TNMU Representatives Took Part in Educational Workshops within the Open4UA Project of the Erasmus+KA2 CBHE Program
On April 23-26, 2024, representatives of Ternopil National Medical University participated in the third workshop “Knowledge transfer” within the framework of the “Open4UA” project at the University of Ljubljana. The event took place in the Central Technical Library of the city of Ljubljana with the assistance of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation of Slovenia. The seminar was a logical continuation of the project’s previous events, which were organized on March 11-15, 2024 at TU Delft (Netherlands) and ULB Brussels (Belgium).
The “Open4UA” project is aimed at the development and support of the implementation of open science practices in Ukraine at various levels, which is co-financed by the European Union under the Erasmus+ program.
Ternopil National Medical University was represented at the seminars by Professor Oksana Shevchuk, Associate Professors Kateryna Kozak and Mariana Levkiv, and Assistant Professor Nataliia Ohinska.
The organizer of the workshop and the coordinator of the “Open4UA” project at the University of Ljubljana – President of Eurodoc, Professor Sebastian Dahle welcomed the event participants and emphasized that the components of a successful open science reform in Slovenia include national legislation, institutional implementation, coordinated training and support, funding measures and public awareness.
The program of events was focused on the exchange of experience in the implementation of open science policy in Slovenia, which is primarily based on open access to research results, evaluation of research in accordance with the principles of open science, public involvement in research activities and development of the national infrastructure of open science.
Director of the Central Technical Library (Centralna tehniška knjižnica, СTK) Miro Pusnik presented the report “Three steps of implementation of open science in Slovenia”, which are based on the reform of the European Research Area (ERA); reforming the national legislation on scientific research and innovative activity in accordance with the ERA reform; implementation of the principles of open science at the level of research organizations. He spoke in detail about the “SPOZNAJ” project, which concerns all aspects of open science:
- exchange of research according to FAIR principles;
- sponsor policies/requirements in Slovenia and in ERA;
- open scientific publications;
- responsible management of research data;
- responsible criteria for evaluating research work;
- involvement of the public in scientific research;
- open exchange of research;
- infrastructure for open science;
- ethical and author aspects of open science.
Workshop participants had the opportunity to take part in the 11th scientific communication seminar within the framework of the “Network of Universities from the Capitals of Europe” (UNICA), which was organized on the basis of the University of Ljubljana on April 22-24, 2024. The workshop series focuses on sharing open science best practices in academic library management, the role of European university alliances and research evaluation reform. The community’s attention was also drawn by the report of the Ukrainian speaker, vice-rector for Science, Education and Informatization of the Lviv Polytechnic National University, professor Pavlo Zhezhnych on the issues of evaluating scientific achievements at the institutional level of “Open4UA”.
The President of Eurodoc, Sebastian Dahle, focused his attention on the contribution of young scientists to the reform of the evaluation of scientific activity through the “OPUS”, “SECURE” and “CoARA” programs.
Among the invited speakers of the “Open4UA” workshop was the Rector of the University of Ljubljana, Professor Gregor Majdic, who outlined new approaches to the evaluation of scientific research, and also pointed out that the purpose of the research evaluation methodology is related to compliance with European strategies, development of human resources, increase of international recognition with the help of international grants.
Representatives of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation of Slovenia also took part in the Open4UA workshop. In particular, Dr. Ivan Skubic told the participants of the meeting about the reforms in the legislation of Slovenia, which are aimed at the development of open science and the evaluation of scientific research.
Representatives of the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency “ARIS” spoke about their activities. “ARIS” is an independent state financial organization that performs tasks related to the National Research and Development Program, as well as the creation of the European Research Area. The main mission of “ARIS” is to provide conditions for carrying out scientific research with budget funds and funding from other sources; promote high-quality scientific research in Slovenia and its application; support of international assessment standards in Slovenia; provide the transparency of the organization of the research community in Slovenia; promote international research cooperation; perform analysis of research activities and provide expert information on scientific policy.
The work shop on practical aspects of scientific research data management in Slovenia, organized by the national center “Social Science Data Archive”, aroused the interest of the participants.
Dr. Mojca Kotar summarized the work of her colleagues regarding the policy of open science at the University of Ljubljana. In her report, she focused on the legislative bases of open science in Slovenia in general and the University of Ljubljana in particular, approaches to reforming systems of evaluation of scientific research at the university, developed university infrastructure for the implementation of open science, and also again outlined the role and function of the library as one of the important guarantors conducting open science. Dr. Mojca Kotar focused the attention of the participants on the strategic plan for the development of open science in the country “Big national open science project 2023-2026”, financed by the European Commission as part of the “Recovery and Resilience Plans”.
The information was provided by Oksana Shevchuk.