The Strategy for Research Infrastructure 2022-2030

The Faculty of Social Sciences (hereafter referred to as the faculty) at the University of Oslo has the leading research environments in social sciences in Norway and several internationally leading environments. To maintain and strengthen our position, it is important that the faculty's researchers and students have access to advanced research infrastructure that can contribute to scientific development and research, and that is in line with UiO's Strategy 2030 and UiO's Comprehensive Climate and Environmental Strategy. The faculty strives to position itself strategically prioritizing research infrastructure that our researchers need at UiO but also nationally and internationally.

The faculty's strategy for research infrastructure looks towards UiO's roadmap for research infrastructure and the Norwegian roadmap for research infrastructure. The faculty will make minor updates to the strategy when necessary.

A number of research environments at our faculty require costly and technically demanding laboratory equipment, including specific IT support. Important future infrastructure needs in social science research will, among other things, be:

• Development, digitalization, and operation of databases and laboratories

• Making data registries and e-infrastructure available to facilitate intensive processing and computation

• Data analysis and data storage

This strategy will point out the faculty's needs and priorities. Some priorities will be made by the local departments and centers, others by the faculty, and by the Central University Management and Support Units. In the coming years, the Faculty Management will work to ensure that priorities at the appropriate level  are being met. 

Prioritized Infrastructures

The prioritized infrastructures below were highlighted by the local departments and centers at the faculty in the process of drawing up UiO's sub-roadmap for research infrastructure in humanities and social sciences and in the work to prioritize applications for the National Financing Initative for Research Infrastructure in the Research Council of Norway. They were also highlighted when we asked the local deparments and centers for input in the development of this strategy.

The laboratories at the faculty are to a significant extent organized around research environments at the Department of Psychology (PSI). These research environments use infrastructure partly included in the core facilities Capture and processing of life science big data for the social sciences and humanities (CAPRO) and Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience Cluster (CTNC). The laboratories at PSI have development needs and the potential to be expanded into regional or national infrastructures. The faculty will support PSI's applications to the National Financing Initative for Research Infrastructure in the Research Council of Norway for further development and upgrading of the laboratories. To ensure optimal utilization of resources and access to modern infrastructure, the technical and administrative resources at PSI should be strengthened and coordinated, and the financing of equipment and support staff should be prioritized.

The Department of Political Science is a partner in KODEM (Coordinated online panels for research on democracy and governance in Norway). KODEM is a new, digital infrastructure for social science and interdisciplinary research through coordinated data collection (survey and survey experiments) in multiple sub-population panels. KODEM is a unique collaboration between the most important institutions of social sciences in Norway and is operated by a core facility for digital social science (DIGSSCORE) at UiB. A successful pilot of coordinated data collection was carried out in 2021. KODEM will provide various research environments in the faculty and other faculties the opportunity to collect high-quality data across different populations (citizens, public administrators, elected representatives, journalists, and judges). The infrastructure enables the collection of cross-sectional and panel data, various types of experiments, and text data. The faculty will support the establishment of the KODEM infrastructure, including a renewed application for funding for Research Infrastructure of National Importance by the next application deadline. 

The faculty will also follow the construction and development of the national Peace Science Infrastructure. This is to enable researchers other than  peace researchers to make use of this infrastructure.

It is imperative that the research infrastructures the faculty prioritizes are developed in a way that ensures broad access for researchers and students. This is to ensure optimal utilization of shared resources.

Competence, Communication, and Coordination

It is important to have knowledge about available infrastructures and the opportunities they create. Therefore, the faculty will strengthen the communication between our researchers and those who deliver infrastructure services. The need to build competence among researchers and students on how to make use of different infrastructures and the opportunities they create for scientific and methodological development will increase in the coming years. The faculty wants that activities around competence building and communication are coordinated across the disciplines so that the needs are met efficiently.

Phases with Different Infrastructure Needs in Research

The sub-roadmap for research infrastructures in humanities and social sciences in UiO's roadmap for research infrastructure divides infrastructure relevant to the faculty into three categories: Databases, High Performance Computing and analyzing, and laboratories. This is a useful classification, but in this strategy we use as a point of departure the needs in the four different phases of a research process and structure the strategy around these.

Phase 1: Data Collection and Production

Researchers in social sciences collect data independently, use existing datasets, or do a combination of these. In the collection process, different tools, equipment, and digital platforms are needed. It is imperative for the faculty to have good infrastructure for both qualitative and quantitative data. Data collection can be done digitally, through interviews, fieldwork, or in laboratories. All types of data collection require some form of research infrastructure with significant development needs and potential. Laboratories need to be upgraded and developed. It would be great for our researchers to have a functioning tool for automatic transcription of audio recordings and for existing audio recording solutions not to have time limits as they have today. The faculty will, through relevant units at UiO, work for better facilitation of electronic collection and management of sensitive and non-sensitive data, for instance through: online forms, automatic transcription of audio files/videos, secure data management during collection, collaboration with partners, support for various languages, support for special needs and experiments, and the development of comprehensive solutions with user manuals. The faculty thus has several strategic objectives that provide direction in the work to improve research infrastructure related to data collection and production.

Phase 2: Data and Database Structure

Data collected and managed by public institutions are of great interest to social scientists. There are often challenges with the availability, reuse, and costs associated with using such source data. The time it takes to obtain relevant datasets can be long. Digitization of collections and the associated development of databases are necessary to support good research. Converting scanned text, such as a digital photograph of text, into searchable digital text, for example, is crucial for using such data in advanced analyzing. There is a need to create awareness of the possibilities which this and related infrastructure create, and also to build competence among  researchers on how to use this infrastructure. Many researchers are building their own databases and datasets. A good e-infrastructure could help to maintain such databases and make them more accessible. Therefore, the faculty will focus on research infrastructure that will facilitate the operation and further development of the researchers' own databases. The faculty thus has several strategic objectives related to data and database structure.

Phase 3: Analysis and High-Performance Computing

Social scientists have an increasing need for data storage, high-performance computing (HPC), and e-infrastructure that enable complex analyses. TSD (Services for sensitive data), Colossus, Sigma2, and GIS are examples of such infrastructures that are being used more and more by social scientists. Over time, the need for big data has evolved within the fields of social sciences. Therefore, the further development of the HPC facilities at UiO must meet the needs of the researchers at the faculty and their access to HPC must be prioritized.

Some researchers need to analyze large amounts of data where the analytical complexity is relatively low. Images, audio, video, and text collections are examples of this type of data. Other researchers require analyses where the analytical complexity is high, while the amount of data may be smaller. Extractions of registry data for use in economic analyses are examples of the latter since the volume of data is relatively small, while the number of variables to be analyzed is large. Internet research, research on social media, and discourse research are fields that require both large storage capacity and immense computing and analytical power since the data volumes potentially can encompass the entire world's internet activity. Data from the faculty's laboratories can often pose great demands on both the handling of privacy protection and computing resources related to high-dimensional data and complex analyses. The faculty, therefore, has several strategic objectives related to analysis and high-performance computing.

Phase 4: Archiving and Sharing of Data

The University of Oslo aims to manage research data according to international standards such as the FAIR principles and supports the development of a global research community where research data is widely shared. In the Norwegian Government's strategy, the Research Council of Norway's policy, and the EU's requirements for open research all encourage that research data are managed in accordance with the FAIR principles. The faculty will work to ensure that that these principles are adhered to. The FAIR principles state that research data should be findable and accessible, it should be comprehensible, combinable, reusable, and processable without restrictions both now and in the future. 

Researchers and students at the faculty collect a lot of data that might be interesting to have archived and thus preserved for the future. Some of this may be types of data that for some reason do not fit into the national or international archives. SIKT and Sigma2 require that the data should be published before they can be archived there. However, it may also be relevant to have good archiving solutions for unpublished data. This could be because you want to share the data with someone, the data could have great future value, the data is of a type that is difficult to archive in any external archive, or there could be reasons why UiO should retain control and access  to the data. The faculty has therefore developed some strategic objectives related to the archiving and sharing of data.

General Strategic Objectives Related to Research Infrastructure

There are also some strategic objectives related to research infrastructure of a more general nature and which apply to all four phases of the course of a research process. Therefore, the faculty has developed some general strategic objectives related to research infrastructure.

The Faculty of Social Sciences' Strategy for Research Infrastructure

Data Collection and Production

• The faculty shall support the further development of infrastructure at PSI, including applications for upcoming calls from the Research Council of Norway's program of research infrastructure.

• The faculty shall support the establishment of KODEM - Coordinated Online Panels for Research on Democracy and Governance in Norway, including a renewed application to the Research Council of Norway's program of research infrastructure at the next application deadline. 

• The faculty shall develop sufficient expertise to support and guide researchers in connection with the collection/production of data.

  • The faculty shall ensure that UiO's storage guide is known and adhered to.

  • The faculty shall ensure that UiO's services and tools are known and assist researchers in finding relevant services and tools.

  • The faculty shall work to raise awareness that data collected by our researchers and students are not private but belong to UiO.

• The faculty shall have an overview of existing infrastructure elsewhere that can be used by researchers and students at our faculty.

  • The faculty shall ensure that this overview is communicated to researchers, students, and support staff.

  • The faculty shall work to ensure that researchers and students receive guidance on how to access external infrastructures.

• To ensure safe data management, the faculty shall clearly communicate procedures for using private equipment in data processing.

  • Students generally have private equipment, and the faculty shall give this group special attention when working on procedures.

• The faculty shall be aware of and have an updated list of relevant and UiO-approved tools for use in data collection.

  • The faculty shall work to ensure that UiO further develops its tools for electronic collection of all types of data.

  • The faculty shall work to ensure that UiO offers necessary user support.

  • The faculty shall work to ensure that good user manuals in Norwegian and English are developed for the various tools.

  • The faculty shall work to ensure that the overview also includes national and international tools.

Data and Database Structure

• The faculty shall develop the necessary expertise to support researchers’ needs concerning data and database structure.

  • The faculty shall work to develop competence about procurement procedures so that researchers can make the greatest possible use of existing services.

• The faculty shall have an updated overview of tools for structuring data.

  • The faculty shall work to ensure user competence among researchers and students and ensure that existing solutions are known and accessible.

  • The faculty shall work to ensure that data is handled in a manner that facilitates later reuse and sharing.

  • The faculty shall work to ensure that special needs are attended to.

• The faculty shall work to ensure that UiO's procedures for managing and storing data are known among our researchers and students and are followed.

  • The faculty shall communicate routines related to roles to different target groups (researcher, supervisor, student, and administration).

  • The faculty shall communicate routines related to different types of data classification (green, yellow, red, and black).

• The faculty shall have a good dialogue with the institutions that own registry data and other datasets and work for easy and reasonable access to raw data and the updating of existing data extracts.

Analysis and High-Performance Computing

• The faculty shall work to ensure that the infrastructure for analysis and high-performance computing is utilized. 
  • The faculty shall work to improve the competency among researchers and students. 
  • The faculty shall develop the necessary expertise to support the researchers' needs regarding analysis and high-performance computing. 
  • The faculty shall work to ensure that UiO provides a user interface and accessibility that are tailored to the needs of social sciences.

• The faculty shall have an updated overview of UiO's infrastructure for analysis and high-performance computing
  • The faculty shall work to ensure that UiO's various analysis platforms provide sufficient accessibility and capacity to our researchers and students.
  • The faculty shall work to ensure that UiO offers secure data transfer between platforms, and that the different platforms have sufficient capacity.
  • The faculty shall engage in dialogue with the developers of the infrastructure and communicate the need for integration between the various platforms and systems.

Archiving and Sharing of Data

• The faculty shall work to increase awareness of, and compliance with, the FAIR principles.

• The faculty shall have the necessary expertise to guide researchers with regard to archiving and sharing of data.

  • The faculty shall ensure that UiO's procedures for archiving and sharing of data are followed.

  • The faculty shall work to ensure that data generated by our researchers are as open as possible and as closed as necessary.

  • The faculty shall have an updated overview of UiO's tools for archiving and sharing of data.

• The faculty shall have the necessary knowledge about the use of local, national, and international archiving and sharing platforms.

• The faculty shall work to obtain the necessary legal support and clarifications in the work with archiving and sharing of data.

  • The faculty shall raise awareness of the need for agreements that allow necessary international sharing of data.

  • The faculty shall communicate our researchers' needs so that routines and practices related to the legislation are adjusted for the best possible facilitation of sharing.

  • The faculty shall follow the development of procedures related to legislation on archiving and sharing of data.

• The faculty shall be in dialogue with relevant bodies and individuals at UiO about the development of good archive solutions for data that cannot be easily archived in external data archives.

General Strategic Goals Related to Research Infrastructure

• The faculty shall find a suitable way to build data management expertise.

• The faculty shall contribute to the establishment of user networks where appropriate.

• Through awareness building among researchers, support staff, and local management, the faculty will ensure that infrastructure costs are budgeted accordingly in applications for externally funded research.

• The faculty shall work to ensure that research infrastructure is operated in a responsible manner in accordance with UiO's Comprehensive Climate and Environmental Strategy.

• The faculty shall work to ensure that researchers are aware of Sikt/NSD's role and for a good agreement between UiO and Sikt/NSD on data protection services and storage of research data.

• The faculty shall develop knowledge about and an overview of offers by suppliers and researchers' needs related to the different offers.

• The faculty shall strengthen cooperation with QualiFAIR(UV), Digital Scholarship Center (UB), TSD (IT department at UiO), SSB, ESFRI and other relevant competence environments.

• The faculty shall maintain good communication with other faculties, relevant institutions, and service providers.

• The faculty shall follow the developments and events at UiO, in Norway, and internationally that affect our need for research infrastructure and our work with looking after these needs.

This strategy document is a slightly adopted and proof read version of a translation by AI - UiOGPT Version 4. The AI generated translation was from the Norwegian Research Infrastructure Strategy.