The ENVRI-Hub NEXT project has completed its first 18 months, marking a significant milestone in the development of the next-generation open-access platform for Europe’s environmental research infrastructures (RIs). Since February 2024, the project has transitioned from planning to active implementation, laying a robust technical and collaborative foundation for a more integrated and powerful environmental science community.
“Reaching this 18-month milestone is a testament to the incredible collaboration across our consortium,” said Marta Gutierrez, EGI Foundation, ENVRI-Hub NEXT Project Director. “We have successfully established the foundations for an integrated and operational ENVRI-HUB offering the best of what environmental RIs and e-infrastructures have to offer together”
This milestone reflects the hard work of the entire consortium and the growing engagement of our community. Here’s a look at some of the key achievements.
Solid Technical Foundations: The Hub Takes Shape
A major focus of this period has been the agile development and integration of the core services that will form the operational ENVRI-Hub.
- A Refreshed and Cohesive Gateway: Work is underway to harmonise the ENVRI-Hub central gateway. This update will better showcase the latest developments from individual components like the Catalogue of Services and Knowledge Base, providing the community with a simpler and more intuitive point of entry to the entire ENVRI-Hub ecosystem.
- A Unified Entry Point for Data and Services: The Catalogue of Services (CoS) has been significantly expanded and enhanced. It now provides a centralised, FAIR-compliant gateway to discover and access data and services from across the ENVRI cluster. New features include an API library for developers and a user-friendly graphical interface, making it easier than ever to find the resources you need.
- Smarter Discovery with AI: The ENVRI Knowledge Base has been upgraded with a new, modern architecture. It now indexes a vast amount of content from participating RIs and is pioneering the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) to power a dialogue-based search. This allows you to ask complex, natural language questions to find relevant research assets, publications, and datasets.
- Streamlined Access to Essential Climate Variables (ECVs): A cornerstone of our mission is to facilitate research on climate change. We have developed a dedicated ECV-data-access Python library and integrated ECV-focused functionalities directly into the CoS. This enables researchers to quickly filter and access services and data related to specific Essential Climate Variables, streamlining the path from data discovery to analysis.
- An Analytical Playground for Researchers: The project has deployed a containerised Analytical Framework, providing a flexible JupyterHub-based environment. This “Virtual Research Environment” (VRE) allows our developers and test users to compose and execute analytical workflows using data and services from multiple RIs seamlessly. The envrihub Python library is the central development, offering a unified, programmatic way to interact with the Hub’s resources directly from code.
- In addition, we explored the technical feasibility of integrating the ENVRI-Hub and its components with the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), and we are currently in talks with the EOSC Beyond project to take this task one step further.
A Growing and Engaged Community
Technology is only one part of the equation. A successful Hub is built with and for its users.
Launch of the ENVRI-Hub User Group: In February 2025, we officially launched the ENVRI-Hub User Group, which has already grown to include over 50 members from diverse backgrounds. This group is vital for the co-creation of the Hub, providing early feedback to ensure our development meets real-world needs. The first official online meeting was held on 25 September 2025.
A Cohesive ENVRI Identity and Presence: We have consolidated the ENVRI branding and given the ENVRI Community website a visual update, creating a central, recognisable home for all our activities. In collaboration with our sister project ENVRINNOV, we jointly manage communication channels. This includes the ENVRI newsletter and our social media presence, which has now moved its primary engagement to LinkedIn and Bluesky. Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest project updates, news, and opportunities to engage with the community.
A Strong Presence at Major Events: ENVRI-Hub NEXT helped coordinate the successful joint ENVRI Community booth and scientific sessions at the EGU General Assembly 2025 in Vienna, showcasing the power of our collaborative community to thousands of researchers. The booth featured representatives from a wide range of ENVRI-related projects.
We have also initiated our public training activities in May, with a joint webinar co-organised with the EOSC-EVERSE project on “Research Software Quality Assessment”, and expect to host more in the coming months.
The Road Ahead: From Staging to Production
The first 18 months have set the stage for an exciting future. Ulrich Bundke, FZJ, ENVRI-Hub NEXT Technical Coordinator, added: “The successful staging deployment proves our technical architecture is sound. In the next phase, we will focus on hardening this environment for production, adding more content and starting public operations.”
As we move into the second half of the project, we will focus on refining these services based on your feedback, onboarding more data and services, and preparing for a wider public release.
This progress is a testament to the power of collaboration. We extend a huge thank you to all the project partners, RIs, and community members who have contributed to this journey.
Explore Further:
- Dive into the technical details and public deliverables via the ENVRI-Hub NEXT Zenodo Community.
- Stay connected with us on LinkedIn and Bluesky for the latest updates.
