KoDaNetOst is a data network whose aim is to foster links between research institutes and scholars in Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus, Central Asia and the EU countries who are engaged in the collection and utilisation of data in the social sciences and humanities. Good baseline data are indispensable for academic cooperation, knowledge generation, and research communication aimed at policy-makers, multipliers, journalists and an interested public. However, access to data in the form of interviews, surveys or archival material is increasingly fraught with obstacles: authoritarian structures, corruption and, not least, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine are impeding not only data-gathering in the field but also exchange of expertise among scholars and research institutes. Differences in legal frameworks and research cultures pose further challenges.

KoDaNetOst therefore serves as a platform for a diverse range of stakeholders who are conducting research in, with and on Eastern Europe. Through networking and knowledge-sharing, the aim is to facilitate cooperation at eye level and improve access to data and expertise across the Eastern European and EU countries. Issues around research ethics, methodology and techniques and the law relating to data gathering, storage and use are foregrounded here. In the research sphere, the focus is on topics such as democratic consolidation, economic development, climate policy and sustainability, human-environment relations, conflict dynamics and protest movements, (national) minorities, and cultural, religious and ethnic diversity.

• To improve the availability of and access to data
• To generate useful information for data collection
• To simplify knowledge-sharing among scholars and research institutions

• Facilitating dialogue, with two in-person workshops and online working meetings
• Development of a website
• Preparation of a project application to set up a sustainable network

• Dr. Felix Schulte, European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
• Dr. Benjamin Beuerle, Centre Marc Bloch (CMB)