NeIC 2022 - Nordic Models for Open Science Collaboration

May 30, 2022, 11:00 AM → Jun 1, 2022, 1:30 PM Europe/Oslo

Soria Moria Hotel

Abdulrahman Azab Mohamed (University of Oslo), Tomasz Malkiewicz (NeIC/CSC), Vilma Häkkinen (NeIC)

The NeIC conferences are organised biannually, bringing together around 200 experts, researchers, policy makers, funders and national e-infrastructure providers from the Nordics and beyond. The aim is to provide opportunities for people in the e-infrastructure field to connect and collaborate with colleagues across the Nordics and to enable them to share knowledge and expertise.

The NeIC 2022 conference title is Nordic Models for Open Science Collaboration. It will also be a celebration of NeIC's 10-year anniversary and an opportunity to connect in 3D after a long era of video conferences and online-only meetings. In 2022, Norway will hold the chairmanship of the Nordic Council of Ministers, which has affected the programme planning of the conference. By offering programme sessions that are interesting to both decision-makers and researchers, we hope to create an opportunity to bring the success stories of Nordic e-infrastructure collaboration to the attention of the political level. 

REGISTRATION TO NEIC2022 HAS CLOSED. If you have not registered for the conference but think it would be beneficial for you, please contact the Conference manager.

Monday, May 30

11:00 AM → 12:00 PM Opening session

Chair: Ebba Þóra Hvannberg, University of Iceland

Convener: Ebba Þóra Hvannberg (University of Iceland)

11:00 AM Petter Skarheim, Ministry of Education and Research: Welcome words

11:05 AM Paula Lehtomäki, Cecilia Leveaux & Bodil Aurstad, Nordic Council of Ministers: Towards becoming the most sustainable and integrated region in the world in 2030

11:15 AM Arne Flåøyen, NordForsk: Nordic research cooperation towards 2030

11:25 AM Gudmund Høst, NeIC: Digital infrastructure for Nordic research excellence

11:35 AM Kostas Glinos, European Commission: Open Science: Quo Vadis?

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the benefits of open and rapid sharing of research results, but it also revealed the limitations of the current research systems and infrastructures. In this talk, I will discuss some of the challenges the conduct of science faces today, how Open Science policies and practices can help us address them, and what else we will need to do to make the pursuit of new knowledge more effective and efficient.

12:00 PM → 1:00 PM Lunch

1:00 PM → 2:00 PM Keynotes

Chair: Sven Stafström, Swedish Research Council

Convener: Sven Stafström (Swedish Research Council)

1:00 PM Frank Møller Aarestrup, DTU: COVID-19 related research

1:45 PM Johanna Törnroos, CSC: Impact of Nordic e-Infrastructure Collaboration

The Nordic e-Infrastructure Collaboration (NeIC) as an organisation was established in 2012 as part of NordForsk with two roles. First was to operate the Nordic Tier-1 facility providing computing and storage for CERN to be used for research by high energy physicists worldwide. The second one was to facilitate e-infrastructure collaboration across the Nordic borders so that it could contribute to higher-level agendas and goals of the Nordic as well. Third role was assumed in 2019, to coordinate European projects. As a Nordic organisation, it is important for NeIC to demonstrate its value and map out the benefits it brings within and beyond the Nordic region. Each partner participating in NeIC projects expects to benefit from providing their staff and other resources to the projects. Each national funding agency expects NeIC to benefit the national research infrastructure strategies, enable excellent research and create impact at large. The Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM), which funds NeIC through NordForsk expects NeIC to create added value for the Nordic region.

This talk discusses how NeIC has responded to the expectations of its different stakeholders and created added value in the region.

2:00 PM → 2:30 PM Coffee break

2:30 PM → 5:30 PM EOSC in the Nordics: from policy to practice

Chair: Gudmund Høst, EOSC Nordic Coordinator & Neic Director

This workshop, organised by the EOSC Nordic project, aims to discuss the status of the EOSC uptake in the Nordic and Baltic countries analysing the existing barriers and challenges and highlighting implementation best practices. The workshop will bring together European and regional level policy makers, representatives from the Nordic countries active in the EOSC governance (EOSC Steering Board and EOSC Association) and in the EOSC national structures and the key stakeholders (service providers, users, experts) contributing to the EOSC uptake in the region.

The workshop will revolve around two main themes:

EOSC coordination, policies and engagement in the Nordic countries: what is the impact of EOSC on the region so far and what are the expectations for the future? What are the existing barriers for a full EOSC adoption? What are the necessary steps to make EOSC part of the national roadmaps?
LUMI: a model for EOSC?: The Nordic countries have made significant investments in a new computing and AI infrastructure (LUMI). Can EOSC benefit from LUMI? What are the plans to build potential synergies between LUMI (EuroHPC) and EOSC? Can the LUMI business and funding model be replicated in EOSC?
The workshop will build upon the key outcomes and messages from the two previous policy workshops organised by EOSC Nordic (February 2020, March 2021).

Draft agenda
EOSC in the Nordics: from policy to practice
14:30 - 14:35 Welcome & objectives of the session, Gudmund Høst, EOSC Nordic Coordinator & Neic Director
14:35 - 15:00 EOSC Association updates, Sara Garavelli, EOSC Program Manager at CSC-IT Center for Science & EOSC Association Director, Wilhelm Widmark, Library Director of Stockholm University & EOSC Association Director

15:00 - 15:55 Session 1: EOSC/ FAIR Data policies in the Nordics
15:00 - 15:10 Presentation, Sofia Abrahamsson, Senior Research Officer at Swedish Research Council & co-chair of the EOSC Steering Board subgroup “National contributions to the EOSC"
15:10 - 15:55 Panel discussion
Chair: Sofia Abrahamsson, Senior Research Officer at Swedish Research Council & co-chair of the EOSC Steering Board subgroup “National contributions to the EOSC"
Panelists:
- Kostas Glinos, Head of Unit for Open Science, DG RTD, European Commission
- Sverker Holmgren, Professor, Chalmers University of Technology
- Mari Kleemola, Development Manager at Finnish Social Science Data Archive at Tampere University & CESSDA
- Edvards Francis Kuks, RIS3 Expert / National Open Science Coordinator for Latvia
- Anu Nuutinen, Senior Science Adviser at the Academy of Finland & EOSC Steering Board Member

15:55 - 16:15 Coffee Break

16:15 - 17:10 Session 2: Funding models for cross-border resource provisioning: can LUMI be a model for EOSC?
16:15 - 16:25 Presentation, Per Öster, Director, Director at CSC-IT Center for Science
16:25 - 17:10 Panel discussion
Chair: Per Öster, Director, Director at CSC-IT Center for Science
Panelists:
- Rene Buch, CTO at the EOSC Association
- Christine Kirkpatrick, Division Director for Research Data at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California San Diego
- Jan Meijer, Senior Advisor international strategy, Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research, SIKT & Co-chair of the Financial Sustainability EOSC Association Task Force
- Dirk Pleiter, Professor for HPC and Director of the PDC Center for High Performance Computing, KTH, Sweden
- Susanna Repo, Head of Operations, ELIXIR

17:10 - 17:30 EOSC Coordination in the Nordics, Sara Garavelli, EOSC Program Manager at CSC-IT Center for Science & EOSC Association Director and Gudmund Høst, EOSC Nordic Coordinator & Neic Director

Convener: Gudmund Høst (NeIC)

7:00 PM → 9:30 PM Conference Dinner

Tuesday, May 31

7:30 AM → 8:30 AM Conference activities: NeIC run

We offer our guests a chance to get to know Oslo in new ways. There are two activities participants can choose from:

• Guided visit to the new Munch Museum, accompanied by some sightseeing
• Oslo fjord cruise and sightseeing on S/S Christiania
  We have arranged buses to leave Soria Moria at 16:15 take our guests from the conference venue to the locations of these activities. After the activities, we will meet at restaurant Grand Café in central Oslo for dinner.

9:00 AM → 10:10 AM High-level session 1

Chair: Gudmund Høst, NeIC

Convener: Gudmund Høst (NeIC)

9:00 AM Opening by State Secretary Oddmund Løkensgard Hoel, Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research

9:15 AM Minister for Education Anna Ekström, Sweden

9:25 AM Minister of Science and Culture Petri Honkonen, Finland

9:35 AM Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir, Iceland

9:45 AM Minister of Education and Research Liina Kersna, Estonia

9:55 AM The NeIC 2022 Joint Statement

Digitalisation and the green shift are at the top of the EU's research and innovation policy agenda, paralleling the Nordic Council of Ministers' new vision for the Nordic region to become the world's most sustainable and integrated region by 2030. The Programme Committee of NeIC2022 finds open science and data sharing to be a pillar in the concrete work to be undertaken in moving the hotbed of research and innovation towards the Nordic region. To nurture this work, the Programme Committee has developed a vision statement for enhanced Nordic collaboration within open science data. The vision has been circulated to six national ministries of research (or equivalent) for comments and adjustments.

10:10 AM → 10:40 AM Coffee Break

10:40 AM → 12:00 PM High-level session 2

Chair: Christine Overgaard Rasmussen, DTU

Convener: Christine Rasmussen (DTU)

10:40 AM Roundtable discussion

Moderator:
Gudmund Høst, Director, Nordic e-Infrastructure Collaboration

Participants
Paula Eerola, President, Academy of Finland (backup: Tiina Kupila-Rantala)
Sven Stafström, General Director, Swedish Research Council
Solveig Flock, Department Director, Department of Research Infrastructures, Research Council of Norway
Rob Pennington, Special Adviser, Nordic e-Infrastructure Collaboration

11:20 AM Anders Dam Jensen, EuroHPC JU: Leading the way in European supercomputing with LUMI, the EuroHPC supercomputer located in Finland

In this keynote speech, Anders will present his organisation, the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU). The EuroHPC JU joins together the resources of the European Union, 31 European countries and 3 private partners to develop a World Class Supercomputing Ecosystem in Europe. The speech will highlight the initial achievements of this relatively young shared HPC ecosystem: the first operational EuroHPC supercomputers and their access policy, and the ambitious R&I programme which supports European technological and digital autonomy and develops green technologies in HPC.

The speech will specifically focus on LUMI, the first EuroHPC pre-exascale supercomputer located in Finland. LUMI is a unique joint endeavour between the EuroHPC JU and a consortium made up of ten European countries to build one of the most competitive and green supercomputers globally. LUMI will boost scientific breakthroughs, innovation, competitiveness, and computing skills across Europe. It will be a world-class platform for artificial intelligence providing HPC and AI resources for European researchers and industry.

12:00 PM → 1:00 PM Lunch

1:00 PM → 4:00 PM Data management & Science session

1:00 PM Climate research & data management

A series of lightning talks from speakers with a range of experiences. The talks and discussion will focus on the most important factors motivating and/or hindering the uptake of FAIR principles in the Nordic climate community.

Chair: Hamish Struthers (NSC, SE)

Session speakers: Adil Hasan (NIRD & Sigma2, NO), Anne Claire Fouilloux (UiO & NeIC, NO), Franziska Hellmuth (UiO & NeIC), Hamish Struthers (NSC, SE), Karsten Peters-von Gehlen (DKRZ, DE), Oskar Landgren (MET, NO)

1:00 PM Data management on national level

This session will provide an overview of the national DM initiatives, ambitions, challenges and best practices.

Session Chair: Birte Christensen-Dalsgaard (Chair of the national Data Management Forum, DK)

Speakers: Francesca Iozzi (Sigma2, NO), Tiiu Tarkpea (University of Tartu Library, EE), Sofie Björling (Vetenskaprådet, SE), Anders Conrad (DeiC, DK), Ebba Þóra Hvannberg (University of Iceland, IS), Antti Pursula (CSC, FI)

1:00 PM Sensitive health data & data management

This session will provide an overview on the Nordic sensitive data services and some potential challenges and use cases.

Session Chair: Abdulrahman Azab (NeIC Office/UiO, NO)

Speakers: Eivind Hovig (UiO, NO), Maria Nilsson (NordForsk), Peter Løngreen (Director of the Danish National LifeScience Supercomputing Center, DK), Gard Thomassen (UiO, NO)

2:30 PM Coffee break

3:00 PM Panel discussion on data management

The discussion would go in the direction towards Cross-disciplinary, regional, European and International data interoperability. Example questions:

What kinds of challenges are there related to cross-border data sharing in your organisation/country?
How to become more FAIR and take up the FAIR practices

Moderator: Birte Christensen-Dalsgaard (Chair of the national Data Management Forum, DK)

Speakers: Mari Kleemola (University of Tampere, FI), Anders Conrad (DeiC, DK), Peter Løngreen (Director Danish National LifeScience Supercomputing Center), Sara Garavelli (Director, EOSC Association), Anne Claire Fouilloux (UiO & NeIC, NO)

4:15 PM → 7:00 PM Conference activities

We offer our guests a chance to get to know Oslo in new ways. There are two activities participants can choose from:

• Guided visit to the new Munch Museum, accompanied by some sightseeing
• Oslo fjord cruise and sightseeing on S/S Christiania
  We have arranged buses to leave Soria Moria at 16:15 take our guests from the conference venue to the locations of these activities. After the activities, we will meet at restaurant Grand Café in central Oslo for dinner.

7:00 PM → 9:00 PM Dinner at Grand Café

Wednesday, June 1

8:30 AM → 11:00 AM Workshops

8:30 AM Containers

Speakers: Christian Kneip (Amazon.de) & TBC (Redhat)

Containers with the build-once-run-everywhere principle have become very popular for scientific use cases. The majority of HPC platforms for research now support container runtimes. Unikernels are very lightweight virtual machines that provide hypervisor level isolation and near to native performance. This workshop will introduce several container platforms (Docker, Singularity, Sarus and Podman) and provide hands-on MPI and GPU examples.

8:30 AM LUMI High-performance computing

Speakers: the LUMI training team

The workshop consists of four parts:

• General introduction to large scale HPC
• How to buy a supercomputer - a presentation by Jussi Heikonen (CSC, FI)
• How to use LUMI (Run jobs and use software)
• How to access LUMI (Puhuri portal by the NeIC Puhuri project)

8:30 AM Portals and cloud

Speakers: PlutoF and Galaxy communities

Galaxy is an open-source platform for FAIR data analysis that enables users to:

use tools from various domains (that can be plugged into workflows) through its graphical web interface;
run code in interactive environments (RStudio, Jupyter...) along with other tools or workflows;
manage data by sharing and publishing results, workflows, and visualizations; and
ensure reproducibility by capturing the necessary information to repeat and understand data analyses.
PlutoF is a Data management and Publishing Platform. In PlutoF, you can manage your full data lifecycle. From Data Management Plan to the publishing and archiving your datasets in machine readable format.

This is a training workshop on the usage and implementations of Galaxy and PlutoF tools

8:30 AM Quantum computing

Speaker: Göran Wendin, Chalmers

Quantum computing is coming, time to get ready!

In this workshop, we will have a look at the convergence of high-performance computing and quantum computing. Supercomputers of the future are expected to be boosted by the massive performance increase provided by quantum computers for certain types of computational tasks. For a successful integration, novel quantum algorithms are required. These can, and should! be developed already now. For this, the use of realistic quantum emulators are central.

Prerequisite: own laptop recommended

8:30 AM Sensitive data

Speakers: Marcus Lundberg (Uppsala University, SE), Francesca Morello (CSC, FI) (to be confirmed), Eirik Haatveit (USIT/UiO, NO), Hossen Aghili (DTU, DK)

Sensitive data is data that needs to be protected against unauthorized access. Protection of data may be required for legal or ethical reasons, for issues pertaining to personal privacy, or for proprietary considerations. Nordic sensitive data services provides facilities for storing and analysing sensitive data for reseachers, organizations and educational purposes.

This workshop is a collection of demos/presentations by experts representing the service providers on the scope and usage of the services, and is organised by EOSC-Nordic WP5

11:00 AM → 12:00 PM Keynotes

Chair: Tomasz Malkiewicz, NeIC

Convener: Tomasz Malkiewicz (NeIC/CSC)

11:00 AM W. H. Trzaska, University of Jyväskylä: Quark Matter, Dark Matter, Does it Matter?

Recent decades attest to unprecedented developments in experimental science. Registration of gravitational waves, detecting neutrino oscillations, and charting the cosmic microwave background are but a few examples. Yet, at the same time, some of the old mysteries, e.g., the existence and nature of Dark Matter, stubbornly defy explanation. In my presentation, I’ll illustrate the importance and relevance of basic research with ALICE – the very successful heavy-ion experiment studying the quark-gluon plasma at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and mention the first results from indirect Dark Matter searches in the Pyhäsalmi mine in Finland.

11:30 AM Wilhelm Widmark, Stockholm University: Open Science in the Nordic countries: from policy to implementation

Open science will in the future become the normal way to conduct science. But to reach that point we have a mayor cultural shift to be done by all stakeholders in the system. The Nordic countries has come rather far in the policy discussions and most of the countries have some policies in place. But now it is time to go from policy to implementation. The policy making is often done top down but the cultural shift must come bottom up. It is important that the implementation will be led by the researchers and meet the researchers needs.

This talk will discuss some policy issues about Open Science in the Nordic countries and how we can engage the researchers to become the leaders of the cultural shift. What possible role will e-infrastructures and EOSC have in this transition and how can we work together in the Nordic countries to make the shift happen.

12:00 PM → 12:20 PM Farewell words from the NeIC Director

Convener: Gudmund Høst (NeIC)

12:20 PM → 1:20 PM Lunch