The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) is a federation of European digital research infrastructures, initiated in 2015. Its main objective is to provide the research community with digital tools that enable effective research data management and the implementation of the FAIR principles.
EOSC is conceived as a federation, a system of systems comprising independent infrastructural units called "nodes". In 2024, the central unit EOSC EU Node began operations providing members of research institutions from the European Union and Horizon Europe Associated Countries with free access to a range of data management services.
The Resource Hub of the EOSC EU Node aggregates metadata from European data discovery systems—such as OpenAIRE Explore—as well as from national, regional, thematic (i.e., discipline-specific), and infrastructural (i.e., providing more general services) nodes surrounding the central node, each one providing data management services and access to research data or metadata.
Schematic view of the EOSC Federation. Source: EOSC Association. (2026). EOSC Federation Handbook (2.0). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18454649
Copyright (C) EOSC Association 2026, licensed under CC BY.
In 2026, the first wave of 6 national nodes (Finland, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, and the Netherlands) joined the federation along with 6 thematic nodes focused on health, physical and environmental sciences, and 1 infrastructural node. It is planned that the second wave, comprising 14 nodes, will join by 2027. Lithuania is also considering establishing a national EOSC node. The Research Council of Lithuania has prepared a feasibility study on this topic (available only in Lithuanian).
The governance of EOSC is based on a tripartite model in which the European Commission represents the interests of the European Union, the EOSC Association represents organisations providing or using EOSC services, and the EOSC Steering Board represents the interests of individual European countries. The Steering Board consists of experts delegated by each EU27 and Horizon Europe Associated Country.
Need some advice?
Questions on topics related to research data management can be directed to Dr Gintė Medzvieckaitė from the Scientific Information and Data Division.
Scholarly Communication and Information Centre
Saulėtekio al. 5 (Block B, 4th floor, Room 403)
Phone: +370 5 219 5062
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The Scientific Information and Data Division also offers training events on topics related to Open Science and research data management. Please contact the Head of Scientific Information and Data Division Gitana Naudužienė if you would like to request a training activity in English (a group of 5 or more attendees is required).