VU Open Science programme

The efforts of the Open Science programme fall into 5 categories:

• Policy

  It is crucial that VU signals its commitment to Open Science by incorporating its principles and practices in stimulating policies, implementation, dedicated funding, and support. The Open Science programme is involved in the development and revision of several relevant VU policies. 

• Recognition & Rewards

  To facilitate the transition to Open Science, reward structures should change in such a way that its values and practices are better recognized and rewarded^. To this end, concrete quantitative metrics for and qualitative evaluation of contributions (scientific output, as well as activities like leadership, mentoring, reflection, and teamwork) to Open Science values and practices need to be developed. The Open Science programme actively contributes to the VU team for Recognition & Rewards. 

• Community Engagement

  It is important to create awareness of the Open Science principles and practices by facilitating a lively Open Science Community of academics and support staff^. Within local Open Science Communities, members can learn from each other’s experiences and share their good practices for Open Science during events, workshops, and regular meetings. Next to this, engagement with society must be encouraged to provide for open, inclusive, and participatory processes for knowledge creation. The Open Science Programme supports the Open Science Community Amsterdam through community management and organisation of (joint) events.  

• Support & Training

  Researchers, teachers, and students need to be provided with the necessary awareness, skills, and knowledge they need for engaging in Open Science.  This requires professionalisation of current scientific, support, and teaching staff and the emergence of new roles like data stewards and research software engineers. Furthermore, the training capacity and training materials on relevant topics should be increased.   

  The Open Science programme develops new training materials and workshops, in close collaboration with the Network Research Data Support. 

• Infrastructure

  It should be possible for researchers and teachers to make their research and educational materials open and FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). This requires IT and organisational infrastructure, which must be implemented in collaboration with other universities and (inter)national partners. This infrastructure should facilitate the standardisation of workflows, the creation of metadata and the interoperability of research objects within and across disciplines, allowing geographically dispersed groups of people to collaborate across institutional and academic boundaries. 

  In designing, implementing, and connecting research and education infrastructure, it is crucial to consider its governance and provenance and retain (or retrieve) sovereignty through the adherence to guiding principles and supportive legislation and regulations at national and/or European level (e.g., on copyright retention and open licensing).  

  The Network Research Data Support develops, implements, and maintains research infrastructure and tools for Open Science. The Library Education Support Centre implements and maintains infrastructure for sharing educational materials.