Enabling Data Sovereignty through Trusted Research Environments in European Data Spaces – EOSC-ENTRUST workshop

The demand for secure, interoperable access to sensitive data is rapidly increasing. Research in fields such as health, genomics, and social sciences relies heavily on data that cannot be openly shared due to legal, ethical, or privacy constraints. At the same time, new European Data Spaces and the evolving EOSC Federation are raising expectations for cross-border collaboration and responsible data reuse. These initiatives promise scientific and societal benefits, but they also expose persistent challenges: fragmented national legislation, varying maturity levels of secure data environments, and a lack of common operational and technical standards. Together, these create a landscape where organisations want to collaborate, but lack trusted and harmonised mechanisms for doing so safely and efficiently. A key solution for providing interoperability are Trusted Research Environments (TREs) that are secure platforms that allow controlled analysis of sensitive data. However, TREs differ widely in design, governance, and capabilities across countries and sectors. To address these gaps, the EOSC-ENTRUST project aims to develop a European network of TREs and a common blueprint for federated, secure data access, enabling cross border analysis of sensitive data while meeting legal, ethical, and technical requirements. On 25 February 2026, EOSC-ENTRUST held its outreach workshop “Enabling Data Sovereignty through Trusted Research Environments in European Data Spaces.” The event gathered EOSC stakeholders, TRE providers, Data Space initiatives, and researchers to discuss how TREs can support future Data Spaces and the EOSC Federation. The event served as a platform for aligning perspectives, sharing practical experiences, and identifying future directions for building an interoperable European data landscape.