollaboration with the EMMRIprogram (developedin H2020 project RI-TRAIN),organised targeted trainingworkshops for the ENVRI RImanagement and leadership(http://www.emmri.unimib.it) .These workshops concentrated onthe governance, sustainability andstrategic leadership of a ResearchInfrastructure. Additionally, threetime series analysis conferences [46]

were organised, together with thetechnical development workpackages, bringing the user needsand tools for time series analysismore recognised within the ENVRIResearch Infrastructures. There is a lot of silent knowledge inexisting research infrastructures,and sharing the experiencesbetween the research infrastructureis an important way to improve theoperational capability of thefacilities. The project organisedexperience sharing symposia thatconcentrated on e.g. Quality Controlprocedures, data flagging, stationoperations in extreme environments,or implementation ofcommunication strategies. Additionally, the project funded aResearch Infrastructure exchange ofpersonnel programme [47], whichallowed the personnel to visit otherResearch Infrastructures forextended periods to learn in practicefrom their experiences. Such visitscovered for example, VRE creation,economics of ResearchInfrastructures, disseminationpractices, or access governance andsustainability.

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Strategic development andcommunity building

ENVRI community is not only a collection of research facilities, but acommunity of people and organisations. It has a strong missiontowards continued collaboration to ensure the availability ofinteroperable services for the user communities, and for the society.The cluster thus needs strategic planning, coordination anddevelopment to stay relevant in the changing research landscape.

The main tool of the ENVRIcommunity for the strategiccollaboration is the Board ofEnvironmental ResearchInfrastructures [48] (BEERi). ENVRIPLUS project supported itsestablishment, organisation of theirmeetings and strategic development.The board consists of the directors(or project coordinators) anddeputies from all ENVRI clusterResearch Infrastructures andnetworks (27), including those thatare not yet included on the ESFRIRoadmap. The board facilitatedfurther steps on the integration ofthe ENVRI Research Infrastructurelandscape, formed consensus papersand consultations on keyinitiatives, such as European OpenScience Cloud, COPERNICUSprogramme, Belmont Forum,GEO(SS), and ESFRI (particularly onlandscape analysis and KPIdevelopment). The Board also

directly responded to the requests ofconsultation from EuropeanCommission offices and nationaland regional funding agencies [49]. Importantly, the BEERi has alsoupdated the ENVRI vision andinitialised the creation of a newENVRI strategic plan for future,ensuring the sustainability of theproject results. One of the keydocuments focusing on strategiclong-term development is the whitepaper on further integration ofResearch Infrastructures [50] in theenvironmental field includingrecommendations on collocating ofresearch sites on national andinternational level. The white paperevaluates the current ResearchInfrastructure landscape and givesrecommendations and a strategicplan for further integration ofResearch Infrastructures in Europe.

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The cluster also supported thecollaboration within a smallergroups of the environmentalResearch Infrastructures. TheENVRI Research Infrastructures aretraditionally (also by ESFRI) dividedto four major domains (Atmosphere,Marine, Solid Earth, and Biodiversity/ Terrestrial Ecosystems), whichsimplifies the collaboration onscience level interoperability issuesrather than on the whole cluster, aswell as to answer the domainspecific challenges. The ENVRIPLUS facilitated strategic andpractical collaboration events [51]for these sub-clusters. The projectalso initiated a strategiccollaboration with a private sector.Work on the long-termopportunities towards the EuropeanInstitute of Innovation andTechnology is particularlyimportant. The ENVRI PLUS project investedin strategic and comprehensiveapproach towards dissemination andcommunication. The main targetgroups of this work were theinfrastructures themselves (forefficient exploitation of results),upcoming Research Infrastructures,other projects, researchers, SMEsand key outside stakeholders, suchas research funders, policy makers,COPERNICUS and GEO(ss). Thedissemination strategy concentrated

on use of targeted methods to reachthe various audiences, mainlyconcentrating on use of digitaltools (website platforms, socialmedia) and physical representationat major conferences, augmented byprinted material. The developmentand maintenance of ENVRIcommunity platform (www.envri.eu)is particularly important. Theplatform is a sustainableexploitation platform for the products developed by ENVRIPLUS as well as by other ENVRIrelated projects. The projectcommunicated its activities andpromoted its results through anactive and very well subscribedcommunity twitter account(@ENVRIcomm), participated inmany science and science policyconferences with a joint ENVRIconference booths where itpromoted the project outcomesas well as the ResearchInfrastructures themselves. Acreation of cluster communicationofficer network helped tocommunicate the projectdevelopments within theResearch Infrastructures. A creationof ENVRI colouring book [52]allowed to transfer the knowledge ofENVRI Research Infrastructureproducts to the scientists and topublic. The project also organizedmany liaison and collaborationmeetings with researchers and

non-European research facilities. Anopen forum discussing the projectresults and the importance ofcollaboration among the ResearchInfrastructures was organized inHelsinki, inviting the wide spectrumof audience including public.Perhaps the biggest activity when itcomes to dissemination of theproject results was the organisationof Final ENVRI PLUS event inBrussels [53]. The event wasattended by

a broad range of stakeholders andnicely summarised the biggestoutcomes of the project. Overall the ENVRI PLUScommunication efforts have beenextremely successful both ininforming about the ENVRI PLUSproducts, and by acting as acommunication hub and a resourcefor ENVRI Research Infrastructureslocally, regionally and globally.

1249 TWITTER FOLLOWERSAVARAGE NUMBER OF IMPRESSIONSPER MONTH: 35.200103,073 WEBSITE VIEWS F i n a l E N V R I P L U S p r o j e c t r e p o r t

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REFERENCES [1] D1.5 Report on opportunities and applications of unmanned observatoriesfor usage across RIs - http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/D1.5.pdf[2] D3.1 Report on the use of energy units in extreme environments -http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/D3.1.pdf[3] D1.6 Results and recommendations from the comparison exercise ofsensor embedded processing practices - http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/D1.6.pdf[4] D3.2 – New set of standards for the qualification of instruments towardsextreme conditions - http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/D3.2-New-set-of-standards-for-the-qualification-of-instruments-towards-extreme-conditions.pdf[5] D3.5. Demonstrating robust data provision – data transmission and nearreal-time QC – employing a use case in a remote ocean region -http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/D3.5..pdf[6] D15.2 Materials from the second time series conference including tutorialand handbook on the second time series conference -http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Deliverable_15_2_FINAL.pdf[7] D2.1 Report on traceability and standards in Environmental RIs -http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/ENVRIplus_D2.1_final.pdf[8] D2.3 Harmonization strategy report toward support to space mission andassimilation systems based on RI data - http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/ENVRIplusD2.3Final_10_07_2019.pdf[9] D3.5. Demonstrating robust data provision – data transmission and nearreal-time QC – employing a use case in a remote ocean region -http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/D3.5..pdf[10] Ibid.[11] D1.4 – Report on integration across networks: common strategy andcommon sensors for LIDAR and aerosol extinction measurements -http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/D1.4-Report-on-integration-across-networks-common-strategy-and-common-sensors-for-lidar-and-aerosol-extinction-measurements.pdf

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REFERENCES[12] In D4.2 – Achievements report on open interdisciplinary case studieshighlighting the common operation of networks -http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/D4.2.pdf[13] https://www.envriplus.eu/2017/01/26/1st-eu-environmental-ris-industry-forum/[14] D1.1 Emerging technologies, emerging markets – fostering the innovationpotential of research infrastructures - http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/D1.1-Emerging-technologies-emerging-markets-fostering-the-innovation-potential-of-research-infrastructures.pdf[15] In D4.2 – Achievements report on open interdisciplinary case studieshighlighting the common operation of networks -http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/D4.2.pdf[16] Ibid[17] Ibid[18] D5.1 – A consistent characterisation of existing and planned RIs -http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/A-consistent-characterisation-of-RIs.pdf[19] D5.2 – A definition of the ENVRI Reference Model -http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/D5.2-A-definition-of-the-ENVRIplus-Reference-Model.pdf[20] D5.5 – A Model Architecture for new RIs to Adopt and to act as a Guidefor Existing RIs in their Development - http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/D5.5.pdf[21] D8.2 – Data curation prototype - http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/D8.2-Data-Curation-Prototype.pdf[22] https://confluence.egi.eu/display/EC/ENVRIplus+Service+Portfolios[23] D8.6 – Data provenance and tracing for environmental sciences-Prototype and deployment - http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/D8.6-Data-provenance-and-tracing-for-environmental-sciences-Prototype-and-deployment.pdf[24] D6.2 – A report on negotiations with publishers, providers of existingdata citation systems and other scientific organisations on implementing aglobal data citation system - http://tinyurl.com/yxbumzhj

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REFERENCES

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[25] D6.3 – Report on identification and citation service case studies -http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/D6.3.pdf[26] D9.2 – Service deployment in computing and data e-Infrastructures -http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/D9.2-Service-deployment-in-computing-and-data-e-Infrastructures-Version-3.pdf[27] D9.4 – Serving key data service stakeholders and policy initiativesversion 2 - http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/D9.4.pdf[28] D10.1 – Guidelines on access to RIs - http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/D10.1.pdf[29] D10.2 – Master plan to facilitate and encourage access to RIs -http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/D10.2.pdf[30] D10.3 – Description of performance criteria for open access and list ofperformance indicators - http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/D10.3.pdf[31] D10.4 - RI strategy for flexibility and sustainability -http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Deliverable-10.4_final-1.pdf[32] D11.1 – Report on planning and implementing physical access acrossdisciplines - http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/D11.1-Report-on-planning-and-implementing-physical-access-across-disciplines.pdf[33] D 11.4 Report on interdisciplinary integration capacity, end user needs,TNA implementation requirement and added value for the scientificcommunity - http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Deliverable-11.4.pdf[34] Ibid. and D11.3– Improving multidisciplinary access to ERIs allowing adiscovery of and an access to the site descriptions -http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/ENVRIplus-DWP11.3-final-edited.pdf[35] D12.4 – Prototyping a distributed site catalogue -http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/D12.4-Prototyping-a-distributed-site-catalogue.pdf[36] D13.2 – Ethical label template - http://www.envriplus.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/D13.2-Ethical-label-template.pdf

ENVRIPLUSFINAL REPORT

OCTOBER 2019

www.envriplus.eu

Th i s p ro j ec t has r ece i vedfund ing f r om the Eu ropeanUn ion ' s Hor i zon 2020resea rch and i nnova t i onprog ramme ]unde r g ran tag reement No 824068