eScience development and experiences in The Netherlands

Abstract

The Netherlands eScience Center is the national expertise center for the development and application of research software. Collaborating with researchers from all academic disciplines, it extends the breadth and depth of research opportunities by exploiting the latest insights from computer and data science, as well as making optimal use of hardware, software, and data infrastructures. It does so through problem-driven research projects where eScience research engineers, employed by the eScience Center, collaborate with researchers in all disciplines at Dutch academic institutions. Project software is generalized and made available for reuse for other disciplines and goals. The center has three main technological competences: efficient computing, optimized data handling, and data analytics. Furthermore, on the national level it coordinates and contributes to science policies on computing, data, and applications thereof. With its two main assets, a staff of highly educated and multi-disciplinary eScience Research Engineers and an open online directory of research software tools and knowledge, it successfully contributes to the Dutch scientific landscape and enhances and accelerates all research in The Netherlands and beyond.