The Stakeholder Forum should consist of multiple sub-forums representing the interests of Stakeholder Roles of Consumers and Providers, including those in the supplementary role of Intermediaries. Whilst these might have their own working groups, it is important that there is also cross working between these stakeholder roles.
The structure of the Stakeholder Forum in the Steering layer is key for the Governance Decision Flow Model to be effective, to allow participation from all stakeholders both large and small, and to be open and transparent. To achieve this, any structure for the Stakeholder Forum use the key principles of ISO 38500 (Governance of IT).
In terms of governance the Stakeholder Forum should include:
- An Oversight Board that agrees the rules of membership, engagement and processes and acts as the key contact point with the Strategic and Executive layers.
- A number of Thematic Area Committees, either based on the Interoperability Contexts, the Stakeholder Roles or broad scientific or infrastructure domains, dealing with specific thematic domains.
- Working Groups, that are time based, work on specific areas with the priorities determined by the Stakeholder forum governance in conjunction with the Strategic and Executive layers of the EOSC Governance.
- Bird of a Feather Groups discuss new activities which may lead to working groups.
