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Ghent, 18 November 2015

Horizon 2020 has been at the forefront as a major funder implementing Open Access policies. Following the Open Access pilot in FP7, Horizon 2020 brings a strong mandate for Open Access to publications as well as a Research Data Pilot in certain areas. This workshop presented in depth information about the Open Research Data Pilot and the Open Access mandate as well as practical tools and information on data management planning.

1st openaire workshop

Premise of the workshop

The Workshop “Sharing research data and open access to publications in Horizon 2020” focused on concepts and good practices of managing research data and open access to scientific publications in Horizon 2020.
This workshop on Open Access and Research Data Management took place at Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium. 102 delegates from 29 different countries attended the workshop on the 18th of November.

openaire workshop LennartMartens


In the morning the implications and conditions of the research data pilot and the open access mandate were discussed.  A funder's perspective was given by Caroline Colin. She sketched the bigger framework of Open Science in which the European Commission places the Open Access Mandate and the Open research data pilot.  Prof. Lennart Martens, who helped set up a data repository, presented the benefits of Open Science. Having build an open data exchange ecosystem, he is an expert on making data explorable and re-usable. In depth information about the OA mandate and the Open Research data pilot were gives by members of OpenAIRE and DANS.

The afternoon proposed parallel breakout groups to give an insight in the practical implications of the research data pilot and the open access mandate.  One track discussed the mandate, how it affects projects and researchers and how OpenAIRE can help to comply.
In a parallel group the Open Data Pilot was discussed, with a presentation of research data management tools. A Research Data Management brief was reviewed by the participants, showing what is needed to make a clear toolkit on research data management. These breakout groups gave rise to a selection of topics and questions that can help OpenAIRE to improve its services.

Keypoints

Key points in the breakout group ‘In Practice’ The Mandate from a project perspective' were:

  • Tools: The OpenAIRE tools are useful and more services are welcomed. Suggestions were to use more charts and statistics and make it possible to embed them. A factsheet or tutorial on how to use these tools and how statistics are being generated would be useful.
  • Sharing information: There is a need for more information at the preparation stage. General estimation of cost for Open Access and data management are hard to find. A draft text on Open Access that researchers could use and adapt would be useful.
  • Networking and information for NOADs: It was suggested NOADs can increase the dissemination of the mandate by engaging more with NCPs, Research Administrators, trough CORDIS and national delegates per program. Other funders and the EC are other possible partners to engage.

Key obstacles mentioned in the breakout group 'In Practice’ The Data pilot from a Project Perspective' were:

  • There is a lack of sharing culture and knowledge about data management: The practice of sharing research data is not yet a general practice in the research community. This might be because of a lack of interest or because data management is not part of the research evaluation or uncertainty what it means to open and share data. There is a lack of practical information and examples on data sharing to make it seem more feasible and to show the possibilities of open data. 
  • Tools and support: There is a lack of findable tools and support to make managing data easier. The tools that are available are often hard to find.
  • Gap between the planned policies and the execution: there is a gap regarding costs between the short term character of the project and the long term of the preservation of the research data. It is also important that researchers are being motived to make a research data management plan. This should be achieved by showing that data management is not just a task but also as a useful tool to researchers and their projects.

The OpenAIRE Workshop on “Sharing research data and open access to publications in Horizon 2020” provided information about the Open Access Mandate and the Open Research Data Pilot to a broader audience. With a fourth of the audience involved in the OpenAIRE project, there wes a diverse mix of NCP's, research administrators, researchers, library staff and other organisations present. This gave rise to interesting discussions in the breakout groups. OpenAIRE services are being appreciated as the demand for more detailed and broader services demonstrates. Because data management planning is a relatively new topic, there is still much to be done. Information on data management planning and good examples and practices are needed to ease the way to data management and to show the importance and possibilities of open data for research.

Recordings and Slides available! 
Program

9.30 Welcome and Introduction [video]

9.35 A funder’s perspective: Welcome from the EC – Caroline Colin [presentation] [video]

10.05 Benefits of Open Science– Prof. Lennart Martens [presentation] [video]

11.00 Overview of the Open Access mandate and OpenAIRE tools,including the FP7 post-grant Open Access Pilot
– Pedro Príncipe, Inge Van Nieuwerburgh and Pablo de Castro [presentation OA mandate] [video] [presentation OpenAIRE tools] [video] [presentation- FP7 post-grant][video]

11.45 Overview of the data pilot and OpenAIRE tools – Elly Dijk and Marjan Grootveld [presentation] [video]

14.00 Parallel Group 1 ‘In Practice’ The Mandate from a project perspective
         Parallel Group 2 ‘In Practice’ The Data pilot from a project perspective

15.20 Parallel Group 1 ‘In Practice’ The Mandate from a project perspective
         Parallel Group 2 ‘In Practice’ The Data pilot from a Project Perspective


16.20 Reporting Back

Photo's are available in the OpenAIRE flickr group: https://www.flickr.com/groups/openaire/pool

ghent, 2015,