MERIL

MERIL is supported by European Commission Horizon2020 Programme (H2020/2014-2020) under Grant Agreement N° 654296

Project Summary

The MERIL Project (Mapping of the European Research Infrastructure Landscape) provides a comprehensive database and inventory of the main research infrastructures (RIs) across all European countries and scientific domains, including the humanities and social sciences.

With its open-access web portal, MERIL is a resource for information that is commonly needed, by researchers, infrastructure managers, and policy-makers.

The MERIL project will extend and transform the existing MERIL database of research infrastructures. It will achieve this by ensuring exhaustive coverage of eligible RIs across all European countries and scientific disciplines, and by revising the existing model to improve data quality and relevance. It will also develop further capabilities within the MERIL portal through the provision of enhanced search and analytical functions, and community-building resources.

 

Project Consortium and Stakeholders

Consortium

  • European Science Foundation (ESF) – Coordinating Partner
  • National Documentation Centre (EKT-NHRF)
  • Agency for the Promotion of European Research (APRE)

Stakeholders

MERIL coordinates a large number of stakeholders, who contribute to and benefit from the project.  The project is managed by the Management Committee composed of the three project partners.  A high level MERIL Advisory Committee (MAC) provides guidance for the project development and implementation. A network of National Data Intermediaries (NDIs) based in European countries identifies and validates research infrastructures to be included in MERIL.
MERIL interacts with nearly 1,000 RI coordinators that provide data into the MERIL portal and database. Other MERIL stakeholders and end users include ESF Member Organizations, the European Commission, National Research Organizations, ESFRI, Science Europe members, OECD Global Science Forum, European Association of National Research Facilities (ERF), EIRO forum, etc.

Role of ESF Science Connect

ESF Science Connect is coordinating the MERIL-2 project. Within the project, Science Connect is responsible for data definition, collection, stakeholder relations and overall project management.

Timeline & Funding

Recognising the need for a comprehensive inventory of RIs in Europe, the MERIL project was initiated by ESF Member Organisation Forum on Research Infrastructures in 2010. Previous phases of the MERIL project were supported by the European Commission FP7 programme (No. 262159, from 2010 to 2012) and by ESF Members Organisations (from 2013 to 2016).
As of 1 March 2016, MERIL operates with European Commission support under Horizon 2020 as MERIL-2 (Project No. 654296), a three-year project with a total budget of approximately 2M€.

Communications & Outreach

Take a look at the latest MERIL brochure and videos to find out more about the project.

 

Project Portal

MERIL portal     www.meril.eu

MERIL outreach page     outreach.meril.eu

Twitter       @MERILdatabase