Enhancing and Sustaining European Geosphere Services: Geo-INQUIRE’s Final Phase of Training, Transnational Access, and FAIR Data Integration

Geo-INQUIRE* (Geosphere INfrastructures for QUestions into Integrated REsearch) is an EU-funded project running from October 2022 to September 2026. The project aims to enhance access to geoscientific data, products, services, and computing resources, thereby enabling open, interdisciplinary, and data-driven research across the geosphere. By integrating and strengthening European and pan-European research infrastructures, Geo-INQUIRE addresses some of the challenges posed by heterogeneous data formats, new data types, and disciplinary silos that increasingly accompany modern, data-intensive science.

A central objective of Geo-INQUIRE is to foster cross-fertilization and long-term collaboration among major European research infrastructures and initiatives, including EPOS ERIC, EMSO ERIC, ECCSEL ERIC, ChEESE CoE, and the ARISE infrasound community. Through coordinated European efforts, the project promotes the harmonisation of data policies, interoperability frameworks, and service provision. This contributes to the development and adoption of global standards for FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) geoscientific data and services. Geo-INQUIRE also addresses the rapidly evolving data management policies across communities, and the definition of common Key Performance Indicators for infrastructure governance.

Geo-INQUIRE leverages complementary strengths across solid Earth, marine, atmospheric, and subsurface research domains, combining observational data, advanced modelling, and high-performance computing resources. Users benefit from integrated FAIR-compliant data collections, interoperable workflows, scalable computing services, and a dedicated Transnational Access programme providing hands-on access to key testbeds, facilities, and HPC-demanding computational workflows. This enables users to perform advanced experiments, simulations, and methodological developments. Training, workshops, and summer schools provide further support for capacity building and the adoption of open and reproducible research practices, with a strong focus on promoting Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI). 

Now, in its final implementation year, Geo-INQUIRE is consolidating and assessing the outcomes of its activities, including new multidisciplinary datasets generated via Transnational Access, enhanced data services, interoperable workflows, and training materials. These results are being wrapped up, evaluated, and progressively handed over to long-term, sustainable European research infrastructures to ensure continuity, reuse, and lasting impact beyond the project lifetime. This final phase demonstrates how time-limited collaborative projects can deliver durable contributions to the European and global geoscience research landscape by embedding innovation within established, sustainable infrastructures.

* Geo-INQUIRE is funded by the European Union (GA 101058518)