As of January 1, 2021 Switzerland joined DARIAH ERIC as Observer. Before joining nationally, Switzerland participated in DARIAH through a number of institutions that joined with the status of Cooperating Partners. Last November, the General Assembly of the DARIAH ERIC voted unanimously to accept Switzerland’s application for the status of Observer in the Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities for a period of three years.
“We are delighted to welcome Switzerland as Observer in DARIAH, the first country joining with an Observer status” said Jennifer Edmond, President of the Board of Directors for DARIAH. “Following an excellent and long collaboration with the nine Swiss institutions participating as Cooperating Partners, it is a pleasure to have Switzerland joining with a strong national consortium that we look forward to interacting with”.
DARIAH’s activities in Switzerland are coordinated by DaSCH, the national data and service center for the humanities. Prof. Dr. Lukas Rosenthaler, Director of DaSCH is acting as National Coordinator for DARIAH. DaSCH focuses on long-term archiving of qualitative research data and associated digital objects (images, sound, video, etc.) in accordance with the FAIR principles. It operates as a platform for humanities research data, ensures access to this data and promotes the networking of data with other databases (linked open data), to add value for further research and the interested public. It is acting as DARIAH-CH Coordination Office, with Dr. Vera Chiquet coordinating the DARIAH requests for Switzerland.
“We are very happy to support the national coordination for Switzerland and we look forward to working with the rest of the Swiss partners in establishing and strengthening the Swiss membership in DARIAH” said Lukas Rosenthaler, Director of DaSCH and National Coordinator for Switzerland.
The DARIAH-CH consortium
The DARIAH-CH consortium was formed in November 2018. Its current partners are the Universities of Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Neuchâtel and Zurich, the EPFL and the SAHSS. The aim of the consortium is to establish the national coordination office of DARIAH-CH so that it can take over the operational business of DARIAH in Switzerland.
“With the establishment of the consortium, the scientific community manifests its interest in a national coordination of DARIAH-relevant activities as well as the necessity of a Swiss full membership with a corresponding representation of DARIAH-EU in Switzerland.”
Lukas Rosenthaler, Director of DaSCH and National Coordinator for Switzerland
