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Discussions on Open Science in Hungary

scholarly communication country highlights infrastructure policies & funders EOSC

19 May 2022

In 2021, important discussions began on Open Science among various stakeholders from research, university leadership and policy-making areas in Hungary. From May 28^th, 2021, the University of Debrecen University and National Library (UDUNL) and Governmental Agency for IT Development (KIFÜ) host online events regularly to keep up the conversation on national Open Science practices, the benefits of FAIR research data management and the importance of collaborative science in the Hungarian research community while highlighting the unique advantages EOSC holds for researchers. Since then, four Hungarian Open Science Forums have been held, the last one barely a month ago.

The first Hungarian Open Science Forum – or NOSCI (National Open Science Cloud Initiative) Forum – focused on introducing the current state of Open Science in the country, covering the participation in the NI4OS-Europe project, the contributions Hungarian institutions make to raise awareness around EOSC services and more. Through this first online event, organizers were able to examine the opinions of the audience regarding necessary support using research infrastructure services.

The second Hungarian Open Science Forum focused on National Open Science Strategies in different countries. On representative from UDUNL, and one from KIFU introduced the open-access development, research evaluation processes, and research data management strategies in 11 nations. After covering the national Open Science practices in a strategical aspect, participants formed small groups for discussing institutional approaches regarding open science, open access, and RDM policies.

The third Hungarian Open Science Forum was dedicated to the Position Paper on Open Science that was published in October 2021 in Hungary. The position paper is a response to the new challenges in Open Research, and its development was coordinated by the Hungarian NRDI Office. To the great delight of the organizers, Dr István Szabó, Vice President for Science and International Affairs of the NRDI Office and Katalin Urbán, Strategic Advisor for Open Science at NRDI Office, accepted the invitation and presented the essential elements of the position paper. They talked about the work of the expert committee, which helped to gather the relevant topics and information, as well as the importance of the document in Hungarian scientific life.

The fourth NOSCI Forum in Hungary took place on April 28^th, 2022. The event was unique because two active researchers shared their views on open research practices they apply in their everyday work. One researcher represented the social sciences and shared insights of open practices in the field. A biologist covered the life sciences domain as he introduced the most used open research practices in the field.