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[blog#3] Open Science Kitchen on Preregistration and Registered Reports
By Markus Konkol
The February edition of the Open Science Kitchen event was dedicated to "The Benefits and Limitations of Preregistration and Registered Reports". Why this topic? Some of you might have attended the last Open Science Kitchen event in January, where we discussed potential issues. Preregistration was the first item on the list, so apparently, there is some demand for it. It is also a relatively new concept and not very common, for example, in the geoscience and social sciences. The goal of the event was consequently to raise awareness for the two ideas.
[blog#2] Open Science Day at itc
By Markus Konkol
On the 15th December 2020, we hosted our first Open Science Day at ITC. Well, it was an afternoon of 2,5 hours, but we still covered many aspects in the context of Open Science (OS).
Let’s take a step back and check why we attach importance to such an event at ITC. First of all, OS is becoming increasingly important. Several high-level organizations published OS statements, for example, UNESCO’s Open Science recommendation or EU’s Open Science policy. Also, bottom-up initiatives (e.g., OS Communities) are working hard to make OS the new norm. Moreover, UT’s Shaping2030 agenda is hardly achievable without OS. However, acknowledging that OS is critical does not mean it is easy. Doing OS can require quite some effort from researchers, starting already with several very fundamental questions such as:
- What does OS mean, and which OS practices exist?
- What are the benefits and limitations of these practices?
- Why is OS important for my work and science in general?
The goal of the OS Day was to shed some light on these questions. One event is not sufficient to answer these questions in detail but we aimed at raising awareness for OS and discussing its incentives as well as the cultural barriers that hinder scientists from sharing their research materials. The agenda included a brief introduction to what OS means, the role of OS at ITC, a keynote by Prof. Dr. Frank Miedema, and a panel discussion (see Materials section for the video) .
[blog#1] Citizen Science Conference
By Markus Konkol
Open Science is often associated with trained researchers who are generating new scientific findings together with other trained researchers. However, many Open Science definitions include aspects that not only address researchers. Science should be open to any person willing to stay informed and contribute. Consequently, science is expected to stimulate the active engagement and contribution of actors beyond the scientific community from society, politics, and the economy. It is thus not surprising to find these aspects summarized as Citizen Science in University of Twente’s Shaping2030 agenda. Citizen Science, as the name suggests, pays particular attention to societal actors and aims at bridging the gap between innovation and society.
To increase the awareness of Citizen Science and join forces with all those who are interested or involved in Citizen Science, the UT organized the Citizen Science Conference on the 20th November 2020. The event comprised the launch of the Shaping Expert Group on Citizen Science and the actual conference, which included a session on the challenges of Citizen Science as well as its impact.