Open Science Meet-Ups

The Open Science Meet-Ups, which take place once a month in English on Zoom, provide a space for relaxed exchange on Open Science-related topics. Members of all ERUA universities - and beyond - are very welcome. No registration is necessary.

Do you have topic suggestions, ideas or requests that you would like to discuss at an Open Science Meet-Up? We would be very happy to hear from you.

Next Meet-Ups

25.04.2023: Research Data Management Across Countries

14:00 - 14.45

As discussed in the previous two meet-ups, research data management (RDM) involves multiple phases and varies from discipline to discipline. Along these lines, RDM-related institutions in Germany have joined forces in the NFDI (Nationale Forschungsdateninfrastruktur, National RDM Infrastructure). But how do views on RDM as well as its components vary across the European Union – and what is the infrastructural set-up like in other countries? In this meet-up, Matthias Landwehr (University of Konstanz), Goran Sekulovski (University Paris 8) and Sacha Zurcher (Roskilde University Library/Royal Danish Library) will share and exchange perspectives on research data management. Unlike other meet-ups sessions, this will not be conveyed via impulse talks, but in the form of an interview. If you have any RDM-related questions, please feel free to bring them to the meet-up. Moreover, we are eager to hear more perspectives on research data management. Members from all ERUA Universities – and beyond – are welcome. No registration required. 

Contact:

23.05.2024: Open Educational Resources within the ERUA Open Science Ambassador Programme: A Best Practice Example

14:00 - 14:45 CET

In order for Open Science to become the standard in research, raising awareness about its advantages and spreading expertise about successful Open Science practices is of paramount importance. To achieve this aim, a range of ERUA researchers have recently taken up their role as ERUA Open Science Ambassadors. As such, they act as Open Science contact persons and promote Open Science among their peers. One area of Open Science which typically raises questions are Open Educational Resources (OER), (self-)teaching materials which everyone can access and re-use for free on the internet. OER are playing a more and more crucial role in education; yet, many researchers and lecturers are insecure about how to successfully develop and publish them. In this meet-up, Dr. Sonja Kralj, coordinator of the Re:ERUA project at the University of Konstanz, will first outline the general concept behind the ERUA Open Science Ambassador Programme. Then, the University of Konstanz’ Open Science ambassador, Dr. Gillian Kiliani, describes her involvement in the programme by sharing her story of how she developed and published her highly successful collection of physical experiments. After the talks, everyone will have the opportunity to ask questions and to share thoughts, experiences and ideas. Members from and beyond ERUA are welcome. No registration required.

Contact:

Past Meet-Ups

21.03.2024: Better Together - The Political and Networking Dimension of Research Data Management

14.00 - 14.45 CET:

In the Open Science community, Research Data Management (RDM) is often thought of as a "team sport". One of the reasons behind that is that no infrastructural player can do research data management entirely on their own - as the field, especially when it comes to different kinds of data as well as the requirements and conditions that go with them, is much too vast and too multi-facetted. Along these lines, a multitude of institutions across all of Germany have joined forces in the context of the NFDI (Nationale Forschungsdateninfrastruktur, National RDM Infrastructure). In this meet-up, Dr. Maximilian Müller will delineate the political framework as well as the structural set-up behind the NFDI before presenting the exemplary disciplinary case of NFDI4Bioimage, a consortium dedicated to microscopy and bioimage analysis. Members from all ERUA Universities – and beyond – are welcome. No registration required.

Kontakt:

22.02.2024: Research Data Management and Open Science

14:00 - 14:45 Uhr:

The most well-known pillars of Open Science are probably Open Access to publications and the FAIR principles to research data. But applying the FAIR principles can’t be done without proper Research Data Management (RDM). In this meet-up, Sacha Zurcher will first describe what qualifies as research data before demonstrating what and which stages of research the term RDM involves. We will then discuss why researchers ought to perform RDM - both for their own benefit and for the sake of society.

After the talk, everyone will have the chance to ask questions and to exchange experiences on RDM. Members from all ERUA Universities – and beyond – are welcome. No registration required. 

Contact:

  • Sacha Zurcher, Special Adviser – Research Data, RUC Library/ Royal Danish Library
  • Maximilian Heber, Team Open Science, University of Konstanz

Material:

25.01.2024: Pitfalls of Open Access and How to Handle Them

14:00 - 14:45:

The Open Access movement has gained significant momentum in recent years. More and more academics publish their papers Open Access; in fact, in some countries and disciplines, Open Access has become the quasi-standard. However, there are some things – like untrustworthy publishers and journals – that ought to be borne in mind before deciding on where and how to publish Open Access. In this meet-up, Dr. Stanislav Bogdanov, Chief Assistant Professor at the New Bulgarian University’s English Studies Department will present some of these pitfalls and provide hands-on solutions. After the presentation, everyone will have the opportunity to ask questions and to discuss the topic in greater detail. Members of all ERUA universities – and beyond – are invited. No registration required.

Contact:

Materialien:

14.12.2023: Christmas Meet-Up: Open Science and Christmas Game

14.00 - 14.45 CET:

Christmas is almost upon us! Let’s continue last year’s tradition of fun Open Science and Christmas Games around Christmas. Bring biscuits and tea! Members of all ERUA universities – and beyond – are invited. No registration required.

Kontakt:

23.11.2023: Virtual Research Environments (VRE)

14.00 - 14.45 (CET):

One aspect of Open Science which so far attracts comparatively little attention are so-called virtual research environments (VRE). The term encompasses a range of (online) systems that help researchers collaborate – both within one institution and in larger settings. In this meet-up, Moritz Jakob, member of the University of Konstanz’ Team Open Science, will contextualise in greater detail what these systems are, which grounds they cover and what needs to be born in mind when setting up VREs. Moreover, as it is one of Moritz’ main tasks in the Team Open Science to find out which VRE-related demands there are within the University of Konstanz (and beyond), we are happy to answer any VRE-related questions you may have. To round things up, we are eager to hear your thoughts on the topic, specifically with regards to what VREs could look like and which criteria need to be fulfilled for something to qualify as a VRE. Members from all ERUA Universities – and beyond – are welcome. No registration is required.

Kontakt:

Material:

11.10.2023: Live Meet-Up: Reaching the Researchers

This meet-up will take place on site at the ERUA Summit in Roskilde. More information can be found on the official ERUA website.

Material:

21.09.2023: Data Quality

14.00 - 14.45 Uhr

One of the main ideas behind research data management is the publication of research data so they can be re-used in the context of future research projects. One paramount prerequisite for future re-use is the aspect of data quality, as only high-quality data are useful enough to be picked up again. In this meet-up, Matthias Landwehr, Head of Open Science at the University of Konstanz, will shed light on two main aspects of data quality: The quality of research data itself and the quality of metadata. The latter is just as important as research data quality, as research data can only be found and re-used properly if there is a proper set of data that describes and gives information about these data. In this meet-up, we will discuss what you can do to ensure proper metadata. Moreover, we will talk about the challenges revolving around research data quality and how these can be helped. Members from all ERUA Universities – and beyond – are welcome. No registration required.

Contact:

27.07.2023: Open Science Summer Game

14.00 Uhr - 14.45 Uhr

The summer break is almost upon us – time for fun and games! In this meet-up we’ll play a fun little open science summer game. Members from all ERUA universities – and beyond – are invited. No registration is required.

Contact:

22.06.2023: Open Science Information Portals

14.00 - 14.45 Uhr

To those who are new to the field, the vastness of Open Science can be somewhat intimidating. Along similar lines, there is a dire need for information – not only from the part of new open science professionals, but also from the part of researchers who, among other things, would like to publish texts open access or be introduced to the principles of research data management. Besides seeing (more experienced) open science professionals, the most intuitive way is to read up on topics independently – but where?

The University of Konstanz is a driving force behind two of the seminal open science information platforms – open-access.network (on open access publishing in Germany) and forschungsdaten.info (on research data management in the German-speaking countries). In this meet-up, Max Heber and Andreas Kirchner will give an introduction to these portals and present their main structural set-up.

After these introductions, we are eager to hear your thoughts and to find out whether there are comparable portals – or portals on other subtopics of open science – in your home countries. Members from all ERUA universities – and beyond – are invited. No registration is required.

Contact:

Links:

23.05.2023: Performing Open Science

14.00 – 14.45 CET

Open Science professionals oftentimes have a hard time being heard by a broader audience. In view of the researchers’ workload, this circumstance is understandable – but as it makes raising awareness of Open Science difficult, new approaches to communication are needed.

One potential method to reach a broader audience would be to convey information on Open Science as entertainingly as possible. In this meet-up, we will discuss to what extent and how the format of Science Slams can be a suitable opportunity to present aspects of Open Science. Along these lines, Dr. Danny Flemming will share his experiences on performing (open) science on stage. He will shed light on how he organises topics to make them understandable for a (lay) audience and how he prepares for„the stage“.

We are eager to hear your thoughts on the performativity of Open Science. Members from all ERUA universities – and beyond – are invited. No registration is required.

Contact:

Links & Materials:

19.04.2023: Teaching Open Science

14:00 - 14.45 CET

The more the Open Science (OS) movement gains in momentum, the more the need arises to raise awareness on OS and its many facets. One cornerstone of this awareness is teaching – as through teaching both researchers and academic support staff can understand what impact OS can have on their professional lives.

In this meet-up, Sacha Zurcher will present how teaching OS-related practices is organised at universities in Denmark. Moreover, through the example of teaching research data management and the FAIR principles at Roskilde University (RUC), Denmark, she will share her experiences of some of the challenges in teaching this aspect of OS.

We are eager to find out about your experiences on teaching the many dimensions that OS entails. How is teaching OS organised in your country? What is your university focusing on in regards OS? What are your personal experiences when it comes to teaching (parts of) OS?

Members from all ERUA universities – and beyond – are welcome. No registration required.

Contact:

  • Sacha Zurcher, Special Adviser – Forschungsdaten, RUC Library/ Royal Danish Library
  • Maximilian Heber, Team Open Science, University of Konstanz

Materialien:

30.03.2023: Open Access Consortia

30.03.2023: 14.00 - 14.45 CET

In many cases, authors have to pay charges for open access text publications – both as far as journal articles and books are concerned. As these expenses can be somewhat challenging, academic institutions keep asking themselves how to deal with these fees. One answer to this question are the so-called Open Access Consortia, i.e. institutions that join forces to the end of covering (partially) their members’ open access publication fees. In this meet-up, Dr. Martina Benz will explain how the KOALA project has pursued consortial solutions, what challenges were encountered on the way and how they were met.

After the presentation, everyone will have the opportunity to ask questions and to discuss the topic in greater detail. We are looking forward to hearing your experiences with consortia. Members of all ERUA universities – and beyond – are invited. No registration required.

Contact:

Material:

23.02.2023: Open Science and the Reform Universities’ Paradigm

23.02.2023: 14.00 Uhr - 14.45 CET

The universities of the European Reform University Alliance (ERUA), as the name indicates, are characterised in many regards by the university reform paradigm of the 1960s and 1970s. In this meet-up, we would like to discuss to what extent Open Science mirrors that influence. In other words: Do the reform paradigm and Open Science follow similar lines? To get there, Prof. Eduard Marinov will explain what the reform paradigm is and how it is represented in our universities. He will then discuss to what extent the Open Science movement shares these characteristics.

After the talk, participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and to discuss things in greater detail. Members from all ERUA universities are invited, no registration required.

Contact:

Material:

26.01.2023: Digital Procedures for Citation Analysis

26.01.2022, 14.00 - 14.45 CET

In this Open Science Meet-Up, Dr. Marie Revellio (Department of Latin Studies, University of Konstanz) will present how she (further) developed and evaluated digital procedures for citation analysis as part of her dissertation on early Christian literature.

In addition to introducing the scope of her research, Marie will talk about in which ways Open Science was involved in conducting her research. Besides her experiences with Open Science, she will also discuss where, in her experience, more Open Science-related efforts may be useful.

Members of all ERUA universities - and beyond - are very welcome. No registration is required.

Contact:

- Dr. Marie Revellio, Department of Latin Studies, University of Konstanz
- Maximilian Heber, Team Open Science, University of Konstanz

15.12.2022: Christmas Meet-Up: Recap, Outlook and Christmas Game

15.12.2022, 14.00 - 14.45 CET

Christmas is almost upon us! Just the right time to look back to a year of Open Science Meet-Ups. In the first part of the Meet-Up, Max Heber will look back to what we have covered so far and what plans we have for the next couple of months. We are eager to find out what you would you would like us to cover in the meet-ups. In the second part of the meet-up, we’ll be playing a fun Christmas game. Bring biscuits and tea! Members of all ERUA universities – and beyond – are invited. No registration required.

Contact:

24.11.2022: Repositories

14:00 - 14:45 Uhr CET

Repositories are among the most important building blocks of Open Science. As storage services for digital objects like research data or journal articles, they are indispensable when it comes to publishing, (self-)archiving and making papers as well as data available to the global public.

In this meet-up, Gabriel Schneider will explain what different kinds of repositories there are and why you should use consider using repositories to publish data and text publications. Moreover, he will provide practical insight into how KonDATA, the institutional research data repository of the University of Konstanz, was developed.

After the talk, participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and to discuss things in greater detail. All members of the five ERUA universities (New Bulgarian University, Roskilde, Konstanz, Paris 8 and University of the Aegean) are very welcome to join in the session, no registration is required.

Kontakt:

Materialien:

08.11.2022: Live Meet-Up: The Open Science Community – Perspectives, Approaches and Outlook

After eight sucessful virtual instalments, the ERUA Open Science Meet-Ups go live at the November 2022 ERUA Summit in Paris! Given that this will be the first time a meet-up takes place with an on-site community, we decided to dedicate this session to ourselves: The Open Science Community. To get there, Max Heber and Goran Sekulovski will briefly introduce what the term Open Science encompasses for all those who may be new to the topic. They shall also shed light on why it is a good idea to perform Open Science, along the lines of responsible research. After that, we will look together at which different ties there are that connect us with Open Science and what that indicates about the Open Science Community (or Communities?). Finally, we will look at how we will be able to pursue individual community-related matters further in the contexts of the subsequent virtual meet-ups.

Contact:

- Dr. Goran Sekulovski, Service Commun de la Documentation, University of Paris 8
- Maximilian Heber, Team Open Science, University of Konstanz

Material:

- Presentation slides
- Whiteboard photo

27.10.2022: Open Access Books

14:00 - 14:45 Uhr CET

Individual articles that are published in Open Access journals or via preprint servers have established themselves in a range of academic disciplines since the 1990s. A less well-known format of Open Access publishing are the so-called Open Access books, i.e. full-fledged academic books that are published without access restrictions on the internet.

In this meet-up, Andreas Kirchner, Open Access consultant at the University of Konstanz’ Team Open Science and co-founder of the Open Access publisher meson press, will explain what characterises open access books and in which academic contexts they are popular. Moreover, he will shed light on why meson press chose to publish Open Access books, what the process of publication at meson press looks like and how their Open Access books are financed.

After the talk, participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and to discuss things in greater detail. All members of the five ERUA universities (New Bulgarian University, Roskilde, Konstanz, Paris 8 and University of the Aegean) are very welcome to join in the session, no registration is required.

Contact:

Materialial:

29.09.2022: The Impact of Bulgaria's National Open Science Plan on the New Bulgarian University

14:00 - 14:45 Uhr CET

Unlike many countries of the European Union, Bulgaria channels their Open Science efforts through a national Open Science plan which was set up by the government.

It is not hard to imagine that implementing this plan has had an overall impact not only on academic infrastructures in Bulgaria, but also on the way individual universities perform Open Science. In this meet-up, Kristina Stoyanova, Radostina Todorova and Assoc. Prof. Eduard Marinov will show how the plan has redefined the way the New Bulgarian University in Sofia performs Open Science. How has the plan influenced the university’s infrastracture ? How has it changed already-existing Open Science efforts ? Which new measures and Open Science services have been created as a consequence of what the plan requires and suggests?

After the talk, participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and to discuss individual aspects in greater detail. All members of the five ERUA universities (New Bulgarian University,  Roskilde, Konstanz, Paris 8 and University of the Aegean) are very welcome to join the session, no registration is required.

Contact:

- Kristina Stoyanova, Radostina Todorova and Assoc. Prof. Eduard Marinov, New Bulgarian University
- Maximilian Heber, Team Open Science, Universität Konstanz

Material:

- Slides: The Impact of the Bulgarian National Plan on the New Bulgarian University (CC BY 4.0 International)

21.07.2022: Citizen Science

On July 21, 2022, the 7th ERUA Open Science Meet-Up was held on Zoom between 14:00 and 14:45. The topic was Citizen Science.

The term Citizen Science refers to research methods or fields of science in which research projects are carried out with the assistance of or entirely by interested non-academics.

In this meet-up, Sacha Zurcher and Pernille Nailor looked at what can be defined as Citizen Science and what roles citizens can take in the production and consumption of scientific knowledge. Sacha included practical examples of Citizen Science conducted at Roskilde University to demonstrate how Citizen Science can be performed and what experiences were made when conducting Citizen Science.

After the talk, participants had the opportunity to ask questions and to share and discuss their own experiences with Citizen Science. All members of the five ERUA universities (New Bulgarian University, Roskilde, Konstanz, Paris 8 and University of the Aegean) were very welcome to join the session, no registration is required.

Researchers at Roskilde University have long worked with the overall ideas that are reflected in the term ”Citizen Science” by including different citizen-involving elements in their research projects. However, along the way, researchers have used different terms – esp. “action research”, “co-creation” and “participatory research” – to describe these activities. Therefore, the best way to find out more about specific projects at Roskilde University which include these methods is by visiting the university website, www.forskning.ruc.dk, and see what comes up when typing in the different terms. Forskning.ruc.dk is a great resource for anyone who is interested in knowing more about current researchers and research projects at Roskilde University.

Contact people:

Materials:

- Wordcloud
- Slides of Sacha Zurcher's presentation (CC BY-NC 4.0 Sacha Zurcher, Special Adviser Research Data, Roskilde University Library, The Royal Danish Library)

Links on Citizen Science:

23.06.2022 Open Access Journals

On June 23, 2022, the sixth ERUA Open Science Meet-Up was held on Zoom between 2:00 pm and 2:45 pm (German Time) in English. The topic was Open Access Journals.

Digital journals are becoming more and more important in academic publishing. A general distinction is made between closed access journals and open access journals; while articles in closed access journals are behind paywalls, open access articles can be read for free by everyone and everywhere.

In this meet-up, George Walkden, professor of English linguistics and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Historical Syntax, will outline the main differences between closed access journals and open access journals by using the Journal of Historical Syntax as an example. Furthermore, he will discuss why the Journal’s editors chose open rather than closed access, what editorial and publiction-related workflows consist of and how the Journal is financed.

After the talk, participants had the opportunity to ask questions and to discuss things in greater detail. All members of the five ERUA universities (New Bulgarian University, Roskilde, Konstanz, Paris 8 and University of the Aegean) were very welcome to join in the session, no registration is required.

Do you have any questions on Open Access Journals? You are very welcome to contact George or the Team Open Science anytime.

Contact:

- Prof. Dr. George Walkden, Department of Linguistics, University of Konstanz
- Maximilian Heber, Team Open Science, University of Konstanz

Materialien:

18.05.2022: The University Paris 8's Open Science Pole

On 18 May 2022, the fifth ERUA Open Science Meet-Up took place on Zoom between 14:00 and 15:15 (German Time). The topic was: The University of Paris 8 Open Science Pole.

The University of Paris 8 Open Science Pole pursues various objectives to the end of enhancing the university’s Open Science profile. The Pole’s aims are to

1.) structure the university‘s Open Science-related services.
2.) increase the visibility of Paris 8 Open Access publications in the academic world.
3.) make sure Paris 8 meets the requirements of both French and European standards.
4.) strengthen the university‘s position in the Open Science movement.
5.) enhance the dissemination of Open Science-related awareness within the territory Ile de France in terms of Citizen and Participatory Science.

In the first part of the meet-up, Dr. Goran Sekulovski explained in which institutional contexts the Pole was created, how it is operated at managerial level and which action plan will be deployed to achieve its goals and to monitor its effects. 

In the second part of the meet-up, participants had the opportunity to ask questions about the Pole and to discuss its individual elements in greater detail. All members of the five ERUA universities (New Bulgarian University, Roskilde, Konstanz, Paris 8 and University of the Aegean) are very welcome to join in, no registration is required.

Contact :

- Dr. Goran Sekulovski, Service Commun de la Documentation, University of Paris 8
- Maximilian Heber, Team Open Science, University of Konstanz

Material:

28.04.2022: Open Data Science

On 28 April 2022, the fourth ERUA Open Science Meet-Up took place on Zoom between 14:00 and 14:45 (German Time). The topic was Open Data Science.

An important aspect of Open Science, especially in scientific fields that rely on empirical approaches, is using transparent and reproducible data analytical methods (sometimes labelled as „Open Data Science“). In addition to the required documenting of one’s own work, this also makes methods accessible to other researchers and to the public. In combination with publishing data sets online, this allows for completely reproducible analytical workflows, which is essential to make data processes verifiable to enhance the transparency and reusability of scientific findings.

In the context of this meet-up, Dr. Urs Kalbitzer (University of Konstanz and Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior) showed how he applies Open Data Science in the context of his current scientific project, which analyses the impact of climate change on the fruit production of tropical trees. We are looking forward to seeing you there and to hearing your thoughts and experiences on Open Data Science.

Contact:

Material:

31.03.2022: Open Educational Resources

On 31 March 2022, the third ERUA Open Science Meet-Up took place on Zoom between 14:00 and 14:45 (German Time). The topic was Open Educational Resources (OER).

Open Educational Resources are a dimension of Open Science which is often overlooked: Especially among teachers and course instructors, the opportunities of Open Educational Resources are far too little known and seized. Frequently abbreviated as OER, Open Educational Resources are – as the name suggests – (self-)teaching materials which can be accessed by everyone for free on the internet. In this ERUA Open Science meet-up, we will be discussing, among other things, where you can find Open Educational Resources and what you need to keep in mind when producing your own OER by looking at exemplary cases. We are looking forward to meeting you all there – members of all ERUA universities (Roskilde, Konstanz, New Bulgarian University, Paris 8 and the University of the Aegean) are invited and warmly welcome to drop by. No registration is required.

Contact:

  • Hannah Schneider, Team Open Science, University of Konstanz
  • Maximilian Heber, Team Open Science, University of Konstanz

Material:

24.02.2022: Openness

After a fun round of Open Science Jeopardy in January, the second ERUA English-language Open Science Meet-Up took place on 24.02.2022, between 14.00 and 14.45 (German Time). The topic was "Openness".

What do we mean by open data and publications? How do we perceive openness in our scientific and professional environments? And, should there be limits to openness?

Drop by and discuss these topics with open science enthusiasts from Paris, Sofia, Konstanz, Roskilde and the Aegean. All interested members of ERUA universities are invited. No registration is necessary.

Contact:

Material:

27.01.2022: Open Science Jeopardy

The first monthly Open Science Meet-Up took place on 27.01.2022 between 14.00 and 14.45 (in English). The KIM of the University of Konstanz organised this meet-up in the context of ERUA with our European partner universities. We played a game of Jeopardy on the topic of Open Science. There, we could find out about how central Open Science terms are defined in other European countries and get in touch with Open Science enthusiasts from Paris, Sofia, Roskilde and the Aegean Islands.

Contact:

Material:

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101035808.