Open4UA Project partners met at training workshops in Delft organized by TU Delft in the Netherlands (March 11-13, 2024) and Brussels at Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium (March 14-15, 2024 ). I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University is a member of the Open4UA consortium.
The Open4UA project “Open Science for Ukrainian Higher Education System” is co-financed by the European Union as part of the Erasmus+ program (development of higher education potential, strand3 structural project) and will last three years. It is aimed at the development of open science practices in Ukraine by reforming the higher education system. Ternopil National Medical University was represented at the seminars by Assistant Professor Natalia Ohinska and Professor Oksana Shevchuk.
The consortium includes 16 organizations and institutions from Belgium, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Ukraine, including the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the National Research Fund of Ukraine (https://lpnu.ua/open4ua).
Open4UA partner organizations:
Lviv Polytechnic National University (coordinator);
Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine;
National Technical University of Ukraine “Ihor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”
Yaroslav the Wise National Law University
National Research Fund of Ukraine
Berdiansk State Pedagogical University
Mariupol State University
I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University
“Innovative University” NGO
“Institute of Open Science and Innovation” NGO
Delft University of Technology (Netherlands)
“Electronic information for libraries” (EIFL, Netherlands)
Free University of Brussels (Belgium)
European Council of Graduates and Young Scientists (Belgium)
University of Ljubljana (Slovenia)
University of Amsterdam Medical Center (Netherlands)
Associated partners of Open4UA:
“Ukrainian Library Association” NGO
Ministry of Education, Science and Sports of Slovenia (Slovenia)
Central Technical Library of the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia)
Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (Netherlands)
The first seminar in Delft was devoted to the topic “How to start implementing open science at the national level?”. A total of three workshops are planned for this spring.
The workshop in Delft was built around Brian Nosek’s concept of five elements for driving cultural change in open science: infrastructure, user interface/experience, communities, incentives and policy. The workshop program was very diverse and included discussions on various aspects important to the implementation of open science, including sessions on research data management infrastructure, the role of digital competence centres, the development and maintenance of open science communities, and the formulation of policies that promote open science practices.
It was an interactive workshop with group discussions and a co-creation methodology that promotes effective knowledge transfer. With the help of moderated discussions devoted to relevant issues, the seminar participants studied the application of open science practices and related problems on practical cases. We express our appreciation for the wonderful organization to Yan Wang and Paula Martinez Lavanchy.
A lot of attention was paid to data management infrastructure, the role of scientific communities in open science, the experience of implementing open science practices and policies in the Netherlands on the example of NWO – the Danish Research Council. Representatives of Utrecht University, Amsterdam University Medical Centre (Amsterdam UMC) shared their experience.
Workshops at the Free University of Brussels were devoted to discussions on the ways of science transformation, evaluation of scientific activity and legal aspects of the implementation of open science practices “Legislating Open Science – A Pathway to Research Transformation”. We express our appreciation to Mathias Schroijen for the organization.
Project participants met with representatives of CoARA, DORA (Rebecca Lawrence) and Plan S Coalition (Johan Rooryck); heard the results of Reforming Research(er) Assessment: Lessons from the OPUS Project by Gareth O’Neill. Agnieszka Zyra, President of Eurodoc, spoke about Eurodoc’s Open Science Ambassador Programme.
In addition to the seminars, the meeting of the participants of the Open4UA project made it possible to pay more attention to the latest trends related to the reform of the evaluation of scientific research in Ukraine. This meeting served as a platform to discuss the current progress and future directions of the Open4UA project, highlighting joint efforts aimed at developing a culture of openness and transparency in the Ukrainian higher education system.
In general, the Open4UA educational seminars are an extremely important stage in promoting the principles of open science in Ukraine, and the project itself will serve as an example for all of Europe.