Workshop: DCU Research

Integrating Institutional Research Infrastructure with EOSC through SURF Research Cloud: Experiences from an OpenStack-Based Deployment

As research computing increasingly moves towards federated and interoperable service models, institutions face both technical and organisational challenges in exposing local infrastructure to wider research communities. This workshop will present ongoing work to integrate a university-operated OpenStack cloud environment with the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) through the SURF Research Cloud platform.

The session will explore the motivations for connecting institutional infrastructure to EOSC, including improved resource sharing and utilisation, enhanced accessibility for researchers, support for reproducible science, and alignment with European open science initiatives. Drawing on practical experience from operating a large-scale OpenStack-based research cloud, the discussion will examine the architectural considerations, authentication and authorisation mechanisms, service integration requirements, and operational challenges encountered during the integration process.

Participants will gain insight into how local compute and GPU resources can be made discoverable and accessible through EOSC-compatible services while maintaining institutional governance and operational control. The workshop will also provide an opportunity to discuss lessons learned, identify common barriers faced by research institutions, and explore future opportunities for collaboration across the EOSC ecosystem.

The session is intended as an interactive discussion rather than a technical tutorial, welcoming infrastructure providers, research support staff, and researchers interested in federated research computing and the future of shared European research infrastructure.