TNMU Representatives Participated in the Third Workshop on Building National Consensus on Open Science

On April 29, 2025, the third workshop on building national consensus on open science took place. The event was organized by the consortium of the “Open Science for Ukrainian Higher Education System (Open4UA)” project (Erasmus+ CBHE Strand 3), of which I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University is a partner.

The seminar aimed to present and discuss institutional tools for implementing open science and enhancing research performance evaluation. These tools include:

• A model open science policy for higher education institutions;
• Recommendations for developing a research data management plan;
• Regulations on research data management in higher education institutions;
• Proposed changes to reporting forms for introducing new research assessment indicators;
• A job description for a research data management specialist.

Participants also reviewed the results of the public consultation on the draft Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding the Implementation of the Principles of Open Science”, along with related recommendations from the Open4UA consortium.

A lively discussion was held on recommendations for developing data management plans for researchers. In foreign universities, the role of Data Steward has already been established. For example, since 2017, each faculty at TU Delft has had its own data steward who supports researchers in ensuring the quality, security, preservation, and accessibility of research data throughout its life cycle (planning, data collection, documentation and processing, preservation, dissemination in accordance with the FAIR principles, analysis, reuse, and disposal), as well as providing informational support and guidance on data management and research reproducibility.

In 2023, ETH Zurich launched the Data Stewardship Network (DSN) to foster collaboration among staff involved in data management, facilitate networking and knowledge exchange, and promote the professionalization of the data steward role supporting data management and reproducible research workflows. Ukraine is just beginning this journey.

During the seminar, the Ukrainian Reproducibility Network (UARN) was also presented. This is a nationwide consortium aimed at improving scientific practices in the country.

The event was attended by representatives of the Ukrainian academic community, government bodies, local authorities, and all interested stakeholders.