VRE – IG charter Helen Glaves

Draft case statement Sections: Introduction User scenario(s) or use case(s) Objectives Participation Outcomes Mechanism Timeline Potential group members Introduction: essentially this section is covered by Keith’s initial presentation

Introduction VREs: being used to support increasingly dynamic approach to collaborative working. Led to development of: European VRE projects e.g. VRE4EIC, EVER-EST virtual laboratories in Australia science gateways in the USA. sharing resources and common infrastructure services e.g. EUDAT, GEANT, etc., no coordinated development of the underlying architecture allowing interoperation What issues the IG will address, how this IG is aligned with the RDA mission, and how this IG would be a value-added contribution to the RDA community)

User scenario(s) or use case(s) researchers who are not co-located are seeking to work dynamically together at various scales from the local to the international. want to share data, models, work flows, best practice, publications, management and administration of their research etc. addressing either local challenges which are also potentially of direct relevance to researchers in other geographical areas or a shared interest in addressing a common issue such as the grand challenges e.g. climate change. Motivation for the IG in the first place

Objectives Bringing together: initiatives actively developing VREs, virtual laboratories and science gateways representatives of the common infrastructure services researchers seeking to make use of these technologies To identify the necessary technical aspects, governance issues and best practice required to support a more coordinated approach to the development of VREs. A specific set of focus areas for discussion, including use cases that pointed to the need for the IG in the first place. Articulate how this group is different from other current activities inside or outside of RDA

Participation Participation will be open and inclusive and include, for example: e-Research Infrastructures with a clear requirement for a VRE for the purposes of integration e.g. EPOS, ENVRIplus European projects providing VRE architectures, components and best practices e.g. EVER-EST and VRE4EIC Virtual laboratory initiatives in Australia Science gateways in the USA Address which communities will be involved, what skills or knowledge should they have, and how will you engage these communities. Also address how this group proposes to coordinate its activity with relevant related groups.

Outcomes The proposed IG will bring together this experience and evolve towards A reference architecture for a VRE based on superposition over e-RIs e-Research Infrastructures) and e-Is (e-Infrastructures); The definition of a set of components (software and interfaces) for use in a VRE; The definition of interfaces between a VRE and e-RIs The definition of best practice in constructing VREs Discuss what the IG intends to accomplish. Include examples of WG topics or supporting IG-level outputs that might lead to WGs later on

Mechanisms Physical meetings at RDA plenaries Regular virtual meetings for coordination and based on specific topics between. Opportunistic meetings: side meetings at other conferences where some section of the community is present. Describe how often your group will meet and how will you maintain momentum between Plenaries

Timelines First milestone: Presence as a BoF on RDA Website Second milestone: have IG endorsed and detailed action plan agreed by P8 (September 2016)

Potential group members Keith Jeffery Helen Glaves Mirko Albani Philippe Rohou ………….