Data sovereignty has several scales. We can refer to the sovereignty of individual data producers. We can also refer to sovereignty in a community that works together in a data space. We can scale the issue to sovereignty of some territories that they are investing in a digital economy and they do not want benefits to leak to other territories. Among the different interpretations, there is also the sovereignty of scientists that want to secure their reputation by ensuring acknowledgment and recognition. Scientifics data sovereignty faces three main challenges: (1) the scientific community is globalised, and while scientists may suspect some issues surrounding lack of sovereignty, it is often perceived as a constraint on their autonomy and freedom to choose the most efficient tools and workflows; (2) there is no specific European directive for data sovereignty. Instead, a collection of policies was approved in different moments in time lacking a consistent framework; and (3) scientists are not familiar with the tools and technologies used to implement data sovereignty at different restriction levels.
While several efforts have been recently focusing on restricted data (e.g. EU Data Spaces), this session focuses on the open science spirit of “as open as possible, as closed as necessary” under Horizon Europe and other funding programs, but reinterprets it from the perspective of data sovereignty. This session will focus on why data sovereignty is important for Europeans, how scientists are currently addressing this issue and how we can ensure data sovereignty in Europe. Some possible topics to address in the session are acceptability of data to specific communities, governance of the data and interoperability of data and technologies. Papers participating in the session will collaborate to propose changes in practices in the scientific community; balancing open science and data sovereignty to maximize impact on society.
We are interested in understanding how you perceive the outcomes of restricting global open science with sovereignty safeguards. In particular we would like hear your thoughts and fears on why sovereignty is necessary and the barriers it can create for operating European Research Infrastructures.