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TransNational access

Transnational access (TNA) is an opportunity for researchers and professionals to carry forward their big data projects as visitors of the SoBigData Research Infrastructure nodes. 

TNA RULES

  1. Applications will be reviewed within 2 months of submission, subject to COVID-19 restrictions. Each application will be assessed not only on its scientific merit but will take into consideration the current Covid-19 regulations of both the visitor’s departure country as well as the destination country. Please plan your visit to start at least 4 months from the end of the month when you submitted your application and expect some adjustments to your planned dates to take into account Covid-19 travel restrictions which are outside of our control.
  2. Travel, international, national and local restrictions due to Covid-19 are beyond the control of either the project or the visitor and as such we would ask that you are flexible and understanding of unexpected and fast changing situations. All regulations that the welcoming infrastructure put in place are for your safety and the safety of others and must be adhered to. We will continue to monitor the situation constantly and will adapt and be flexible where we can.   
  3. Please be aware SoBigData RI can only fund the visit at the agreed rate for the agreed placement dates and will not cover any incurred expenses during periods of imposed quarantine or other travel or working restrictions placed on the visitor (in either the departure or arrival country) as a result of Covid-19. Please factor this information into your plans and be prepared for re-scheduling of your TNA visit, should sudden changes in local, national and international policies make this necessary.   
  4. Covid-19 tests will NOT be paid for by SoBigData RI.
  5. Under no circumstances should you book or plan to start your visit without an email confirming your application has been successful, that an ethical approval has been granted and a contract has been signed.
    In order to have a faster and sustainable process, we could ask to some applicants to review at least one submission (1 page) of another visitor as courtesy.   
  6. SoBigData TNA is funded by the EU and therefore will primarily benefit applicants currently studying or working within the EU. There is, however, some flexibility for the project administrators to accept applications from individuals studying or working outside of the EU on a strict ratio basis. Please be advised that if you are a non-EU applicant then you are likely to have to go on a waiting list to keep to the project’s ratios. 
  7. For visitors coming from non-EU countries there may be limitation or delays due additional regulation from the European Commission to be more transparent with the visitors since the beginning.

DETAILS:

Funding for a Short-Term Scientific Missions (STSM) - from 3 weeks to 2 months - is available up to 5000 euros per participant (to cover the cost of daily subsistence, accommodation, and economy flights/train).
STSM bursaries are awarded on a competitive basis, according to the procedure described in the application pack and eligibility criteria below, and based upon the quality of the applicant, the scientific merit of the proposed project, and their personal statement. Success rates from previous calls have been very high (65-75%). Applications from female scientists are particularly encouraged. Visitors are welcome subject to the host country’s and host institution’s Covid-19 regulations. We will consider offering up to a 6 months postponement of an accepted application if travel restrictions are imposed due to Covid-19.


Pre-requisites for projects to carry out hosted research:
  • Good understanding of social data and, ideally, track record of prior social data analysis projects
  • Experience with using at least one of machine learning, natural language processing, and/or complex networks algorithms

     

Pre-requisites for projects to integrate new tools/datasets/services:
  • An already existing open-source tool for social media mining to be integrated
    ​OR
  • An already created openly licensed dataset of relevance to SoBigData RI, that can be integrated within the infrastructure.

Please, note that the user group leader and the majority of the users must work in a country other than the country(ies) where the installation is located. This rule does not apply:

  • If the applicant is from an International organisation, the Joint Research Centre (JRC), an ERIC or similar legal entities; 
  • in case of remote access to a set of installations located in different countries offering the same type of service
     
The goal is to provide researchers and professionals with access to big data computing platforms, big social data resources, and cutting-edge computational methods.

STSM visitors will be able to:

  • Interact with the local experts
  • Discuss research questions
  • Run experiments on non-public big social datasets and algorithms
  • Present results at workshops/seminar

The STSM visits will enable multi-disciplinary social mining experiments with the SoBigData RI assets: big data sets, analytical tools, services and skills.