The development of a national infrastructure for research data does not happen overnight. It requires close collaboration between interested stakeholders and a thorough process of planning and organisation. The SND consortium has now agreed a strategic plan covering the period 2018–2022, which states SND’s vision and aims during this intensive period of development and expansion.
The strategic plan consists of two parts. The first outlines SND’s mission and the vision that this collaboration is intended to realise. The vision describes SND’s role as part of a global network that enables researchers to share, find and reuse high-quality research data. SND will inspire, encourage and coordinate the development of a trustworthy system of research data repositories in Sweden. The second part features three overarching strategic areas and accompanying aims. The three strategic priorities are (1) to facilitate and secure research data and metadata flows from researcher to researcher (data in and data out); (2) to assist and benefit users, that is to say universities’ Data Access Units (DAUs) and researchers; and (3) to accumulate and maintain expertise.
Max Petzold, SND’s Director, is optimistic about the way forward:
“It is really positive that our consortium and network of universities are behind these priority areas, which will enable us to optimise our service to Swedish researchers. The next few years will see a focus on active collaboration with universities. In around 2021, it will be time to present our plans for the period after 2022 in order to meet the challenges of the fast-moving world of Open Science.”
Click here to read the Strategic Plan.