In September AQUARIUS will announce the details of its forthcoming Transnational Access Call. To help design the calls AQUARIUS partners – led by Ifremer, have been working with a team of experts to analyse and identify relevant data gaps.
Which data gaps are relevant?
AQUARIUS will support Transnational Access projects whose research and innovation outputs can deliver to the objectives of the Mission Ocean and Waters in the respective Lighthouse regions.
The data gaps report carried out an analysis of existing data against identified needs per Mission lighthouse basin. The analysis used controlled vocabularies and considered the availability of the data according to two criteria, 1) existing metadata, and 2) the reusability of the data, corresponding to the identified needs, across four thematic areas:
- Biology and Ecosystems
- Physics, Geology and Atmosphere
- Biogeochemistry
- Human Activities
The analysis details a comprehensive list of data gaps within the four thematic areas for each lighthouse region and will help design the Transnational Access Calls and the selection of successful projects.
Why collecting data alone is not enough
Finally, the report stresses the fact that data collection itself is not sufficient to address the data needs. AQUARIUS implements a mandatory Open Data policy, meaning that the Transnational Access projects have to include a Data Management Plan so that the data they collect is preserved, retained and made accessible for analysis and application by current and future users.
Interested in finding out more? Download the full report here and sign up to our newsletter to be kept informed about the first Transnational Access Call.
