The Finnish Infrastructure for Register-Based Research (FIRE) is moving towards practical solutions that make it easier to use register data in research. At the FIRE webinar on 22 September, current development work within the infrastructure was presented, including challenges and solutions related to research data permit processes, a new nationwide course on register-based research, and new features for Statistics Finland’s FIONA remote access system.
FIRE – The Finnish Infrastructure for Register-Based Research – is building a research, remote access and training infrastructure for register-based research in Finland. Its aim is to develop a high-quality computing environment and a comprehensive catalogue of register data, while making the use of register data in research more efficient and accessible.
FIRE builds on Statistics Finland’s FIONA remote access system and brings together universities, research institutes and register data providers. The Research Council of Finland is funding the development of the infrastructure from 2025 to 2028.
At the webinar, FIRE Consortium Director Jani Erola, Academy Professor at the INVEST Research Flagship Centre, University of Turku, highlighted the growing importance of register data for both research and decision-making. FIRE’s activities are organised into five areas focusing on new data solutions, research ethics and data access permits, training, impact, and the development of the FIONA system.
Aki Koivula, Senior Research Fellow at INVEST, presented a study examining researchers’ and permitting authorities’ experiences of data access permit processes. The results show that around 80% of researchers find the processes difficult.
Read more about the findings → 80% of researchers find data permit processes difficult
Laura Kananen, Docent at Tampere University, presented the new online course Introduction to Register-based Research in Finland, a nationwide and multidisciplinary introduction to register-based research in Finland.
Read more about the new course → National course trains a new generation of register-based research experts
Valtteri Valkonen from Statistics Finland presented new solutions being developed for the FIONA remote access system, with the aim of providing research projects with more flexible computing resources and new tools.
Read more about the development of FIONA → More flexible resources and new tools for FIONA
You can watch the webinar here:
