This spring saw the launch of the multi-national SoFAIR project (Making Software FAIR: A machine-assisted workflow for the research software lifecycle), coordinated by The Open University and involving teams from six institutions across 5 countries. The project is funded by a €494k research grant in the international CHISTERA Open Research Data & Software Call which aims to enhance the discoverability and reusability of open research software.
The consortium partners
In January the SoFAIR project partners headed for the slightly chilly surroundings of Milton Keynes to gather for the SoFAIR project kick off meeting. The meeting took place over two days at the Walton Hall campus of The Open University and we were grateful to all of the project partners who travelled to the U.K. to join us. We were also fortunate enough to be able to arrange a visit to Bletchley Park as part of the proceedings.
SoFAIR will deliver a step-change in the way research software is identified, validated, registered and archived for the long term. From a broader perspective, SoFAIR aligns with the FAIR agenda and Horizon Europe initiatives on open research data and software. The project will foster integration with European infrastructures such as EOSC, CLARIN, and DARIAH, ensuring robust connectivity across the research landscape.
Professor Petr Knoth, Project Coordinator and Head of CORE said:
“SoFAIR will demonstrate the significant value that can be achieved by open scholarly infrastructures working in synergy to deliver a new AI-supported solution for identifying, discovering and archiving research software mentioned in research manuscripts. This will constitute an important contribution towards increasing reproducibility of research studies and making research assets FAIR.”
With the project now fully underway, the first deliverables have been completed and made publicly available. The new SoFAIR website is also now live and will be regularly updated as the project progresses.
Visit the site here: https://sofair.org/