The Open Science Notice Board

Last week the second instalment of the LU Open Science Days took place at Palaestra. The conference committee was happy to welcome 150 participants from LU as well as both Swedish and international organizations and institutions. The theme for this year’s conference was Crossing boundaries with Open Science focusing on how Open Science can bridge boundaries, both within academia and in society at large.

In their welcoming speech, Pro-vice chancellor Per Mickwitz and chair of the programme committee Angeliki Adamaki introduced the organisers of the event, the LU Open Science Champions Group, and how Open Science principles can benefit not only individual researchers and academia but society at large. Per talked about how the current geopolitical insecurities has led to some people saying that we have already passed the peak of Open Science. The pro vice-chancellor said that “we need to speak up for Open Science”.

The welcome speech was followed by a session on broadening of merits and recognition of Open Science contributions in research. Keynote speaker Björn Hammarfelt, professor at the Swedish School of Library and Information Science, spoke about possible future scenarios for Open Science in regard to merits: openness can become a metric in itself, how researchers are assessed can be opened up and reformed, assessment procedures and indicators can become more open. Concluding, Hammarfelt stated the importance of keeping Open Science flexible and non-standardized, not only benefiting the already privileged few within research.

The following panel discussion with Jonathan Nästesjö, Alison Gerber, Johan Revstedt and Björn Hammarfelt led by Nicoló Dell’Unto continued on the same theme and the complexity of the notion of openness and reforming rewards and incentives. Among the things addressed was that changes are needed on both a university management level and community level.

In line with the aim of LU Open Science Days to be a platform for sharing ideas and experiences of practicing Open Science we invited six speakers to present their Open Science projects. Andrea Tarallo, National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Research on Terrestrial Ecosystems (IRET), presented the Italian data stewards community, established in 2023 as a bottom-up initiative, and how the community has evolved from a loose network into a more structured entity. Jane Fisher, AdvanSci, gave an introduction to the ReproducibiliTea initiative and the Lund-based journal club that explore challenges in reproducibility within biomedicine and the wider scientific landscape. Carlos Vélez, LUCSUS, talked about his research project concerning sustainable wildlife management in the Colombian Amazon region inspired by Participatory Action Research (PAR), practicing participatory research with two teams of local indigenous researchers. Lydia Bucher from the student organisation iGEM Lund, outlined their outreach activities such as workshops for high school and middle school students and social media engagement. Per Wilhelmsson, PKI Utveckling, presented Sjölabbet, a research-through-education initiative that promotes the use of the open source hardware OpenFlexure microscope (OFM) in educational settings. The microscope is used for aquatic environmental monitoring. Lastly, Massimiliano Novelli from ESS introduced ESS approach to FAIR data management and its integration with the PaNOSC (Photon and Neutron Open Science Cloud) data portal to support a collaborative and data-driven scientific ecosystem.

The last session of the day featured a film screening of the film Who stands up for Alvar. The film is based on research data from the research project “Moral stress and moral agency in Swedish eldercare”. The screening was followed by a discussion between the director Anna Maria Jóakimsdóttir Hutri and Sara Hultqvist, School of Social Work, about how art and research can be cross-fertilized and serve as a catalyst for social change. Jóakimsdóttir Hutri received the research data in the form of small stories and moral dilemmas that she in turn shaped into a script for the drama. Hultqvist and Jóakimsdóttir Hutri also talked about how the film created a space for all care workers, regardless of professional role or educational level, to have their voices heard.

During the poster mingle a diverse set of exhibitors displayed their Open Science projects and initiatives. Exhibitors included Carbon Ruins, a portable museum created by Narrating Climate Futures at LU, Vattenhallen Science Center, The Swedish National Data Service, Lund University Press, the LUCRIS administration and Skissernas Museum – Museum of Artistic Process and Public Art.

Keynote speaker on the second day, Mirjam Walpot  from the International Network of Open Science & Scholarship Communities talked about the importance of communities in the transition to Open Science. The transition towards making Open Science the norm can be conceptualised via five interventions: infrastructure, user experience, communities, incentives and policy. Here, communities are a part of making Open Science normative and something that not only concerns a small number of early adopters but a majority of researchers. Communities can also be a way of influencing policy making and incentive structures. Mirjam Walpot is originally from the Netherlands, where the Open Science Community has been involved in the Netherlands National Program Open Science 2030.

During the panel discussion on Open Science and the climate emergency Aitzkoa Lopez de Lapuente Portilla, Division of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine, talked about the role of researchers and universities in not reproducing unsustainable practices but being advocates for change. Researchers, by virtue of their expertise, connection to decision making, platforms and implicit authority, have the levers organise and take direct action for the climate. James White, Department of Technology and Society, talked about the environmental impact of the use of AI. AI tools are often presented as unproblematic from an environmental standpoint and the energy consumption needed to power these tools overlooked.

The last panel discussion concerned the geopolitical aspects of Open Science, focusing on East Asia. Hyejin Kim, Department of Economic History, outlined shifting patterns within international research collaboration. Focusing on collaboration rates of Chinese-based scholars, Kim showed the development of co-authorship with Chinese-based scholars and scholars from The United States as well as East and South-East Asia. Nicholas Loubere, Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, talked about the dangers of Open Science being co-opted and redefined by authoritarian interests.

The conference closed with a community building session and the launch of Open Science Community Lund (OSCL). OSCL is a hub that connects researchers and employees at the university that believe in open science as means to increase inclusivity, quality, transparency and integrity in research. The community is a bottom-up initiative that aspires to facilitate the adoption of open science practices for the benefit of both research and society. OSCL welcomes members in all career stages and from all departments at the university with interest in any aspect of open science. You decide your level of engagement with the community and it range from organiser of events to supporter of the community’s work. If you want to be part of, or informed about the progress of the Open Science Community Lund, please sign up here.

Most slides from the conference are available in the programme blog post.

We would like to thank Lund University Press, who have kindly gifted us 11 printed copies of their Open Access books, that will be drawn by lot to a few lucky participants. Keep a look out in your mailboxes.

Thanks to all who attended and contributed to the LU Open Science Days 2024!

Open Science Days is approaching and here comes a brief teaser about the poster mingle and exhibition on the 19th of November. The exhibition will feature diverse things that are used to create and communicate science.

We are happy to announce that the portable museum Carbon Ruins, created by Narrating Climate Futures at LU will be displayed on during the mingle. Vattenhallen Science Center will display an activity they developed for children that allows them to dig for 3D-printed dinosaur fossils. The Research Data Office unit will bring a poster and present what support LU researchers can expect from them in the area of research data management. Jane Fisher from AdvanSci will introduce solutions for researchers in the biomedical sciences that aims at increasing transparency and research and the recently initiated ReproducibiliTea Open Science Journal Club. Per Wilhelmsson will display a microscope that is based on open hardware and used for aquatic environmental monitoring. A MOOC for high school science teachers organized by researchers from ESS and LU will also be presented and you will also meet researchers from the HOMEROS project that work with solutions for assessing hazards like earthquakes, floods and landslides. The Swedish National Data Service will join from Gothenburg and present present their upcoming national portal for research data, Researchdata.se, as well as their involvement in Skills4EOSC. Skissernas Museum – Museum of Artistic Process and Public Art will present their work with Object Based Learning – an inclusive and student-centered pedagogical method with an interdisciplinary approach. The LUCRIS administration will also be represented during the mingle to talk about making your research visible.

Join us for drinks and snacks on the 19^th to enjoy this smorgasbord of examples of and support for open science. It is still possible to register!

The LU Open Science Days aims to be a platform for sharing ideas and experiences of practicing Open Science. This year we wanted to facilitate this by inviting LU-affiliated researchers, PhD students, and research support staff, as well as non-LU contributors, to present their Open Science projects. The presentations will follow the conference theme “Crossing boundaries with Open Science”, illustrating how Open Science bridge boundaries, fosters collaboration, and create real-world impact. 

After posting an open call for talks, we are happy to present four speakers for the session, representing a diverse set of organisations and Open Science approaches:

Andrea Tarallo, National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Research on Terrestrial Ecosystems (IRET) – Building the Italian data stewards community

Jane Fisher, Co-funder and managing research consultant at AdvanSci – Reproducibility and the ReproducibiliTea Initiative

Carlos Vélez, Doctoral student, LUCSUS – Exchanging Researcher Seats: Weaving Research with Indigenous Knowledges Systems for Forest-Fauna-Human management in the Colombian Amazon.

Lydia Bucher, iGEM Lund – Science activism, citizen science, and partnerships with society

Per Wilhelmsson, PKI Utveckling AB – Sjölabbet – Creating avenues for environmental monitoring 

Massimiliano Novelli, Senior Data Curation Scientist, European Spallation Source (ESS) – Maximizing Scientific Output through Data FAIRness

Presentations will be held on the 19th of November. For more information, see the full program.

Are you using Open Science to cross boundaries in your research or initiatives? Have you collaborated across disciplines, connected academia with society, or navigated Open Science in a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape?  

The program committee of the LU Open Science Days 2024 invites LU-affiliated* researchers, PhD students, and research support staff to present their projects on November 19, 2024, either as a short talk or a poster. With this year’s theme, “Crossing Boundaries with Open Science,” we are seeking contributions that illustrate how Open Science bridges these boundaries, fosters collaboration, and creates real-world impact. 

We welcome submissions on topics including, but not limited to: 

Cross-disciplinary research and collaboration across fields. 

Science activism, citizen science, and partnerships with society. 

Geopolitical challenges addressed through Open Science. 

Global collaborations between LU and external institutions. 

Creative communication using Open Science practices. 

How to Submit (please state your preference in your application):  

Talks: Submit an abstract (200-400 words) by November 1st to monica.almqvist@bme.lth.se. Because of limited available time, selected talks will be informed promptly. All other contributions can be presented as posters or at booths.  

Posters: Submit your abstract (200-400 words) by November 5th to alice.olsson@ub.lu.se. Any format goes.

Please mark your email “Open Science Talks and Posters”.

*Non-LU contributors are warmly encouraged to apply; a limited number of spots is available for exciting external contributions. 

Welcome to LU Open Science Days 2024 – Crossing boundaries with Open Science!

Join us on the 19^th and 20^th of November at Palaestra for the second instalment of LU Open Science Days organised by the cross-faculty Open Science Champions group. The event aims at bringing together staff, faculty, and research students from across the university to engage in a dialogue about what the future of Open Science and Open Access should look like in Lund and beyond.

Crossing boundaries with Open Science

This year’s LU Open Science Days focus on how Open Science can bridge boundaries, both within academia and in society at large. The theme alludes to four different types of boundaries; within academia and between disciplines, between academia and society, geopolitical boundaries, and boundaries between LU and other national and international actors. Sessions will address broadening of merits, how to turn science into action and activism, creative science communication, Open Science in an unstable geopolitical world, and community building.

The program committee invite all LU-affiliated researchers and PhD-students as well as support staff that work with research support to attend this free of charge lunch-to-lunch conference that

highlights Open Science, by featuring inspiring speakers, interactive sessions, and lively discussions. We have a limited number of seats for participants that are not LU-affiliated. If you are not LU-affiliated and want to attend the conference, please contact karolina.lindh@ub.lu.se.

Registration is now closed. If you forgot to register but would like to attend please contact alice.olsson@ub.lu.se

The program is preliminary and will be updated continuously.

If you have any questions about the conference, please contact karolina.lindh@ub.lu.se

Tuesday 19th November

11:30-13:00 Registration and lunch

13.00-13.20 Welcome speech – Per Mickwitz and Angeliki Adamaki

13.20-14.30: Broadening merits: Recognizing Open Science contributions in research

In recent years, the scientific community has emphasised the importance of open science – a shift that is in line with a wider societal movement towards greater transparency and accessibility of knowledge. However, this push towards open science poses significant challenges for researchers, as making data available is labour-intensive and requires significant resources that could otherwise be spent on activities more traditionally recognised in academic careers, such as writing papers or securing research grants.

Despite the clear benefits to the scientific community and society as a whole, current academic evaluation systems often do not directly reward these activities. This leaves researchers in the difficult position of being expected to contribute to the open dissemination of knowledge but without adequate recognition or reward for the time and effort required.

This discrepancy raises critical questions about the future of open science in the academic world. If these contributions are vital to the wider scientific community, why are they not valued similarly to other academic achievements?

This session will take a critical look at this paradox and will discuss whether and how open science contributions should be formally recognised in academic evaluations. We will consider the impact of the current system on the way researchers have experienced it, particularly those early in their careers, and discuss potential changes that could better align institutional expectations with the realities of academic work. The aim is to stimulate a conversation about how academia can truly support open science by ensuring that the efforts required for open dissemination are appropriately valued and rewarded.

Keynote speaker: Björn Hammarfelt, Professor, Swedish School of Library and Information Science, University of Borås.

Björn’s presentation is available here.

Speakers and discussants: Jonatan Nästesjö, Researcher, Educational Sciences, Alison Gerber, Associate professor, Sociology, Johan Revstedt, Professor, Fluid Mechanics, Assistant Dean LTH.

Moderator: Nicoló Dell’Unto, Professor, Department of Archaeology.

14:30-15:00 Coffee break

15.00-15.45: Open Science stories and initiatives

The LU Open Science Days aims to be a platform for sharing ideas and experiences of practicing Open Science. This year we wanted to facilitate this by inviting LU-affiliated researchers, PhD students, and research support staff, as well as non-LU contributors, to present their Open Science projects. The presentations will follow the conference theme “Crossing boundaries with Open Science”, illustrating how Open Science bridge boundaries, fosters collaboration, and create real-world impact. 

Andrea Tarallo, National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Research on Terrestrial Ecosystems (IRET) – Building the Italian data stewards community

Jane Fisher, Co-funder and managing research consultant at AdvanSci – Reproducibility and the ReproducibiliTea Initiative

Carlos Vélez, Doctoral student, LUCSUS – Exchanging Researcher Seats: Weaving Research with Indigenous Knowledges Systems for Forest-Fauna-Human management in the Colombian Amazon.

Lydia Bucher, iGEM Lund – Science activism, citizen science, and partnerships with society

Per Wilhelmsson, PKI Utveckling AB – Sjölabbet – Creating avenues for environmental monitoring

Massimiliano Novelli, Senior Data Curation Scientist, European Spallation Source (ESS) – Maximizing Scientific Output through Data FAIRness

Moderator: Monica Almqvist, Senior lecturer, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Office director, Vattenhallen Science Center

15.45-16.30: Film screening and discussion: Creative science communication

This session is invitation to a conversation on how art and research can be cross-fertilized and serve as a catalyst for social change. In the session, a short movie produced by screen writer Anna Maria Hutri is shown. The movie is based on research from a FORTE-funded research project entitled “Moral stress and moral agency in Swedish eldercare”. In the research project, care workers, needs assessors and first line managers have described difficult situations in their everyday work. The collected stories, or scenes, were given to a professional screen writer (Hutri) who produced a manus for the short movie. The process was co-creative; researchers and artist collaborated. In the session, we will discuss challenges and opportunities in the process of producing the movie and our thoughts on art as a tool to promote social change.

Speaker: Anna Maria Jóakimsdóttir Hutri, filmmaker and screen writer.

Moderator: Sara Hultqvist, associate professor and senior lecturer, School of Social Work.

16.30 – Poster mingle and reception.

The program committee invites PhD students, researchers and support staff  to present their experiences of engaging in open science at the poster exhibition. Exhibitors include Swedish National Data Service who will present their upcoming national portal for research data, Researchdata.se, and the newly established unit for research data support Research Data Office. Updated information about poster and exhibitors is available here.

Wednesday 20th November

08:30-09:00 Registration

9.00-9.45: Keynote: The power of Open Science Communities, Mirjam Walpot, International Network of Open Science & Scholarship Communities

The norms and practices in academia are shifting towards Open Science. This shift is an ongoing process and involves universities, research funders, public administration and publishers, across the globe. There is no doubt that Open Science is the way forward. The question is, how?

During this presentation, Mirjam Walpot will guide us through the world of Open Science and Open Science Communities. What are Open Science Communities? Why are they so important? And what can we do to make these communities a success? Join this presentation and get inspired!

Mirjam Walpot is a board member of the International Network of Open Science & Scholarship Communities (INOSC) and a co-founding board member of the Open Science Community Amsterdam (OSCA). She used to work as a research and educational advisor at the central staff department of Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS), where she together with her colleagues developed the organization’s guidelines and recommendations around Open Science. Recently she moved to Sweden, where she aims to continue her work on Open Science.

Mirjam’s presentation is available here.

9.45-10.30: Open science and climate emergency

Open science practices take place on a warming planet. Do they help to address it, or do they contribute to exacerbating our ecological footprint? What does it mean to be open when engaging with climate change in universities? This session will address the practices of open science from a socio-ecological perspective and reflect on what “openness” in science should and could mean in the context of climate emergency.

Speakers: Aitzkoa Lopez de Lapuente Portilla, postdoctoral fellow, Division of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine – Open Science in a burning planet

James White, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Technology and Society – presentation is available here.

Moderator: Ekaterina Chertkovskaya, researcher, Environmental and Energy Systems Studies.

10:30-11:00 Coffee break

11:00-11.45:  Geopolitical borders and Open Science

One of the relatively less explored aspects of the promotion of Open Science in the academy are the implications for Open Science practices in the context of a global academic system that includes collaboration with universities in authoritarian contexts and an increasingly securitised research environment. This panel will examine some of the challenges involved in internationalisation as states seek to protect/limit data, restrict sensitive research, and steer research into state-led goals. It will reflect on some of the ways that Open Science modes of engagement can be a valuable tool in countering authoritarian creep in the academy and fostering academic exchange in the shadow of securitisation.

Speakers:

Nicholas Loubere, Senior lecturer, Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies – Securitization and Ethics in Open Science

Hyejin Kim, Researcher, Department of Economic History

11.45-12.30: Community building

In this community-building session, participants will build on insights gathered during the Open Science Days. Working in groups and with help from the organisers, participants will review and discuss micro-actions, drawing from diverse perspectives to identify the most promising ideas. Each group will collaboratively refine and prioritize these actions, creating a consolidated list to share with the broader group. This exercise will lead into a panel discussion, where panelists will offer insights, advice, and strategies to support the participants’ actions for promoting Open Science practices. The session will close with the launch of OSCL – the Open Science Community in Lund!

12.30 Closing the conference