This document reports on the materials created for the Open Calls for Transnational Access to the Research Infrastructures and for Virtual Access to the VITALISE database.  

The document provides an introduction to the VITALISE project and to the purposes and opportunities offered through Transnational and Virtual Access. Transnational Access to Research Infrastructures was implemented through 3 Open Calls that ran from M12 to M28: in this timeframe potential applicants could submit a proposal for a research study to be carried out in collaboration with the Research Infrastructures. The proposals were then evaluated through a 3-steps evaluation procedure and results were notified to applicants within 2 months timeframe. The set-up of the Open Calls and the evaluation procedure is described in detail in paragraph 2.4. 

The document proceeds with a description of the “VITALISE Project’s Application Manual to the Open Calls for Transnational Access to Research Infrastructures and for Virtual Access to the VITALISE database” (also mentioned as Application Manual). The Application Manual is in fact the main official source for information on Transnational and Virtual Access: it provides a full-guidance to both TA and VA, a complete list of the eligibility criteria, and a clear description of the application procedure.  

The following section illustrates all the materials produced to facilitate and promote the submission of research study proposals for TA. The first two paragraphs are dedicated to the description of the Application Template and the Online Toolkit. Together with the Application Manual, these are the two main tools designed to support applicants in the submission of fully described and high-quality proposals. Additionally, bespoke information material on the Research Infrastructures and their services was also produced and made available on the VITALISE Website, with the purpose of providing applicants with detailed information to support the design of research study proposals. This included: 
• The Application Toolkit, that summarizes all the necessary steps to be taken in order to 
submit a proposal; 
• Description of the Living Lab Research Infrastructure; 
• Dedicated Factsheets targeted on each typology of potential applicant; 
• Success Stories; 
• List of Indicative research topics; 
• FAQs and direct support tools. 

Additionally, 3 Info-days were organized (one per Open Call) with the purpose of presenting the Open Calls and the application procedure to potential applicants. Info-days also included face-toface online meetings between the applicants and the Living Labs, where they could directly discuss their research proposals with RILs. 

At the time of submission of this deliverable, Virtual Access is still under development: its launch is expected in early November 2023. A dedicated page to VA was developed on the VITALISE website: its purpose is to provide external researchers first-hand information on the VA launch date, on the available datasets, and on the application procedure. This page will be further implemented in the upcoming months in relation to Virtual Access deployment. 

Finally, a bespoke Application Toolkit was developed on the VITALISE Discovery Portal to enable a quick and easy registration procedure at the end of which applicants will obtain credentials to freely access datasets.