Advancing Digital Preservation Through Frameworks, Service Registries, Disciplinary Support Kits, and Curation Networks

Many digital data repositories and archives face growing preservation challenges, driven by diverse data formats, increasing data volumes, and the complexity of long-term data preservation. Limited storage capacities, lack of reappraisal practices, various requirements, needs, and levels of maturity across discipline-specific and data-type-specific communities all pose challenges for digital preservation that EOSC EDEN, an EU-funded project (2025-2027), seeks to address. Current requirements and needs for digital preservation call for robust data and process frameworks, registries of services and tools, discipline-specific support kits, and efficient knowledge-exchange networks. EOSC EDEN is developing a framework to identify candidates for long-term preservation, establish a model for re-appraisal points across the research data lifecycle, and identify practices that support the development of curation, preservation, and access strategies. The 30 Core Preservation Processes (CPPs) define actions that a Trustworthy Digital Archive should undertake to fulfil its digital preservation mission. EOSC EDEN will offer a suite of user-centred tools, services, and standards, including a registry to integrate tools and services into EOSC, enhance services to automate curation and preservation actions, and identify standards and protocols for submitting and exchanging candidate preservation packages. Use cases and discipline-focused pilots drive service development. EOSC EDEN organises workshops, bootcamps, and webinars to raise awareness of digital archiving and support adoption and sustainability, engaging and collaborating with diverse stakeholders, and will launch a network of data curation practitioners. Outcomes of EOSC EDEN will strengthen long-term preservation practices and support the continued reuse and value of data and digital objects for science and society.