Open Science: Ambition versus Reality – call for abstracts

Openness in scientific research is at the core of the work of every researcher: sharing results with your peers, critically discussing outcomes and inspiring others is pivotal for scientific progress. What part of the scientific process can be inspiring for others? The final publication or the whole scientific process? What role do funders play in this course of action and to what degree are they allowed to intervene with policies, guidelines and/or incentives?

Research funders (RFO) indeed hold a very responsible part in the game of science: trying to identify gaps and needs of the scientific community, academic institutions, and local stakeholders. Many disciplines, many different communities, and a lot of different understanding on how science should be done needs to be considered when formulating calls and setting funding criteria.

In this session of the STS Conference Graz, we want to dig deeper into this field of tension, first by providing insights into how one of the Co-Change Labs, WWTF (Vienna Science and Technology Fund) is currently converging towards Open Science and what considerations, obstacles and opportunities are encountered and ii) to provoke a dialog between RFOs and researchers about the multi-perspective dimensions of open science.

We especially invite young researchers to submit contributions and perspectives (abstracts) to this session. The session will be held in 90 minutes and is split up in two parts: First, a general input of Open Science considerations from an Open Science expert on how to bring openness into practice (30min). Secondly, a mix of research funder representatives and researchers covering national and international perspectives from academia will engage in a fish-bowl discussion format to identify gaps, barriers and chances coming along this discussion (60min).

Keywords: Open Science, funder perspective, openness, boundaries, chances

Session convenors: Benjamin Missbach, Donia Lasinger (WWTF - Vienna Science and Technology Fund, Austria)

You can submit your abstract here.