From bottlenecks to solutions: the Action Plan towards FAIR Implementation

Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) practitioners are required to comply with the Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reusability (FAIR) principles. However, they face technical and organisational complexities that often hinder full-fledged FAIR implementation. Common challenges include the (un)availability of adequate expertise and resources to comply with the Interoperability principle, and the insufficient embedding of research data management (RDM) professionals in research projects.

The Action Plan Towards FAIR Implementation in the SSH, developed within the Thematic Digital Competence Center (TDCC-SSH) project “Untangling FAIR Implementation in the Dutch SSH,” aims to identify these key challenges and offer practical solutions to help researchers, institutions, and infrastructures move from FAIR principles to FAIR practice. The Action Plan is informed by expert consultations and will be further refined during a series of Community Writing Sprints in September 2025 (more info: https://odissei-data.nl/event/fair-implementation/). It will inform national and local initiatives by collecting the voices of those working in and around RDM in the SSH domain and co-developing recommendations to overcome shared obstacles.

This interactive session at the Netherlands Open Science Festival continues that trajectory and opens up the Action Plan to a wider, interdisciplinary audience. After a brief introduction, participants will divide into small groups discuss a bottleneck and a recommendation from the Action Plan. They are asked to answer some questions, and to rate the recommendation they are given using stars for feasibility and hearts for likeability.

The session offers participants a chance to engage in peer exchange, learn how FAIR implementation challenges manifest in SSH and other domains, and explore different perspectives and solutions. They will leave with practical ideas that could support their own work and have the opportunity to contribute directly to the development of a national-level Action Plan. The insights gathered will feed into the next iteration of the plan, helping ensure it reflects the diversity, realities, and needs of RDM practice in the Netherlands.