EUDAT held its first EUDAT Council and Secretariat Meeting for 2026 in Helsinki, Finland from 21-23 January 2026 where the EUDAT Council, Executive Board and the Secretariat reviewed the recent developments in 2025 and discuss activities for the current year.
EUDAT Secretariat Head Yann Le Franc (eSDF) gave an overview of EUDAT’s major activities to the Council. The year was characterised by EUDAT’s increased role in the development of the EOSC Federation, stronger links with other pan-European e-infrastructures via the e-Infrastructure Assembly, increased organisational capacities, and new technical developments.
In 2025, EUDAT became one of the first 13 candidate nodes of the EOSC Federation, with EUDAT as a referenced Node in the EOSC EU Node and EUDAT services registered in the EOSC Federation catalogue. A mock-up demo of the EOSC EUDAT Node Portal was also developed and showcased the significant potential of EUDAT’s services to prospective future users and collaborators.
A number of developments across several data infrastructures have also been highlighted such as the inclusion of B2DROP as part of the EFSS Federation, and the integration of B2ACCESS with the EOSC AAI in the proof-of-concept environment. B2DROP was also integrated with the Galaxy workflow engine and was demonstrated as part of a scientific workflow use case. During the year, a new version of B2SHARE was released.
Yann Le Franc at the EUDAT Council Meeting 2026
Yann said, “2025 saw EUDAT taking a leading role in advancing the state of the art on enabling cross-border research collaborations - from our work contributing to the building the EOSC Federation, to continuously improving our service offering, to establishing closer ties with other e-infrastructures. This would not have been possible without the continued commitment and contributions of EUDAT’s members.”
EUDAT Council Chair Per Öster (CSC), during the opening, reminded the members on how far EUDAT has gone, having established a sustainable collaboration 10 years ago that is still continuing to this day and is poised for continuing for at least another decade.
Per Öster (CSC) at the EUDAT Council Meeting 2026
“In this Council and workshop we will discuss and agree on the fundament for a new 10-year agreement for EUDAT”, said Per.
The meeting saw presentations from the various Secretariat coordinators and saw the various changes in the EUDAT Governance.
New EUDAT Executive Board developments
Elections for the EUDAT Executive Board, mandated to ensure the proper execution and implementation of the EUDAT Council's decisions, were held and facilitated by Per. The elections saw Claudia Behnke (SURF) being elected as EUDAT Executive Board Chair and the addition of Hanna-Mari Puuska (CSC) as a new member of the EUDAT Executive Board. Hanna-Mari is the Director of CSC's new Data and Research Management as Value Enhancers unit (DRIVE).
Three EUDAT Executive Board Members have also been re-elected for a second term: Damien Lecarpentier (CSC), Daniel Mallmann (FZJ) and Jos van Wezel (KIT).
Speaking on her election, Claudia said “I can’t wait to continue the work we have started in the EB together with the EUDAT Secretariat. It’s a pleasure to see so many service providers to join forces and share the same mission in Europe and I am grateful for the trust of the EUDAT members. I would also like to thank all the current and previous EB members for their collaboration and dedication to EUDATs mission.”
EUDAT Secretariat expands with new Coordinators
The EUDAT announces the the appointment of new coordinators to be part of the EUDAT Secretariat, the governance body responsible for managing the collaboration, and the development and operation of the infrastructure.
Helen Clare (JISC) has been appointed as Training Coordinator in the EUDAT Secretariat, bringing with her an impressive background in training. She is currently Senior e-Infrastructure Strategy Manager (Skills) at JISC working at a strategic level coordinating activity around research skills and culture (read Helen’s profile to learn more).
Since Helen also has training roles at GEANT and OpenAIRE, her appointment at EUDAT further strengthens the collaboration among the European e-Infrastructures. This opportunity will be used for joint efforts to train and educate the EOSC community.
Apart from the appointment of Helen Clare, Elliot Susan (SURF) will be taking over from Maarten Schreuder (SURF) as Project Management Support while Janina Juuvinma (CSC) takes over as Administrative Coordinator.
Learn about EUDAT's governance structure and see how members are involved in driving EUDAT's direction.
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