Dear colleagues,
We’re happy to share with you updates related to Open Access and Open Research Data tools and events, as well as the latest news from the swissuniversities Open Science Programme.
Subscribe to this newsletter here and follow us on LinkedIn and X for updates in the meantime.
Would you like to announce your OA or ORD event or share an update from your Open Science project? We invite you to send us your news item to by 1 September 2024 for the next Newsletter.
Many thanks and best regards,
The Open Science Team of swissuniversities
FROM THE OPEN SCIENCE PROGRAMME
Website update: we’re currently revising the structure and content of the open science website. Take a look around.
Save the date: on 22 January 2025, the Open Science Programme will host an event in Berne, marking the end of the 2021-2024 funding period and as well as the start of the Open Science II programme for 2025-2028. We will take stock, highlight the achievements and challenges and provide an outlook for the coming years.
Newly funded ORD projects – B3.2: ORD Funding for Existing Research Infrastructures of Strategic Relevance
The aim of Measure B3 of the Swiss National ORD Action Plan is to allocate cost-effective, long-term funding for ORD services and infrastructures of national significance. The call B3.2 welcomed project proposals that aim to promote ORD either by introducing a new ORD element or by further developing an ORD component in existing research infrastructures. To avoid duplication, synergies with other existing infrastructures should be sought.
Six projects have been approved for funding and have started their work on 1 July 2024. The list of projects, including their abstracts, can be found here.
We’re hiring: Reviewers Wanted for the Programme Open Science II
As of 1 January 2025, or by arrangement, swissuniversities is hiring reviewers for the Programme Open Science II (2025–2028). With an allocated budget of 30 million CHF for the period of 2025–2028, the programme will match another 30 million invested by Swiss higher education institutions to pursue the goals of the National Open Access Strategy and the National Open Research Data Strategy, as well as to promote Open Science in further innovative areas.
Reviewers will evaluate project proposals of the programme. This mainly includes:
- Participation in the online introductory workshop in spring 2025.
- Reading project proposals (c. 15–35 pages each) and evaluating project budgets.
- Writing individual evaluation reports and consolidated evaluation reports.
- Actively participating in (remote) evaluation workshops with other reviewers.
- Contributing to reporting processes.
Candidates for this position are expected to have the following skills and competencies:
- Excellent command of English (reading knowledge of French, German, and / or Italian is a plus).
- Initiative, reliable, dependable, and strong analytical skills.
- Well-developed interpersonal skills and team spirit.
- Experience with review processes.
In addition, candidates are expected to have experience and competences in Open Access, Open Research Data, and / or innovative areas of Open Science.
For more information on the role as well as the application requirements and procedures see the advertisement available here.
EVENTS FROM THE COMMUNITY
28 Aug. 2024: Swiss EOSC Coffee Blend 2024 – 28 August 2024 at noon (12 PM).
The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) aims to develop a 'Web of FAIR Data and services' for science in Europe upon which a wide range of value-added services can be built. Switzerland is actively contributing to this development. But do you know about the ETH Domain’s Open Research Data Programme? Are you interested in learning more about what it has achieved so far and what will happen next?
The Swiss EOSC expert group is looking forward to welcoming you to the special 2024 summer blend of the SWISS EOSC COFFEE on Wednesday, 28 August 2024 at noon.
Research thrives on the open exchange of knowledge – and of data that make knowledge possible in the first place. To support this type of exchange, the ETH Domain’s Open Research Data Programme has been in place since the beginning of 2022.
In the upcoming session Robert Finger, Professor of Agricultural Economics and Policy and Head of the ORD Programme’s Steering Committee in discussion with Ignaz Strebel, Open Science Coordinator at ETH Zurich, will focus on the background and status of the ORD programme. The ORD Programme has so far funded 81 ORD projects with a field-specific focus and 12 infrastructure and research data management support projects. A Central Info Point is also being created, which will guide the researchers to available ORD-related services and infrastructures available across the institutions of the ETH Domain.
The 60 minutes online event, Wednesday, 28 August at noon, no inscription. Please note that the event will be held in English.
2-5 Sept. 2024: The OPEN SCIENCE DAYS 2024
Four academic institutions are co-organising a unique event: an entire week dedicated to open science! The University of Lausanne (UNIL), the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland (HES-SO), the Vaud University of Teacher Education (HEP Vaud) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) are joining forces to promote collaboration, innovation and discovery in research.
At the heart of this ambitious programme are inspiring lectures, interactive workshops and captivating keynotes. The aim is to make research a public good accessible to all and to extend perspectives in the fascinating world of open science.
Learn more about the programme here
and register here.
9 Sept. 2024: CLARIN-CH, the Swiss branch of the European research infrastructure “Common Language Resources and Language Technology”
organizes its first community event on the theme “Open Research Data: challenges and opportunities”.
The event, which will take place on 9 September 2024 at the University of Neuchâtel, consists of two main parts:
1. Data Pitches: Researchers will present challenges and opportunities they discovered in handling their research data with respect to Open Science principles and receive insightful feedback from peers and experts.
2. World Café: Participants have the opportunity to discuss with experts in the field:
- Brian Kleiner (FORS) – Data Protection
- Simone Mäder (UNIBAS) – Data Protection
- Suzanna Marazza (CCdigitallaw, USI) – Copyright and Legal Aspects
- Gerold Schneider (LiRI, UZH) – Data Formats and Technical Issues
- Teodora Vukovic (LiRI, UZH) – Data Formats and Technical Issues
- Christian Futter (UB UZH, Open Science Services and the Language Repository of Switzerland) – Data Storing and Sharing
The world café format will provide time for in-depth discussions, allowing participants to explore solutions to the challenges presented during the data pitches. This interactive setting is designed to foster meaningful exchanges and collaborative brainstorming.
Participation in the event is possible with or without submitting a data pitch – registrations are open between 15 July-1 September.
For more information and to get to the submission form, please visit the CLARIN-CH website.
9 Oct. 2024: 4th edition of the SWISS RESEARCH DATA DAY 2024 on “The Challenges of Economical and Ecological Research Data Archiving”
The Conference is organized by OLOS Association in partnership with the Geneva School of Business Administration (HEG-GE Switzerland) and the University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons (FHGR) and will take place at the FHGR in Chur.
Call for Papers:
Please submit your abstracts via the online portal https://srdd2024.sciencesconf.org/. Accepted papers will be presented at the Conference and included in the official proceedings.
The language of the Conference is English.
- 19 Aug. 2024: Deadline for submission of abstracts (250 words + titles + 5 keywords),
- 2 Sept. 2024: Notification date regarding the proposal (accepted, revision required, or rejected),
OLOS is the result of several years of fruitful research and collaboration by experts from nine Swiss Higher-educational institutions, united in the DLCM (Data Life-Cycle Management) national project financed by swissuniversities.
OLOS provides a Swiss-based solution for sharing and long-term archiving of research data. The OLOS solution complies with FAIR principles, Swiss and European regulations.
22 Nov. 2024: Between FAIR and CARE: challenges and opportunities for data management
DARIAH-CH, the Swiss branch of DARIAH, the European "Digital Research Infrastructure for the arts and the humanities", organizes the third edition of its Study Day. The event, which represents the annual event of the Swiss arts and digital humanities scientific communities, will take place at the Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW.
Program:
In addition to a Roundtable discussion with invited guests, presentations of data stewardship initiatives at different Swiss higher education institutions and of the DaSCH data curation workflow, a core part of the event will be pitches of data and related issues in the context of FAIR and CARE from ongoing research projects.
Call for contributions: data pitches
We open a call for data pitches on research data in arts and humanities: we invite researchers - especially PhD students and postdocs - to present their research data and to discuss what challenges they encounter in relation to the data life cycle in the context of FAIR and CARE principles. We also welcome pitches on data that has not been yet collected and which would present particular challenges when it comes to the tension between FAIR vs. CARE approaches to data management.
Submissions should be sent before 30 September 2024.
Read more and submit here.
27 Nov. 2024: Award Ceremony National ORD Prize 2024
The Swiss Academies invite you to the Award Ceremony of the National ORD Prize 2024. The event will take place on 27 November 2024 in the evening at Eventfabrik Bern. Please save the date!
FURTHER NEWS FROM THE COMMUNITY
Research Data Management and Open Science in Social Sciences Workshops
Two formats are offered to suit participants' needs:
On-campus: An immersive learning experience in Lugano, Switzerland (25th-29th November 2024).
Online: Participate from anywhere (26th-30th August 2024 & 9th September 2024 [am only]).
We invite you to register for, or promote to your doctoral and postdoctoral researcher this brand new Advanced Skills for Research Data Management and Open Science in Social Sciences course offered by Università della Svizzera italiana. This intensive program, developed in collaboration with the renowned Swiss Center of Expertise in the Social Sciences (FORS), equips doctoral and postdoctoral researchers in social sciences with the knowledge and practical tools to excel in today's data-driven research landscape.
The course addresses this need by providing participants with:
- A comprehensive understanding of the research data lifecycle and FAIR principles.
- Skills to develop a robust Data Management Plan (DMP) for their research project.
- Expertise in data ethics, privacy, security, and long-term storage solutions.
- Strategies to leverage data sharing and open science practices for increased impact and collaboration.
- Techniques to foster reproducible research through best practices in data documentation and citation.
Thanks to generous funding from swissuniversities, we are able to offer this comprehensive course at a competitive rate of only CHF 500 (same for both on-campus and online formats for all types of participants).
31 August 2024: Call for applications: National ORD Prize 2024
The call for the National ORD Prize 2024 is open and applications will be accepted until - new deadline - 31 August 2024, 5:00 PM CET.
This prize aims to recognize individual researchers and research teams for innovative practices in the field of Open Research Data (ORD) and to promote the transition to open research practices.
Researchers from all career levels and scientific disciplines working at Swiss research institutions, such as universities, universities of applied sciences, federal institutes, and universities of teacher education, are eligible to apply. Early-career researchers are also encouraged to submit their research projects.
The ORD prize jury defined two new focus areas for this year’s competition:
(1) Collaborative and/or interdisciplinary reuse of research data.
(2) Educational and/or outreach activities related to the reuse of research data.
Job Opportunities at swissuniversities
Have a look at the open positions and internship opportunities in the areas of Higher Education Policy, Teaching, and Research and Development.
More information can be found here.
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