CRISalid Consortium: towards an innovative information system for scientific research
Initiated by Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University and the University of Toulon in July 2023, the CRISalid consortium now brings together twelve higher education and research institutions, including the University of Montpellier, around the project to design and implement software modules that make up a CRIS (Current Research Information System). The consortium agreement signed in December 2024 provides a structured framework for carrying out this project.
The community of interest formed around the CRISalid project is part of the core missions of public education and/or research institutions, which include the dissemination and promotion of scientific and technical research results.
Initially formed informally around the early work and experiments conducted by the University of Toulon (SoVisu), Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University (Expert Finder System), and Paris-Saclay University (BiblioLabs), the community gradually grew between 2023 and 2024 and now consists of twelve institutions:
- School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences – EHESS
- ESCP Business School
- Research Institute for Development – IRD ● National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations – Inalco
- University of Nantes
- New Sorbonne
- Claude Bernard University Lyon 1
- University of Montpellier
- University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
- Paris-Saclay University
- Hauts-de-France Polytechnic University
- University of Toulon
The CRISalid consortium aims to develop, in a collaborative and agile manner, a CRIS, or shared and open research information system. It will consist of software modules dedicated to managing and monitoring information related to research activities, with the aim of simplifying the daily lives of teachers, Professors, researchers, and support staff by streamlining the flow of research information and mobilizing artificial intelligence tools.
Finally, CRISALID will enable:
- to help researchers better identify, disseminate, and promote their work;
- promote the visibility of research activities at various levels, from the research structure to the institution;
- to ensure the reliability of data and indicators for the governance of institutions and institutional research stakeholders.
The challenges of data quality and data circulation between different research stakeholders are central to CRISalid's objectives. This data will be consolidated in the form of an institutional knowledge graph, incorporating information on researchers, the structures within which they work, scientific output, etc.
This knowledge graph will be used to feed public portals, websites, and research management tools. CRISALID will thus contribute to the functioning of the open research and science ecosystem, respecting the stakeholders involved, in accordance with the principles and commitments of the European COARA (Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment) coalition, which promotes the quality and impact of research.
The SoVisu+ module, currently under development, will offer a set of features enabling researchers to improve the quality of their work reports and, as a result, share them more effectively.
The application modules produced by CRISalid as free software will be made available free of charge to the entire scientific and academic community.
Beyond creating new tools, CRISalid will form an open community of experts, driven by a spirit of mutual support and enthusiasm for shared innovation.