Project news begin – introducing FSD’s projects
We are launching our Project News series, where we will publish monthly blog posts or articles exploring current themes related to the projects of the Finnish Social Science Data Archive (FSD). The goal is to increase the visibility of project activities and bring timely, engaging, and thought-provoking topics into broader discussion — especially from the perspective of research and education service infrastructures.
In this very first Project News article, we offer a general introduction to FSD’s project activities. Welcome to the series!
Projects prepare for change and strengthen core services
FSD’s mission is to actively curate and preserve digital data collected especially to study Finnish society, people, and cultural phenomena in the long term. This mission is also reflected in FSD’s project work, where new solutions and services are explored and tested, and proven services or functions are strengthened and further developed.
It is often said that the only constant in society is change. These changes are also reflected in FSD’s work. During the 2025–2028 strategy period, FSD’s operating environment is expected to undergo rapid transformation. Open science services and requirements are evolving at both national and European levels, artificial intelligence brings new opportunities as well as risks, and competition for funding is intensifying.
At FSD, change is addressed in many ways—one of them being through project work. Projects are a way for FSD to strengthen collaboration with both national and international research infrastructures and the wider scientific community. This kind of collaboration is not new to FSD. Since the early 2000s, FSD has participated in numerous projects that have increased its impact both nationally and internationally, while also contributing to the development of mission-driven activities within the organisation.
Current project activities
At present, FSD is involved in six projects, each addressing changes in the operational environment from different perspectives, in line with its mission.
FSD AIMS 2030 (1/2025-12/2027) addresses the evolving landscape of data services. Key activities include adopting artificial intelligence, developing tools for textual data collection and archiving, pioneering legal reuse procedures for longitudinal qualitative data, and managing memberships in the LIS Data Center, International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), and European Value Study (EVS). Additionally, the project coordinates the collection of ISSP and EVS surveys, enhances integration into the (meta)data landscape, and fosters strategic networking and community engagement. This project advances the objectives of FSD's FIRI2024 Roadmap application and implements FSD's strategic plan, which emphasises expertise, professional services, extensive collaboration, and responsible open science. The project is funded by the Research Council of Finland, FIRI2024 Roadmap for national research infrastructures 2025–2028, second stage.
FIDELIS (Opens in a new tab) (1/2025-12/2027) will set up, develop, and operate a European network of trustworthy repositories that will support the development and growth of TDRs within the EOSC ecosystem; foster harmonisation and interoperability across repositories to enable an EOSC federation of TDRs; and strengthen the upskilling of repositories and expansion of the network through an active training and support programme. FIDELIS collaborates closely with EOSC EDEN project, which seeks to facilitate digital preservation of research data.The project is funded by Horizon Europe, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (Grant agreement ID: 101188078), and coordinated by CSC.
ONTOLISST (Opens in a new tab) (1/2024-11/2026) combines existing social science ontologies with new algorithms to optimise topic assignment in multilingual contexts. It explores how standard background variables, such as gender or age, can be included in non-thematic metadata. The goal is to create cost-effective discovery tools in multiple EU languages, improving access to and visibility of social science research for a diverse group of users, from expert audiences to policymakers. The project partners are HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences (coordinator), Research Documentation Centre, Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, Center for Socio-political Data, and FSD. The project is funded from the OSCARS cascading grants program. OSCARS has received funding from the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101129751.
FAIRwDDI will focus on empirical validation of aspects of the Reusable criteria of FAIR, build online tutorials on using the DDI metadata standards, explore using AI to upscale metadata, and build a prototype question bank. FSD will provide (meta)data for the project. The project is coordinated by the Research Documentation Centre, Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, Center for Socio-political Data. The project is funded by thr Agence nationale de la recherche (ANR).
OSTrails (Opens in a new tab) (2/2024-1/2027) aims to improve the way we plan, track, and assess scientific knowledge. The goal is to create a practical, open, and FAIR system for European scientific research. OSTrails involves major players in Data Management Plans, FAIR Assessment Tools, and Scientific Knowledge Graphs (SKG) to set standards and make data plans more efficient across Europe. In collaboration with CESSDA ERIC, FSD is involved in activities related to the SKGs interoperability framework and the OSTrails Interoperability Reference Architecture, as well as the alignment of SKG platforms, the enhancement of FAIR assessment with guidance, and the development of Thematic Pilots. The project is funded from the European Union’s Horizon Europe framework programme under grant agreement No. 101130187, and coordinated by OpenAIRE AMKE
The Finnish Research Infrastructure for Public Opinion (Opens in a new tab) (FIRIPO) (1/2020–12/2026) is a collaborative effort by Åbo Akademi, Tampere University and University of Turku to establish a national research infrastructure for public opinion research in Finland. The infrastructure will be multidisciplinary and serve several fields of study and researchers of public opinion around the world. The goals of FIRIPO include systematizing and coordinating scientific research on public opinion and choice behavior in Finland as well as developing and sharing methods in public opinion research and advising on the use of public opinion in policy-making. FSD participates in the project to promote open science aims through open data. The project is funded by FIRI 2019 call of the Research Council of Finland (New infrastructure initiatives and non-roadmap infrastructures) and FIRI 2021 (Roadmap infrastructures and international partnerships). FIRIPO is headed by Professor Kimmo Grönlund (Åbo Akademi). Professor Kaisa Herne is responsible for the project at Tampere University and Professor Heikki Kauppi at the University of Turku.
Coming up next
In the upcoming project news publication in early October 2025, readers will be able to follow the latest developments in AILA 2.0. The Aila service portal is a data deposit and delivery system for archived research data, developed by FSD staff and launched in May 2014. The Aila development team will share their insights and experiences in their own words.
Wishing everyone a pleasant start to the autumn season,
Henna Kaartinen, project assistant,
Image: pickpik.com