AISWG Workshop (open for AIS26 attendees): Shaping the RAISE SRIA: Open Science and Trustworthy AI for European Research

‘Shaping the RAISE SRIA: Open Science and Trustworthy AI for European Research’ is an expert workshop organised within the (opens in a new window)SCIANCE project, building on the work of the Open Science and Trustworthy AI Working Group, led by (opens in a new window)OpenAIRE. The Working Group focuses on advancing open and trustworthy AI for scientific research, with particular attention to research integrity and reproducibility, Open Science policy, legal and IPR frameworks including the AI Act and GDPR, data protection and privacy, ethics, and data-sharing regulations. Through an interactive process, the workshop will bring together researchers, practitioners and policy experts to assess key developments, identify emerging gaps and prioritise a set of recommendations that can directly inform the RAISE Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) and future European priorities for AI in and for Science.

This workshop will be one of the side events of AIS26 and it will take place at October 16th from 13.00 to 16.00 CET.
The venue is at the UCD O’Reilly Hall and UCD O’Connor Centre for Learning, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, D04 V1W8, Ireland.

AI in Science Working Group Terms of Reference

The Terms of Reference for the AI in Science Working Groups (AISWGs) define the objectives, structure, roles and responsibilities, and operational modalities of the working groups covering five scientific pilot areas and five cross-cutting AI-related topics. The Terms of Reference establish the framework for expert selection, including the criteria and open call for expression of interest through which experts from the European scientific and AI communities will be selected. The Terms of Reference also specify the expected contributions, confidentiality obligations, and duration of the AISWGs. The AISWGs will serve as dynamic communities of practice, mobilising domain scientists, AI researchers, industry experts, and Open Science advocates to co-create research and innovation priorities and infrastructure upgrade scenarios for the AI in Science Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA). The annex provides the template for the Call for Expression of Interest.

Disclaimer: This project deliverable has been submitted to the European Commission and is pending formal review and approval by HaDEA.

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AISWG Workshop (closed): Life Sciences

AISWG Workshop (closed): Materials Science

AISWG Workshop (closed): Automation of Lab Workflows & Collaboration

AISWG Workshop (closed): Experimental Design & Policy Support

AISWG Workshop (closed): Data Collection, Processing, Analysis & Interpretation

Data Collection, Processing, Analysis & Interpretation

2nd October 2026, Insight Centre for Data Analytics (Galway, Ireland)

Co-located with the European Big Data Value Forum 2026 (https://european-big-data-value-forum.eu/)

This workshop will bring together experts from the Data Science and Advanced Analytics Working Group, complemented by experts from other Working Groups, to discuss the application of AI-driven models and techniques for enabling and enhancing data management tasks in scientific processes and workflows.

Building on the project’s previous work (including literature reviews, best practices, and other relevant outcomes), the workshop aims to identify the research and innovation priorities that Europe should pursue in the application of AI in the stages of data collection, processing, analysis and interpretation in scientific workflows.

The workshop is only accessible for invited participants.

AISWG Workshop (closed): Social Sciences and Humanities Scientific Pilot Area Workshop

Social Sciences and Humanities Scientific Pilot Area Workshop

13th October 2026, E-RHI headquarters, Manifattura Tabacchi – Florence, Italy

The workshop will be focused on producing domain-specific prioritised research challenges regarding the application of Artificial Intelligence in the various domains that fall under the Social Sciences and Humanities scientific pilot area. Experts will convene to discuss the integration and impact of AI in Social Sciences and Humanities.

The workshop is only accessible for invited participants.

AIS Summit 2026

The AI in Science Summit will convene scientists from various scientific domains, industry leaders, investors, and policymakers to explore the transformative impact of AI in scientific discovery and how Europe can drive it with a distinctive and responsible approach. The event includes high-level political sessions and thematic workshops on the impact of AI in each scientific field, focusing on driving investment and policy to unlock their potential.

AIS26, coordinated by University College Dublin and Taighde Éireann-Research Ireland, will bring together scientists, industry leaders, investors and policymakers to explore the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on scientific discovery — and how Europe can drive this transformation with a distinctive and responsible approach.

AIS26 is an official Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union event and European AI Innovation Month flagship summit.

More information about the summit at www.ais26.eu/

AI in Science Working Groups Selection

SCIANCE has concluded its call for experts for the AI in Science Working Groups (AISWG). Out of 665 applicants, 150 experts were selected.

Following an open call for expressions of interest to join the SCIANCE AI in Science Working Groups (AISWGs), the project selected 150 experts to contribute community-driven input to the Resource for AI Science in Europe (RAISE).

The 10 thematic AI in Science Working Groups bring together an interdisciplinary mix of scientists, AI researchers, data engineers, infrastructure experts and industry representatives. The main objective of the working groups is to identify domain-specific and cross-cutting scientific priorities, critical gaps in access for scientific, AI and data infrastructures, and co-design the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA).

The call for expressions of interest received 669 applications from across Europe. The selection process aimed to avoid concentration of influence and ensure broad, inclusive participation. All applications were carefully assessed by SCIANCE consortium partners with relevant expertise in the working group topics, based on the following criteria:
Expertise: Each applicant’s expertise was assessed for its relevance to the specific scope of the corresponding AISWG. The selection of experts also considered complementarity of expertise to ensure adequate disciplinary representation across the working group.

> Coverage: The selection also ensured representation across diverse stakeholder groups, including academia, industry, research infrastructures, civil society and public bodies.

> Contribution: The applicants’ availability to participate in in-person workshops, working group meetings, provide asynchronous contributions, and review the AI in Science SRIA was also taken into account.

> Diversity: For applicants with similar expertise, balanced representations across European countries, career stages and gender were also considered in the selection process.

Astronomy and Fundamental Physics

Research in astronomy and fundamental physics, domain-specific AI applications and data science, HPC and AI infrastructures, research infrastructures (CERN, SKA, LOFAR)

AISWG: Astronomy & Fundamental Physics

Materials Science

Research in materials science, domain-specific AI applications and data science, HPC and AI infrastructures, research infrastructures (CERIC-ERIC, ESRF, ILL, NOMAD)

AISWG: Materials Science

Life Sciences

Research in life science, ethical, legal and societal implications (ELSI) for life science data, domain-specific AI applications and data science, HPC and AI infrastructures, research infrastructures

AISWG: Life Sciences

Earth Sciences

Research in climate science, agriculture, land use, water resources, ecosystems, biodiversity and urban studies, Earth observation systems, domain-specific AI applications and data science, HPC and AI infrastructures, research infrastructures

AISWG: Earth Sciences

Social Sciences and Humanities

Research in social sciences and humanities, domain specific AI applications and data science, HPC and AI infrastructures, research infrastructures (heritage, health, data archives, arts and humanities)

AISWG: Social Sciences & Humanities

AI Research and Experimental Design

Autonomous laboratories, high-throughput experimentation, physics-informed and hybrid AI models, LLMs and NLP for science, AI co-scientist, lab and workflow automation, interdisciplinary AI model development and data standards, AI skills development

AISWG: AI Research & Experimental Design

Data Science and Advanced Analytics

Data governance and lifecycle management, semantic interoperability, data quality and preparation for AI, scalable and distributed data engineering, advanced analytics, data visualisation, synthetic data generation, metadata and open research libraries

AISWG: Data Science & Advanced Analytics

Open Science and Trustworthy AI

Open and trustworthy AI for scientific research, integrity and reproducibility, open science policy, legal and IPR frameworks (AI Act, GDPR), data protection, privacy and ethic, data-sharing regulations

AISWG: Open Science & Trustworthy AI

AI and Computing Infrastructures

HPC, AI Factories, EOSC ecosystems, scholarly knowledge graphs, data labs integrated with AI infrastructures, research software, operational coordination of research and AI infrastructures, infrastructure policy and governance, ESFRI infrastructures

AISWG: AI and Computing Infrastructures

Industry, Innovation and Frugal AI

AI innovations for scientific research, AI-enabled laboratory systems and workflows, AI Factories across pilot areas, cloud providers for research, GenAI for science, AI industry technology developments, frugal and resource-efficient AI

AISWG: Industry, Innovation & Frugal AI

The following statistics show the distribution of AISWG experts across working groups, gender, career stage, stakeholder groups and countries, and indicate good alignment with the overall applicant pool.

> Gender: 70% AISWG members identify as male (compared to 65% of applicants), 26% as female (31% of applicants), and the remainder did not disclose their gender.

> Career stage: The AISWGs are predominantly composed of senior experts, who represent 80% of selected members (compared to 54% of applicants). Mid-level professionals account for 15% (29% of applicants), while early-career researchers represent 5% (7 members, compared to 13% of applicants).

> Institutional Profile: AISWG members are primarily affiliated with academia and research centres (52%, compared to 60% of applicants), ensuring strong representation from the scientific community. Additional representation includes research infrastructures (12%, compared to 7%) and industry (3%, compared to 5%), providing critical perspectives on infrastructure and technological developments.

> Geographic Diversity: Selected members represent institutions across 24 European countries. The largest shares come from Germany (19%, compared to 15% of applicants), the Netherlands (12%, compared to 13%), Spain (11%, compared to 8%), the United Kingdom (9%, compared to 11%), France (7%, compared to 6%) and Italy (7%, compared to 7%).

The applications and selection outcomes themselves provide an informative snapshot of the current AI and research landscape. While the predominance of senior experts is an expected outcome of a selection process that prioritises established expertise and scientific leadership, the gender and geographical composition of the final working groups appears to reflect broader structural patterns in the European AI ecosystem. The share of women among applicants and AISWG members reflects the ongoing gender disparity in scientific research and the AI workforce, particularly in senior and leadership roles. Similarly, the countries with the strongest representation in the working groups (Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, France and Italy) closely correspond to Europe’s leading centres of AI research capacity and investment (cf. https://oecd.ai/en/ai-investment).

Call (closed): SCIANCE AI in SCIENCE Working Groups