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.
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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 5 August 2024 for the August Newsletter.
Many thanks and best regards,
The Open Science Team of swissuniversities
FROM THE OPEN SCIENCE PROGRAMME
swissuniversities and the SNSF present revised National Open Access Strategy for a free and immediate access to publicly funded scholarly publications
The revised Swiss National Open Access Strategy aims to make all publicly funded scholarly publications openly accessible. To be considered open access, publications must be immediately available in a machine-readable format, free of charge, with no embargo, and under an open licence. The updated Strategy drives the paradigm shift towards open access forward, which is to be completed by 2032 at the latest. swissuniversities and the SNSF are dedicated to building a robust open access landscape. They do so by specifying the systemic and cultural framework conditions, which are required to address current developments and challenges in the dynamic open access landscape.
In 2017, swissuniversities and SNSF have set an ambitious vision of achieving 100% open access to publicly funded scholarly publications with the first Swiss National Strategy on Open Access. Pursuing this vision has considerably advanced the open access transformation with open access publications rising and closed articles dropping from 50% in 2017 to 27% in 2022. Open Access has been established as an idea and introduced as a policy across universities in Switzerland. In order to build on this progress and to be aligned with the international and national developments, the two strategy partners have initiated a review of the 2017 strategy and present a revised, forward-looking strategy.
The revised Strategy was presented and discussed on an event on 26 June 2024 in Berne.
Read the news release and find more information on the strategy review here.
Programme Open Science II (2025-2028) was approved by the Swiss Conference of Higher Education Institutions
At its meeting in May, the Swiss Conference of Higher Education Institutions has approved swissuniversities’ application for a Federal project contributions programme (PgB) “Open Science II” together with five other programmes, pending validation by parliament.
The exact development of action lines and planning of calls is ongoing – particularly with regard to the recently adopted revised National Open Access Strategy – and will not be finalised until the second half of the year. More information on the programme’s outline will be communicated this autumn.
In the meantime, the programme Open Science II’s proposal is available on our website (in French or German), and so is the list of the 6 programmes planned for the period 2025-2028.
EVENTS FROM THE COMMUNITY
2-5 Sept. 2024: The OPEN SCIENCE DAYS 2024
For the first time in Switzerland, four prestigious academic institutions are joining forces to bring you 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 clear: to make research a public good accessible to all. Join us for Open Science Days 2024 and open up your perspectives on the fascinating world of open science!
Learn more about the event 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.
12-13 Sept. 2024: The 11th PUBMET2024 Conference on Scholarly Communication in the Context of Open Science
Following the Summer School, this year’s PUBMET2024 Conference will explore the core of open scholarly communication by focusing on the central theme of research assessment. The participants are invited to examine the challenges ingrained in this process, including openness and transparency, bias mitigation, robustness, cost-effectiveness, and efficiency optimisation. Moreover, the conference aims to continue discussions on enhancing the peer review process, encompassing reviewer diversity, role clarification, capacity building, and technological advancements.
Ensuring integrity in assessment practices remains essential in this era of rapidly evolving research landscapes. PUBMET2024 seeks to address the ethical dimensions of research assessment, emphasising the recognition of diverse scientific outputs and advocating for the responsible utilisation of proxies and metrics. The value of content-based evaluation methodologies is recognized while supporting transformative initiatives that propel scholarly communication towards greater inclusivity and efficacy.
Details about registration can be found here.
For more details, visit the PUBMET2024 website or contact pubmet@clutterunizd.hr.
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!
NEWS FROM THE COMMUNITY
31 July 2024: Call for applications: National ORD Prize 2024
The call for the National ORD Prize 2024 is open and applications will be accepted until 31 July 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.
9 Aug 2024: Call for Papers. SWISS RESEARCH DATA DAY 2024: The Challenges of Economical and Ecological Research Data Archiving
We are delighted to invite submissions for the 4th edition of the Swiss Research Data Day, themed "The Challenges of Economical and Ecological Research Data Archiving" which will take place on October 9 in Chur, Switzerland. This event aims to bring together researchers, data scientists, and academic professionals to discuss innovative solutions and advancements in sustainable data archiving.
We welcome papers on the following topics:
- Low-cost data storage solutions
- Ecological requirements in data management
- FAIRness and CAREness assessment
- Artificial Intelligence in data management
- Swiss and international Open Research data initiatives
- Policies and strategies for Open Research data management
- Emergent storage technologies
- Data Stewardship competence and challenges
Key Dates for Abstract Submissions:
- 9 August 2024: Deadline for submission of abstracts (250 words + titles + 5 keywords),
- 2 September 2024: Notification date regarding the proposal (accepted, revision required, or rejected),
- 9 October 2024: SRDD 2024 Conference, at the University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons, Chur Switzerland.
Please submit your abstracts on this link. The language of the Conference is English.
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).
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.
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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