Funding - the project was funded via the UKRI DRI Phase I call

Timeline - March 2023 to October 2023

Aim - to design a roadmap for a data/asset commons that enhances interoperability, supports FAIR principles, and enables integrative, systemic science across NERC and allied communities. This includes defining architecture, governance, and technical foundations for a federated model.

Core project team - Blair, Gordon S. ; Baker, Garry; Bee, Emma; Bowie, Jo; Byrne, James ; Darroch, Louise; Fremand, Alice ; Garland, Wendy; Harrison, Kathryn; Heaven, Rachel; ten Hoopen, Petra ; Juckes, Martin; Kingdon, Andy ; Kingston, Richard; Kokkinaki, Alexandra; Lewis, Edd ; MacRae, Molly; Mobbs, Stephen; Moncoiffe, Gwenaelle; Pascoe, Charlotte; Passmore, James; Peat, Helen ; Pepler, Sam; Shepherd, Andy; Siddorn, John ; Snaith, Helen; Tate, Alex ; Townsend, Poppy; Walsh, Colm; Watkins, John

Previous research - The roadmap was informed by prior EDS work on alignment and integration, and by international commons approaches (e.g., ARDC, BioFAIR). It also drew on experiments with cataloguing, persistent identifiers, semantic interoperability, and governance models.

About the project

The ENHANCE-EDS project focused on developing a roadmap for implementing a NERC Data Commons to improve interoperability across environmental data services. It aimed to create a federated, FAIR-aligned architecture supporting discovery, access, and reuse of diverse digital assets, while fostering community-led governance and co-design.

The project builds on EDS developments from 2018–2022 and feeds into plans for 2023–2028, with Phase 1b activities running up to March 2024, followed by further enhancement and manifestation phases through 2025.

The project adopted a multi-workpackage approach:

• WP1: Developed the commons roadmap and architecture
• WP2: Ran integration experiments (e.g., narrow middle prototype, PID registries, STAC catalogues, semantic interoperability)
• WP3: Scoped Trusted Research Environments (TREs) for sensitive data integration
• WP4: Delivered use cases and community engagement strategies

Key recommendations include evolving towards a commons architecture, planning federation by design, extending scope beyond data to digital assets, and embedding strong governance and communities of practice.

Project reports 

Contributions to the development of the next-generation NERC Environmental Data Service: Building Interoperability - a NERC Data Commons RoadMap - https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/538375