FSD AIMS 2030 development project begins
The Research Council of Finland has granted three-year project funding to FSD, based on its position on the national research infrastructure roadmap. The project, "Accelerate, Integrate, Mobilise, Sustain – FSD AIMS 2030," addresses the evolving requirements of the repository's operating environment.
Through this project, we will enhance FSD's data infrastructure in various ways and strengthen network collaboration. We will explore the use of artificial intelligence and existing AI tools in archiving processes, aiming to improve the linking and utilisation of the high-quality metadata produced by FSD.
The Finnish Social Science Data Archive is an internationally renowned pioneer in archiving qualitative research data, and our data and support we provide are actively utilised. This project will promote the archiving of qualitative data by implementing a completely renewed version of the textual data collection tool and developing data management for qualitative longitudinal data.
As part of the AIMS project, FSD will continue to coordinate the collections of two international quantitative surveys in Finland: the International Social Survey Program and the European Value Study. Additionally, FSD will take responsibility for coordinating Finland's membership in the LIS Data Center, which provides the Luxembourg Income Study data.
"The AIMS project requires FSD to look outward and forward. The overarching theme of the project is the construction and utilisation of networks. Our aim is to serve the scientific community even better by listening to the needs of various data users and efficiently offering research data that describes Finnish society and culture to them," says Helena Laaksonen, director of FSD.
Part of the project work falls within the second phase of the roadmap period, with funding to be decided by the Research Council after the mid-term review in 2026. The roadmap covers the years 2025–2028.