Photo: Photostique

Jeroen Scharroo is Strategic Communications Advisor at Open Science NL. Open Science NL was founded in 2023 specifically to accelerate the transition to Open Science. They do this mainly by funding projects in the various areas of Open Science. They categorise these areas themselves into FAIR data, citizen science, open research software and open scholarly communication. Also Open Education is part of the Open Science movement.

Scharroo: “The National Open Science Festival is the only national event that deals with this whole breadth of Open Science and that diversity alone makes it a unique event. So, for us and many other visitors, the festival is a good place to hear and exchange views on all kinds of issues in Open Science: what is needed, what is going on internationally, what is working and what is not, etc., etc.”

Ingrid Korver (Communications Manager) works at DANS, the national centre of expertise and repository for research data.

“At DANS, we find public, global access to research and, where possible, to the associated data essential. With our domain-specific Data Stations, DataverseNL and associated support services, we help researchers share their data in a way that complies with FAIR principles.”

Margriet Miedema is Coordinator at LCRDM, the National Coordination Point Research Data Management.

“LCRDM is a network of professionals in Research Data Management. Open Science is an important goal for them: their work: facilitating adequate data and software management, contributes to making Science Open.”

Rianne Fijten is a researcher at Maastricht University (UM) and co-founder of the Open Science Community Maastricht (OSCM). The OSCM is an inter-faculty group that promotes Open Science throughout Maastricht University.

“For me, the main challenge is to convince the sceptics of the usefulness of Open Science. With recognition & rewards taking an increasingly prominent role in research at universities, there is fortunately more attention to Open Science. Hopefully, this will encourage all researchers to open up their research. There are also great opportunities in Open Science in the Netherlands. The Netherlands is a pioneer when it comes to Open Science and has really established itself as an open community within the global academy.”

Looking ahead to the National Open Science Festival @ UM

For Scharroo of Open Science NL, collaboration is a core value of Open Science:

“This is also reflected in the festival, which is organised entirely for and by the Open Science community. We collaborate with representatives from different institutions in both the organising and programme committees, and many workshops are provided by various groups. This collaboration allows us to share knowledge, strengthen networks and increase the involvement of all participants in Open Science.”

Miedema from LCRDM says the festival is another great time to reflect on the importance of Open Science and go home with inspiration and practical tips for Open Science.

“It is nice to look at Open Science from multiple perspectives: it creates a broader and stronger support base.”

Korver of DANS expects that through appealing example projects and materials, the National Open Science Festival will inspire researchers to work more openly themselves and adopt a positive attitude towards sharing FAIR data.

“Even if not all the research output of a project can be shared, it is valuable to think about what can be shared. DANS provides support to help researchers make choices when sharing their data.”

UM’s Fijten says that because of the halving of Open Science funding, such a festival is more important than ever.

“During the festival, Open Science enthusiasts come together to learn from each other and improve Open Science in academic research. Especially with these budget cuts, sharing experiences and learning from each other is extra important. The organisation of the festival consists of a diverse group of people from many different backgrounds. It is great to see how well these people, despite their varied backgrounds, can work together and how much passion they have for Open Science and the festival.”

Scharroo is very happy with the offer of the University Library Maastricht and Open Science Community Maastricht on behalf of UM to host the festival this year. In addition, this is also the first time the festival is taking place outside the Randstad.

“We also found a great location in the SBE buildings. You can tell that the Open Science community in Maastricht is very lively and that there are lots of people enthusiastic to help organise the festival. With all that commitment, I’m sure it will be a very successful edition.”

More information

You can find the full programme for 22 October on the National Open Science Festival website. Do you have a general question about Open Science? Don’t hesitate to contact Dennie Hebels, the Open Science officer.