BISHOPS - Belgian Infrastructure for Social Sciences and Humanities

Fundamental research is crucial for progress and innovation. However, researchers often face financial constraints, making it essential to maximize the use of existing resources and avoid duplicating efforts. One key strategy is to share research data, aligning with the growing movement toward open data—though this also brings challenges, such as the need for quality frameworks and researcher protection (e.g., intellectual property rights). To support this, the BISHOPS project (Belgian Infrastructure for Social Sciences and Humanities Open Science) was launched. It complements the SODA project, which aims to create a data archive that meets the standards of the Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives (CESSDA). The SODHA archive (www.sodha.be) allows social science research data to be preserved and reused. BISHOPS expands this infrastructure to better serve the humanities, ensuring that valuable and hard-to-collect data in these fields are not lost. Major research funders in Belgium—FWO, F.R.S.-FNRS, and BELSPO—support this initiative. For example, recent Brain 2.0 calls require the use of the SODHA/BISHOPS infrastructure. Objectives of the BISHOPS Project: Analyze the needs of future users. Study metadata standards across disciplines. Design an infrastructure tailored to those needs. Provide training and share best practices. Develop a sustainable business model for long-term operation.