FAIRfest, held on February 20-21, 2025, in The Hague, Netherlands, was a joint event organized by the FAIR-IMPACT and FAIRCORE4EOSC projects. These two key initiatives are driving the advancement of FAIR (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability) principles in European research.
FAIR-IMPACT focuses on promoting FAIR solutions across different scientific domains and fostering broader community engagement, while FAIRCORE4EOSC supports the technical development and integration of FAIR practices within the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), with a strong emphasis on interoperability, data management, and research software.
Closely connected to the 19th edition of the International Digital Curation Conference (IDCC25), FAIRfest brought together the European and international research communities, offering a space to present the latest developments and achievements in the FAIR ecosystem.
The programme was structured around four main thematic sessions, each focused on one of the FAIR principles:
- Findability (F) – Discussed the vital role of Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) and Knowledge Graphs in improving the discoverability of research outputs, alongside practical guidance on implementing EOSC-compliant PID frameworks.
- Accessibility (A) – Focused on semantic artefacts such as metadata, ontologies, and mappings, with presentations on tools developed by both projects, including FAIRCORE4EOSC’s MSCR and DTR and FAIR-IMPACT’s semantic artefact catalogues.
- Interoperability (I) – Addressed the challenge of interoperability across legal, organizational, semantic, and technical (LOST) layers, with insights into how the projects are supporting cross-domain solutions for complex societal challenges.
- Reusability (R) – Delivered an interactive session that encouraged participants to reflect on whether FAIR principles alone are enough for reusability, supported by discussions around tools like the Research Software Metadata Guidelines and the Compliance Assessment Toolkit.
FAIRfest also featured a lively Marketplace, where adopters of FAIR solutions showcased their work and engaged directly with participants through demos, success stories, and quick-fire presentations. The festival concluded with a reflective session on over a decade of FAIR principles, examining the current landscape and future priorities for turning FAIR into reality.
Trust-IT’s Role at FAIRfest
As the leader of communication and dissemination activities for the FAIR-IMPACT project, Trust-IT Services played a central role in the successful delivery of FAIRfest. In the project, Trust-IT is responsible for designing and implementing targeted outreach campaigns that support the engagement strategy around FAIR-IMPACT's results, ensuring that each action is tailored to the specific stakeholder groups the project serves. Trust-IT also coordinates the internal communication within the consortium and leads the dissemination, exploitation, and communication activities, ensuring alignment with the project's objectives and maximising its impact.
At FAIRfest, Trust-IT took on the full operational management of the event. This included overseeing logistics, managing the online participation through Zoom, running interactive elements via Mentimeter, and coordinating the work of the audiovisual (AV) team to guarantee a smooth experience for both in-person and remote attendees. Trust-IT also curated the event's visual storytelling by managing photography, video production, and on-site interviews. Additionally, the team ensured real-time visibility through active social media coverage, fostering online engagement and extending the festival's reach beyond the venue.
