The EPOS Implementation Phase project (2015 - 2019) is a joint project of 46 partners, 6 associate partners (including the European Space Agency, EuroGeoSurveys, Global Earthquake Model) and several international organizations (ORFEUS, EMSC, EUREF, INTERMAGNET) for a total of 25 countries involved.
The EPOS IP project is coordinated by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (Italy). The project coordinator is Massimo Cocco, who is responsible for the global coordination and organization of the activities and chairs the EPOS Project Development Board.
The EPOS Implementation Phase project is a key step in EPOS’ vision of a pan-European Earth science monitoring platform. Building on the EPOS Preparatory Phase project (2010-2014), it will deliver not only a suite of domain-specific and mulitdisciplinary services in one platform, but also the legal and governance, and financial frameworks to ensure the future operation and sustainability of the platform.
Funded under the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme, the EPOS IP project is organized in three main strategic actions:
- Implementation of services for data provision in an effective legal and financial framework;
- Harmonisation of EPOS implementation with national priorities and strategies;
- Management guaranteeing an efficient running of the work plan from the technical, administrative, and financial perspective as well as ensuring effective links with the establishment of EPOS-ERIC.
The EPOS IP project will implement for its four-years duration a realistic roadmap toward EPOS construction making its objectives measureable and achievable. EPOS IP project will build the EPOS integrated research platform by:
- implementing Thematic Core Services (TCS) for the diverse communities contributing to EPOS;
- ensuring Thematic Core Services integration within the full EPOS framework, covering legal, governance and financial aspects, and technical connection to Integrated Core Services;
- developing the Integrated Core Services to provide interoperability, data management and access to services;
- creating optimal conditions for the central coordination of the EPOS-ERIC (Executive Coordination Office - ECO - and ICS-Central hub);
- ensuring long-term financial & legal sustainability for EPOS-ERIC and implemented services;
- harmonizing the EPOS implementation with national priorities and strategies;
- further gaining users’ trust and awareness of the impact of the new research exploitation platform;
- integrating EPOS in the global science community to enhance the EPOS services;
- fostering training, outreach and international cooperation.
The EPOS IP will guarantee the further enhancement of the technical architecture, including the development of innovative components (such as the design of ICS distributed resources), and the further enlargement of the membership supporting the ERIC establishment.
The official EPOS community today is made up of 47 partners plus 6 associate partners from 25 countries from all over Europe and several international organizations (ORFEUS, EMSC, EUREF).
The official EPOS community today is made up of 47 partners plus 6 associate partners from 25 countries from all over Europe and several international organizations (ORFEUS, EMSC, EUREF).
However, the community contributing to the EPOS integration plan is larger than the official partnership of EPOS IP project, because more countries are represented by the international organizations and because within each country there are several research institutions involved (see https://www.epos-ip.org/ride).
Several global initiatives also participate or follow the EPOS implementation as for example the Global Earthquake Model (GEM), the European Space Agency (ESA) and EuroGeoSurveys.
EPOS also participate in Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and collaborate closely with the US National Science Foundation initiatives such as the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology, UNAVCO, and EARTHCUBE.
The integration of the European solid Earth science community, both geographically and across Earth science disciplines, will be the backbone of the EPOS enterprise. For this reason, the EPOS community is open and inclusive.
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), Greece
Budapest Fovaros Kormanyhivatala (BFKH FTFF), Hungary
Bureau de Recherches Geologiques et Minieres (BRGM), France
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), Spain
Consiglio nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR-IREA), Italy
CYFRONET+GIG Consortium (CYFRONET+GIG), Poland
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH), Switzerland
European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), France
Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), Finland
Geodetic Observatory Pecný (GOP), Czech Republic
Geofyzikalni ustav Akademie ved CR, v.v.i. (IG ASCR), Czech Republic
Geological Survey of Denmark (GEUS), Denmark
Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI), Ireland
Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering (EUCENTRE), Italy
Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ), Germany
Helsinki Helsingin yliopisto (UH), Finland
Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques (INERIS), France
Institute of Geology & Mineral Exploration (IGME), Greece
Institutul National de Cercetare-Dezvoltare pentru Fizica Pamantului (INCDFP RA), Romania
Instytut Geofizyki Polskiej Akademii Nauk (IG PAS), Poland
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Italy
Luleå Tekniska Universitet (LTU), Sweden
National Observatory of Athens (NOA), Greece
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), UK
Observatori de l'Ebre (OE), Spain
Observatories and Research Facilities for European Seismology (ORFEUS), The Netherlands
Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), Turkey
Royal Observatory of Belgium (ROB), Belgium
Università di Napoli Federico II (UNINA), Italy
Università di Roma TRE (RM3), Italy
Universitetet i Bergen (UiB), Norway
University of Beira Interior (UBI) (Collaboratory for Geosciences), Portugal
University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark
University of Liverpool (UNIV), UK
University of Oulu (UOULU), Finland
University of Uppsala (UU-SE), Sweden
University of Utrecht (UU), The Netherlands
Vedurstofa Islands (IMO), Iceland
Znanstvenoraziskovalni C. Slovenske Akademije Znanosti In Umetnosti (ZRC SAZU), Slovenia
Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie (BKG)
Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES)
European Space Agency (ESA-ESRIN)
Institut National de l’Information Géographique et Forestière (IGN)
Institute of Engineering Seismology and Earthquake Engineering (ITSAK)
Lab Nacional de Energia Geologia (LNEG)
National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS)
National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics (OGS)
University of Ljubljana (FCGE-UL)
Zentralanstalt fuer Meteorologie und Geodynamik (ZAMG)
On one hand, the engagement of such diverse stakeholders requires the adoption of communication policies and interaction strategies appropriate to the stakeholders’ needs. On the other hand, the roadmap to engage the diverse stakeholders must be designed accordingly with the different objectives of the various phases of the EPOS initiative.
EPOS has identified key target stakeholders as follows
Scientists
- Data providers
- Data users within the solid Earth community
- Data users outside the solid Earth community
- IT experts
Governments
- National governments
- Funding agencies
- European Commission
Private Sector
- Industry
- Small Medium Enterprises
Society
- Students at any level
- General public
On one hand, the engagement of such diverse stakeholders requires the adoption of communication policies and interaction strategies appropriate to the stakeholders’ needs. On the other hand, the roadmap to engage the diverse stakeholders must be designed accordingly with the different objectives of the various phases of the EPOS initiative.
Indeed, the main goal of the Preparatory Phase was to firstly inform and then efficiently collaborate in order to deeply involve and engage Data providers, IT experts and National Governments. This is because, during the Preparatory Phase, EPOS needed on the one hand to aggregate and strengthen the very diverse communities belonging to solid Earth science in order to proceed with data and data products integration, while on the other it was to ensure countries’ involvement at governmental level. The approach EPOS had with remaining stakeholders’ categories was then chiefly focused just on informing and consulting them.
In the current Implementation Phase though, EPOS is updating its communication strategy as to fully address the new challenges of effectively integrating data and products, and guaranteeing the full exploitation of such an achievement. To do that the involvement and engagement of further stakeholders such as the private sector, but also the wider civil society is necessary.