Building open science communities and visualising impact
Building a cohesive Open Science ecosystem in Europe requires two key elements: effective cascading grant frameworks and dynamic spaces for cross-disciplinary collaboration.
Within the Horizon Europe OSCARS project, COMMpla has provided a comprehensive, two-tiered solution to support the distribution and amplification of cascading grants.
The initial phase focused on the deployment of a highly secure, end-to-end digital infrastructure to ensure the transparent and efficient management of the OSCARS Open Calls. Following the successful allocation of funds, COMMpla’s strategic role has expanded to encompass community building and impact visualisation, equipping the Consortium with the interactive tools necessary to map synergies across the Data Management Lifecycle.
The following article outlines the technical infrastructure underpinning the grant allocation process and the subsequent methodologies employed to maximise the collective impact of the OSCARS project.
The Technical Backbone of the OSCARS Open Calls
Managing European funding programmes requires a secure and functional digital infrastructure. For the OSCARS project, COMMpla led the technical deployment and customisation of the TRUST-GRANTS™ platform, a proprietary software solution developed by Trust-IT Services.
Acting as the centralised digital environment for the project, TRUST-GRANTS™ was configured to manage the lifecycle of the OSCARS Open Calls. From initial proposal preparation to the final funding decision, the platform provides traceability, efficiency, and transparency for all stakeholders.
Platform Performance During the OSCARS Open Calls
The TRUST-GRANTS™ platform was utilised to manage the application and evaluation phases during both OSCARS funding rounds, providing a stable environment for researchers and evaluators.
The platform was set up to support the following workflow:
Application Preparation and Submission: Using the platform’s customisable application form builder, the administrators can create calls that satisfy all their needs. In this way, researchers can easily draft and submit their proposals by filling the aforementioned form. They only need to access the platform via the Single Sign-On (SSO) integrated with the main project website.
Eligibility Checks: The platform incorporates a dual-layer validation system, utilising both automated and manual checks to confirm adherence to the call’s eligibility criteria.
Evaluation Assignment: A core technical feature of the TRUST-GRANTS™ platform is its roles management system and its automated assignment strategies. Proposals are assigned to qualified external evaluators, and the process includes a mechanism to avoid potential Conflicts of Interest (CoI).
Evaluation Report Preparation and Submission: Evaluation reports are created and submitted directly in the system, the scores exported to provide the basis of the funding decision. Each application is reviewed individually by two separate evaluators, then an average of those votes is calculated within the system.
Approval or Rejection of Applications: Once decisions are finalised, they are communicated directly via the platform, with detailed feedback for applicants both in case of approval or rejection.
Evaluator Payment Updates: Closing the administrative loop, the selected external pool of evaluators receives timely and accurate payment status information. There is also the possibility to extract the data in useful formats like csv to make analysis and statistics.
During the 1st OSCARS Open Call, the system processed a high volume of applications, handling 264 submitted proposals. This required consistent server availability and data integrity as applicants from across the European Research Area uploaded their documentation.
This technical capacity was maintained through the 2nd OSCARS Open Call, which recently concluded with 12 projects selected for funding.
The OSCARS Open Call process ensures a transparent, fair, efficient and fully traceable workflow from submission to funding decision enabled by the TRUST-GRANTS™, supporting both applicants and evaluators with transparency and reliability.
Ultimately, by leveraging Trust-IT Services’ TRUST-GRANTS™ architecture, which is continuously evolving, with a new version to be released soon featuring enhanced capabilities and greater customization options. COMMpla has supported the OSCARS Open Call process, providing applicants and evaluators with a stable, efficient, and fully traceable digital environment.
A multifaceted approach to ensuring and visualising impact
Now that all the OSCARS funded projects have kicked off and are fully operational, COMMpla’s role in the project has shifted from ensuring end to end traceability and transparency in the selection of beneficiaries, to supporting them in reporting their impact on the Open Science community at large.
In this phase, fostering a strong and connected community across funded projects becomes essential. Research projects often operate in parallel streams, especially when the thematic areas are so different. Yet, oftentimes they are addressing complementary challenges with overlapping methodologies, best practices, or target stakeholders. Without structured opportunities for interaction, valuable knowledge remains siloed. Enabling community building creates spaces for exchange, allowing projects to share approaches, align efforts, and avoid duplication, ultimately strengthening the collective contribution to Open Science.
To help the OSCARS funded Open Science projects visualising potential synergies, COMMpla has created tangible interactive tools to map connections across topics and across the Data Management Lifecycle, alongside a visual map showcasing their diverse geographic distribution. At the OSCARS 2026 AGM, the Data Lifecycle matrix helped projects instantly see who in the room was facing similar challenges thus easily identifying where collaboration could generate added value. Visual tools and structured engagement formats such as these make creating ties tangible, supporting more strategic decision-making and encouraging partnerships that extend beyond individual project boundaries.
This approach directly contributes to maximising impact and sustainability. When projects are connected and aware of each other’s strengths, they can amplify results, reach broader communities, and contribute to more coherent and sustainable outcomes. In the context of OSCARS, supporting these interactions not only enhances the visibility of individual achievements, but also reinforces the overall value of the funded portfolio as an integrated ecosystem advancing Open Science in Europe.