In the first two phases, the SAPRI will not specify the research agenda, which will be based on the national research interest in the polar space. The research design of the SAPRI, and thus the use of the infrastructure, will be advised by the Scientific Steering Committee who will be informed by the individual thematic User Fora. These fora will advise on priorities for infrastructure in current use, planned usage, standardisation, maintenance and calibration schedules, etc. Critically, these fora will also advise where new technologies needed for the SAPRI are being developed or where focus needs to be placed in achieving research goals set forth by the community. SAPRI will foster interdisciplinary fora with various skills to find solutions with out-of-the-box thinking.
Access and work scheduling management
A comprehensive infrastructure register and booking system will be established for and across the IFs.
The main management operations are organised as follows:
● An exhaustive list of assets will be maintained by the SAPRI Management Team. Given the sheer size of the SAPRI, this is considered a critical practice and the specific procedures will have to be reviewed periodically by the advisory structures as the assets grow with time.
● A centralised electronic booking system will be initiated and maintained by the hub. It will show the infrastructures available for each IF and their planned usage. The updating of this list is ultimately the responsibility of the Coordinating Officers.
● Any requests to use or access infrastructures will be placed through the online system to check maintenance schedules of that instrument, what projects it is currently booked for and when the instrument will be available for use. Regular meetings will be held within the Management Team to ensure a smooth functioning of the booking system, to resolve requests by two or more users at the same time, with emergency meetings called when needed.
funded research. Standard Operating Procedures for data acquisition and data requests will be compiled by the SAPRI Data Centre. A fully detailed preliminary Data Management Plan is given in Appendix D.
Unless specifically requested, the SAPRI Data Centre will issue deposited datasets by default with a Creative Commons License that allows sharealike and commercial use while conserving rights of intellectual property owners across multiple jurisdictions. Users of the data, distinguished according to the Table 8, must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, indicate if changes were made and distribute their contributions under the same license as the original.
Data are broadly described in terms of five classes, which determine their accessibility:
● Level 0: Unprocessed instrument and/or field data at full resolution in any digital format.
These data are not quality assured but have all communication artefacts removed (e.g.
duplicated data, unreadable formats, etc.)
● Level 1: Calibrated data at full resolution, spatially-corrected and geo-referenced, time- referenced, annotated and quality controlled with ancillary information.
● Level 2: Derived chemical, physical and biological variables converted to standard units and data stored in standard digital formats. International protocols and metadata descriptors available.
● Level 3: Mapped and/or published (with DOI) variables or derived aggregates, with metadata and standard digital formats. Distributed to international datasets.
● Level 4: Model output or results from analyses of lower-level data (e.g. variables derived from multiple measurements, data products from machine learning analytics, etc.).
Approved metadata will always be accessible independently of restrictions, and they will indicate:
1. Whether use is limited to non-commercial applications;
2. Whether a publication embargo is applicable;
3. Whether the data refers to species that are endangered or otherwise sensitive;
4. Whether the data is private to an individual;
5. Whether there are ethics considerations attached to the data;
6. Whether end users should be identifiable.
Accessibility will depend on the restriction level, and conditions 3 and onwards render the Creative Commons license suite unsuitable and an alternative one will be provided. The general guidelines for the maximum embargo period will be agreed between the Management Team and the advisory structures, taking into account the criteria for distribution of publicly funded data.
3.3.2 Differentiated access to the SAPRI infrastructures
Given the complex, multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional nature of SAPRI, differentiated access to data, equipment and human resources will be inherent. The access to the SAPRI research platforms by users and research partners will be through a fair and competitive manner by means of the concept of endorsed projects. The endorsement request is submitted to the Management Team through the dedicated online portal. It contains the description of the project, the infrastructure requirement and a preliminary indication of the time and duration.
Only scientific proposals that have received full peer-reviewed scrutiny and recommended for funding
scientific projects that have been designed through the SAPRI, international projects, or smaller team or individual projects. In the case of individual student projects for theses, they will have to be submitted by a reference supervisor, with indications of the current funding conditions (see also Chapter 5 for further information on training support).
The Management Team will consult with the scientific advisory structures and will continuously update the list of endorsed projects. During the endorsement phase, the Management Team will contact the Principal Investigator to discuss adjustments and changes based on fair principles of resource sharing. This will be a transparent process, in the spirit of maximising the return on investments. Independently of the funding state of each project, the actual use of the SAPRI infrastructures will be the result of a joint process and may require adjustment of the science plans.
Whenever possible, priority will be given to SANAP projects and projects of national strategic interest.
Projects that have been successfully evaluated through the SANAP science calls are automatically endorsed. The proposed revision of the current SANAP call documents will include dedicated forms for the SAPRI infrastructures, in such a way that the proposals will contain the necessary details for endorsement. Endorsed projects that pertain to Antarctic expeditions and research cruises will be assessed jointly by the SANAP Coordination Committee, to ensure a proper alignment with the availability of large-scale infrastructures.
Endorsed projects will receive a unique identification number and information on how to access the requested platform. The project PI will sign a hire, loan or access agreement depending on the nature of the infrastructure and will maintain an updated list of people requiring access or using the platform.
The agreement will detail the maintenance as well as other ancillary procedures, including the possibility that the SAPRI personnel may inspect the platform. Access to the platform may require further insurance, induction and/or training, whose details and arrangements will also be indicated in the agreement. Some of the infrastructure will only be operated by qualified technicians and the technicians will operate the equipment to achieve the agreed research objectives, but within the SOP limits. The agreement will finally specify the type of reporting required during and at the end of the period of usage.
Table 8 Summary of the SAPRI access policies.
User Access policy Access management
Local researchers (including Government researchers)
● Open access to all research platforms for endorsed projects after signature of the
agreement
● Open access to all data products not under embargo via the product portal
● Access to platforms and data up to level 2 will be available to the indicated members of the endorsed project for the agreed duration
● Access to data products (>level2) will occur after registration via the data portal
● A unique identifier will facilitate access management and reporting for the endorsed projects
International
researchers ● Open access to all research platforms for endorsed projects after signature of the
agreement or dedicated MoU
● Open access data will be made available through international shared repositories
● Open access to all data products not under embargo via the product portal
● All management rules defined for local researchers apply for the endorsed international projects
● Extended access or joint management will be regulated through dedicated MoUs or MoAs depending on the nature of the project and the financial implications
Consortium partners ● Same policy as Local researchers for endorsed projects
● Same policy as Own staff when the partner manages an IF or any of its components
● Same access management as Local researchers for endorsed projects
● Same access management as Own Staff when the partner manages an IF or any of its components
Society ● Access to value added
products on the website, including videos and virtual products
● Learners and educators will have regulated
● Access to data products (>level2) will occur after registration via the data portal
● Access to infrastructure as part of educational outreach will be
physical access to
research infrastructure as part of the educational outreach activity
managed to ensure proper research activities
Citizens ● Open access to all data products not under embargo via the product portal
● Regulated access to platforms during dedicated open days
● Access to data products (>level2) will occur after registration via the data portal
● Access to infrastructure as part of educational outreach will be managed to ensure proper research activities
Own staff ● Regulated access to platforms for
maintenance, inspection and extension
● Access to the data infrastructure depending on roles
● The SAPRI Management Team will decide access management