Speaker
Descrizione
The ITINERIS User Strategy establishes a comprehensive and integrated framework to improve accessibility, usability, and impact across Italian environmental Research Infrastructures (RIs). Bringing together 22 national nodes operating in the atmospheric, marine, terrestrial, and geosphere domains, ITINERIS is designed to deliver coordinated and interoperable services to a diversified user community. Fully aligned with European frameworks such as ESFRI and EOSC, the strategy supports long-term sustainability, interoperability, and societal relevance.
The approach is structured around sequential and interconnected steps. User mapping and classification have been carried out through surveys and desk research to identify both current and potential communities, including academia, industry, public authorities, and civil society. Process harmonization addresses heterogeneous maturity levels across RIs, defining common standards for access and service provision. Access enhancement is pursued through simplified procedures, a unified catalogue of services, flexible modalities, and innovative financial support (e.g., user grants). In addition, community enlargement is promoted via targeted outreach actions such as newsletters, online events, and communication campaigns. Capacity building is fostered through training activities to broaden knowledge and strengthen professional skills. Finally, stakeholder engagement is advanced by building strategic alliances with institutions such as ARPA and Civil Protection, contributing to an innovation-oriented RI ecosystem and promoting science diplomacy.
The initial implementation has yielded significant outcomes: increased visibility and attractiveness of ITINERIS services, greater engagement of non-academic users, progress towards harmonized access policies and catalogues, and reinforced training activities.
This presentation will highlight key experiences in applying the user strategy across diverse user types and ITINERIS scientific sub-domains.
Overall, the ITINERIS User Strategy offers an innovative, user-centered model for RI management, providing a replicable framework nationally and internationally. It maximizes the contribution of environmental RIs to research excellence, innovation, policy support, and sustainable development.
