The Vytautas Kavolis Transdisciplinary Research Institute at Vytautas Magnus University is implementing a research infrastructure modernisation project funded by the Research Council of Lithuania. The project aims to strengthen the Institute’s R&D activities and to develop an advanced digital data analysis ecosystem. As part of the project, the computing centre infrastructure is being expanded through the deployment of modern solutions for quantitative and qualitative data analysis, storage, and visualisation, tailored to research in the social sciences and humanities.
According to the Institute’s Director, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jurga Bučaitė-Vilkė, the Institute previously lacked centralised, integrated software and technical infrastructure to ensure coherent management, security, analysis and visualisation of research data, in line with FAIR and GDPR principles. Researchers had to rely on a variety of tools that were often incompatible, and data was frequently stored on personal devices or general cloud services that were not well suited to the long-term preservation of scientific data or collaborative research.
The project will establish an integrated data analysis and visualisation ecosystem, including the qualitative analysis platform ATLAS.ti, the quantitative analysis software Stata, a dedicated NAS data repository, interactive visualisation tools (Tableau), and backup solutions. This infrastructure will enable the secure storage, analysis, documentation, and dissemination of research data, enhance international collaboration, and strengthen the competences of doctoral and early-career researchers.
The upgraded computing centre infrastructure is expected to represent an important step towards higher research quality, increased international visibility, and preparedness for future international research evaluations, while further consolidating the role of the Vytautas Kavolis Institute as a regional centre of excellence in the social sciences and humanities.
The Institute brings together researchers from more than ten academic disciplines and is the first consolidated transdisciplinary research centre operating within a university structure in Lithuania. Its research covers a wide methodological spectrum, ranging from qualitative interviews and discourse analysis to large-scale international surveys, conducted in cooperation with major research infrastructures such as the European Social Survey (ESS Lithuania), the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE Lithuania), the Generations and Gender Program (GGP Lithuania) and the Lithuanian Longitudinal Social Survey (LIST) .
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