Projects

Support to Establishment of National/Regional Social Sciences Data Archives – SERSCIDA (SERSCIDA)

Project framework: FP7

Financed by: European Commission

Period: January 2012 – July 2014

Local coordinator: Aleksandra Bradić-Martinović, Ph.D.

SERSCIDA is designed as a strategic project for supporting the cooperation and exchange of knowledge between the EU countries associated within the Council of European Social Sciences Data Archives (CESSDA) and the Western Balkan Countries (WBC) in the field of social science data archives. The project addresses the issues of potentials of usage of information-communication technologies for the benefits of scientific research and exchange of knowledge as laid down in the call for proposals topic. The project aims to produce tangible results and improve the capacities for exchange of knowledge and data collected through research in social sciences between the European countries and WBC involved.

Partners at the SERSCIDA project, beside Institute of Economic Sciences, were: FORS Swiss Foundation for Research in Social Sciences, HRC Sarajevo University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; University of Essex, United Kingdom Data Archives (UKDA), United Kingdom; University of Gothenburg, Swedish National Data Service (SND), Sweden; University of Ljubljana, Social Science Data Archive (ADP); Slovenia and University of Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (FFZG), Croatia.

SCOPES project: South-Eastern European data services (SEEDS)

Project framework: SCOPES

Financed by: Swiss National Science Fund (SNSF)

Period: May 2015 – April 2017

Local coordinator: Aleksandra Bradić-Martinović, Ph.D.

The SEEDS project (South-Eastern European Data Services) aimed to widen efforts, based on the SERSCIDA model and project outputs, and backed internationally by CESSDA, to establish new data services in the countries of Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and to continue their integration in the national and international landscape for Croatia and Serbia. The project extended the capacities of selected partner institutions and developed knowledge and tools related to data service infrastructures. It brought partner institutions into the fold of an international movement and network that will provide long-term benefits not only to these institutions but more importantly to the respective national research communities, including more available data for secondary analyses. Project partners, beside DCS, were Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM), Albania; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Zagreb (FFZG), Croatia; Centre for Political Courage (CPC), Kosovo*; Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Institute for Sociological, Political and Juridical Research (ISPJR), Macedonia; Center for Monitoring and Research (CeMI), Montenegro; The Slovenian Social Science Data Archives (ADP) of the University of Ljubljana (UL), Slovenia and Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences (FORS) with support of University of Essex, United Kingdom Data Archives (UKDA) and GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Cologne, Germany.

RRPP Data Rescue

Project framework: RRPP

Financed by: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

Period: January 2016 – February 2017

Local coordinator: Aleksandra Bradić-Martinović, Ph.D.

The goal of the project was to provide long-term preservation and access to data collected in projects implemented within the Regional Research Promotional Program (RRPP). It was assumed that the data would be preserved, protected, open to search, and the scientific community would be able to use them in the future. Activities on archiving RRPP data were realized with cooperation with SEEDS project. Data is available in the SEEDbase Digital Repository.

The partners who implemented the project were: Albania (IDM), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Analitika), Croatia (FFZG), Kosovo* (CPC), Macedonia (ISPJR), Montenegro (CeMI) and Serbia (IEN). National data centers in Switzerland (FORS) and Slovenia (ADP) participate in this project as mentors. Through the SEEDS project, regional partner institutions were able to acquire the necessary skills and experience in working with data, as well as to establish communication with line ministries and other stakeholders.

CESSDA SaW – Strengthening and Widening CESSDA

Project framework: HORIZON2020

Financed by: European Commission

Period: October 2015 – September 2017

Local coordinator: Aleksandra Bradić-Martinović, Ph.D.

After the successful launch of CESSDA in 2013 (Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives), the aim was to achieve full European coverage, to strengthen the network and to ensure the sustainability of its data for the widened network. The primary ambition was to establish the conditions for and initiate the movement towards, a seamless social science data archive service for the whole of the European Research Area (ERA), which is capable of supporting the research needs of the next generation of social scientists wherever in Europe they may be, or beyond.

The overarching impact of the project was to initiate the transformation of the user experience of social science data in the ERA, resulting in a transformation of the evidence and insight available to those tackling the social and economic issues of Europe.

As a kind of support, national capacities and possibilities for using European Structural Funds and other sources of funding were also considered. This approach has been selected to ensure that national and European benefits in the sphere of economics and society are achieved, as well as a positive return on investment through CESSDA membership, and in line with relevant decision-makers at the level of individual countries. Also, the existing national infrastructure has been encouraged to complete the transition to holistic services, making its services accessible to all interested parties.