The Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC)'s Environmental Data Service (EDS)

Abstract

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) EDS provides user-friendly interfaces with advanced search functionalities, allowing researchers to find datasets based on keywords, geographic coordinates, time ranges, and other parameters. It assigns Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) to data resources deposited in its repositories. This practice ensures that data is easily identifiable, accessible, and citable. The DOIs are registered with DataCite, which provides a standardized system for managing and sharing research data. These provide a permanent and citable link to the data, ensuring its long-term findability.

The EDS consists of a network of trusted repositories specialized in different environmental science disciplines (e.g., atmospheric, marine, polar, and terrestrial data).

Overview

Country	United Kingdom
Start date	2011
Annual Budget	n/a
Responsible organisation(s)	Government Agency
Target group(s)	Researchers, academic institutions, and the broader scientific community1.
Policy instrument type	digital infrastructure providing data stewardship services for environmental research data.

Background

Data held within the EDS is generally made openly available under the NERC data policy, promoting accessibility while ensuring ethical and legal considerations are met. Data from the EDS is often indexed in broader scientific data platforms such as the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) or OpenAIRE, increasing its visibility.

Objective(s)

To enhance the discoverability, accessibility, and reuse of research data by providing persistent identifiers and standardized metadata.

Public access URL

https://eds.ukri.org/environmental-data-service

All tags

• Technical Standards & Practices
• United Kingdom
• 2011
• Government agency
• Higher education institutes
• Established researchers
• Junior researchers
• Private R&D
• Public research institutes
• Dedicated support to research and technical infrastructures
• Findability

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