For any questions you may have, please feel free to contact us at the following address:
open-science@clutterswissuniversities.ch
FROM THE OPEN SCIENCE PROGRAMME
Open Research Data
Swiss Open Research Data Grants: Call for proposals for Track A “Explore projects”
Track A: Explore projects encompass early-phase exploration as well as the testing and prototyping of a potential ORD practice. They allow for engagement with a community without necessarily creating a final product. The objective is to help researchers explore if and how ORD practices can be developed.
The first call is now closed. The submitted applications will be evaluated by the experts of the Open Science Programme Reviewers’ Pool and the final decision will be made by the Open Science Delegation in December 2022.
The second call for proposals for Track A will be issued from 31 October 2022 to 31 December 2022. Further information can be found on the Swiss Open Research Data Grants website.
Webinar: "Data Stewardship" on August 25, 2022
In the context of the call for proposals "Action Line B5.2: Action Plans on Data Stewardship", the Open Science Team of swissuniversities is organising a webinar on Data Stewardship on August 25 from 9–10 am. The webinar is aimed specifically at representatives of institutions eligible to participate in the B5.2 call for proposals but is also open to other interested parties. It will provide an opportunity to learn about the institutional set-up of data stewardship and to discuss the topic with two representatives of the Delft University of Technology.
Guests are Dr. ir. Yan Wang (Data Stewardship Coordinator) and Dr. Esther Plomp-Peterson (Data Steward).
We are very happy to accept registrations at the following link. You are welcome to send us your questions to be addressed in the webinar by August 18 to open-science@clutterswissuniversities.ch or to enter them directly in the registration form. We look forward to welcoming you online on August 25, 2022.
More detailed information about the call can be found on our website.
PLATINUM OPEN ACCESS FUNDING (PLATO)
List of Platinum Open Access Journals published
In the framework of the PLATO (Platinum Open Access Funding) project, co-funded by swissuniversities, and in collaboration with the Institute Applied Data Science & Finance at the Bern University of Applied Sciences, the project team has compiled an inventory of (already existing or upcoming) Platinum Open Access Journals in Switzerland. This inventory is the first deliverable of the PLATO Study which aims at providing an overview of the current Swiss Platinum OA publishing landscape, its opportunities and challenges.
You can find the inventory and documentation here.
Please let Dr. Daniela Hahn (project manager) know if one or more Swiss Platinum Open Access journal(s) are missing from the list.
SWISS ACADEMIES OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Reminder: Call for Members - Sounding Board for Researchers for Open Research Data
The Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences is assigned to establish a permanent Sounding Board of researchers and its administration. The Sounding Board will advise the Strategy Council on the implementation of the ORD Action Plan by bringing in the perspective of Swiss research. The Swiss Academies are seeking members who have a keen interest in Open Science and have already gained experience in ORD research practices. Members of the Sounding Board should be affiliated with a Swiss higher education institution and be able to showcase ORD practices within their field of expertise.
The application deadline is August 7, 2022, and more information about the call and the selection process can be found under the following link.
EUROPEAN OPEN SCIENCE CLOUD (EOSC)
EOSC kick-off meeting, Thursday 29th September, 16.00-17.15, online via Zoom (registration is not required)
You are kindly invited to join this information session and to participate in the build-up of an EOSC community in Switzerland. The programme is as follows:
- General introduction: what is EOSC and how is it linked to the Swiss Open Research Data Strategy
- Break out rooms: community building - meet the people who work for different EOSC Task Forces, data service and infrastructure providers and domain-specific FAIR initiatives
- Next steps to build up the EOSC community in Switzerland
For additional information please contact katharina.eggenberger@cluttersl.ethz.ch.
EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY ASSOCIATION
Agreement on reforming research assessment
Reforming research assessment is a priority for the European University Association, as part of the wider strategic aim of reforming of academic careers. With this in mind, EUA has been part of a drafting team, together with Science Europe and the European Commission, to develop an agreement for the reform of research assessment across Europe. The objective of this initiative is to create a coalition of organisations committed to implementing reforms of the current research assessment system.
The Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment was published on July 20, 2022. The document sets a commonly agreed direction for changes in assessment practices for research, researchers and research performing organisations, with the overarching goal of maximising the quality and impact of research. The Agreement includes the principles, commitments, and timeframe for reforms and outlines the basis for a Coalition of organisations willing to work together in developing and implementing the changes. A document containing Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on the Agreement, the future Coalition and the next steps has also been published.
The reform movement underpinned by the Agreement and the Coalition aims to be an inclusive and collaborative space to advance collaboratively towards a higher quality, more impactful and more efficient and inclusive research system. It offers a platform for piloting and experimentation, for developing new assessment criteria, methods, and tools, for joint, critical reflection, and for exchange of good practices and mutual learning, whilst fully respecting the autonomy of organisations. Supported by the work of the Coalition, organisations will decide on the steps to take to implement the commitments and the pace of their reform journey; this journey can vary according to the context (e.g., national, disciplinary, whether the assessment is of individual researchers, research units and research organisations or research projects) and the strategic goals and mission of each organisation.
Whilst the Agreement has already been published, it will only be open for signatures from late September 2022. However, early indications of intention to sign the Agreement are welcome and can be sent by mail to Stephane Berghmans, Director of Research & Innovation at EUA. The first meeting of the General Assembly of the Coalition, the “Constitutive Assembly”, is expected to take place in late autumn 2022.
For more infos, please click here
WEBINAR
Open Science and Data Protection: What do I need to keep in mind? - Anna Kuhn | Data Protection Officer at SWITCH
This webinar took place on July 21, 2022. It provided an exciting insight into data protection requirements in connection with Open Science, tips and tricks when processing personal data as well as an open discussion with all participants.
The slides of the presentation can be found here. And if you have any further questions on this topic, feel free to contact Anna Kuhn directly.
OPEN POSITION
Open Science Project Officer | OPERAS AISBL
Start date: September 1, 2022
Closing date for applications: August 15, 2022
OPERAS is the Research Infrastructure supporting open scholarly communication in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in the European Research Area. Its mission is to coordinate and federate resources in Europe to efficiently address the scholarly communication needs of European researchers in the field of SSH.
The European landscape of scholarly communication in the SSH is currently patchy, fragmented and not organized enough to be efficient, particularly to address the challenge of transitioning to Open Science. This is due to several factors, such as the small size of resource providers, the variety of technical skills and resources across the community. The nature of the SSH disciplines also adds specific challenges which are not correctly addressed at scale, such as the diversity of publication languages, the entrenchment in diverse cultural backgrounds and the need for specific forms of scholarly communication (monographs, critical editions, and edited bibliographies, amongst others).
By fulfilling its mission, OPERAS provides the research community with the missing brick it needs to find, access, create, edit, disseminate and easily and efficiently validate SSH outputs across Europe. In one word, OPERAS unlocks scholarly communication resources and enables the whole field to reinvent itself in the new Open Science paradigm.
The OPERAS AISBL was established in 2020 and is now seeking to recruit an Open Science Project Officer for this organisation. For more details, click here.
EVENTS
- Open Access Days – September 19-21, 2022 | University Library of Bern
Further information will be published on the event page.
- Diamond Open Access Conference – September 19-20, 2022 | Science Europe
Please note that participation in the conference is limited to those individuals and organisations who have endorsed the Action Plan for Diamond Open Access. Note that endorsement of the Action Plan is still open and we welcome additional organisations who wish to help strengthen the community and contribute to moving forward Diamond Open Access publishing practices.
This Diamond Open Access conference is the first hybrid event for the community of organisations and individuals who endorsed the Action Plan for Diamond OA. It follows two webinars in which members of this community could already meet and discuss online; these took place on 22 April and 7 July. The conference is co-organised by Science Europe, cOAlition S, OPERAS, and the French National Research Agency (ANR).
The goal of the event is to further bring together the community, to provide insights and inspiration to operationalise the Action Plan based on existing good practices, with a vision to develop future common services.
It is also foreseen to introduce to the Horizon Europe project ‘Developing Institutional Open Access Publishing Models to Advance Scholarly Communication’ (DIAMAS, 2022–2025). This project, to be launched on 1 September, has the objective to contribute to the development of a coherent, high-quality, and sustainable Open Access scholarly communication ecosystem.
For more information about the conference click here.
- Science Europe Open Science Conference 2022 – October 18-19, 2022 | Brussels & hybrid
Science Europe is organising its first conference on Open Science on 18 and 19 October 2022. The goal is to bring together institutional leaders, researchers at all stages of their careers, and experts from the field to discuss two main questions:
- Is Open Science ready to become the norm in research?
- How do we ensure an equitable transition to Open Science?
We invite you to contribute to the newsletter with your own news. Your news can be Open Science events, conferences, workshops, open positions and relevant news related to OS projects or mandates taking place in Switzerland and abroad. In order to be included in our upcoming newsletter, feel free to send us the English title and text to open-science@swissuniversities.ch at the latest by the first Monday of each month.
With thanks and best regards,
The Open Science Team from swissuniversities