European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) Implementation Phase

The vision of the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) is to secure seamless access to all sources and expertise from across Europe and beyond that are relevant to the study of the Holocaust. It approaches this vision through the development of a pan European distributed Research Infrastructure that brings together the leading facilities and offers users integrated access to Holocaust resources, expertise and training. In 2018, EHRI was added to the ESFRI Roadmap, and is currently finalising a step-1 application to establish a new European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), supported by eleven countries. The EHRI-IP project will facilitate EHRI’s implementation phase and ensure a timely start of its operation as an ERIC. The EHRI-IP consortium consists of representatives from the emerging national nodes of the eleven countries that expressed support for establishing EHRI as an ERIC, as well as partners from Ukraine and the United States. This consortium will undertake a set of coordinated activities that will advance EHRI’s maturity and capabilities and remove any remaining roadblocks to its implementation and early operation. The project will achieve three overall objectives: (i) to implement EHRI by finalising the governance, establishing an operation-ready Central Hub and linked National Nodes, and turning existing high-level scientific, user and technological strategies into operational reality; (ii) to grow EHRI by acquiring new potential Member and Observer countries, negotiating cooperation agreements with international and strategic partners, and investigating the scope for a future expansion of EHRI with regards to the scientific domain covered, services offered and user communities served; (iii) to manage and valorise EHRI by coordinating between EHRI-IP and concurrent activities, and developing strategies that ensure that EHRI reaches its full potential with regards to innovation and social, economic and scientific impact.