BY-COVID Spring 2024 Baseline Use Case Workshop: Integration of individual-level socioeconomic data for infectious diseases research and prevention in Europe
2024-06-06 09:30 - 12:00 (Europe/Paris) | Online
We are pleased to invite you and/or your representatives to the BY-COVID project Workshop on Integration of individual-level socioeconomic data for infectious diseases research and prevention in Europe.
The BY-COVID project aims to make data on COVID-19 and other infectious diseases available to scientists and the wider public. This workshop is part of the BY-COVID project’s Work Package 5 implementing Use Cases, and is co-organised by KNAW-DANS/CESSDA, Sciensano and IACS.
The workshop will take place online on 6th of June, 09:30 – 12:00 and will be recorded to access afterwards.

Thursday 6th of June, 2024

09:30 – 09:40
Welcome, goals of the workshop, recap previous workshop & brief tour de table

09:40 – 09:55
Overview of the BY-COVID Baseline Use Case (Enrique Bernal-Delgado)

09:55 – 10:25
Challenges of mobilising and linking individual-level data, from the perspective of social epidemiology (presenter TBD)

10:25 – 10:50
Experience from Baseline Use Case partners: mapping data availability, procedures, and challenges

10:50 – 11:00
Break

11:00 – 11:45
Breakout sessions

A. Exploring socioeconomic data sources in Europe: availability, limitations, and mobilisation

B. Navigating socioeconomic data sharing: overcoming barriers and leveraging facilitators

C. Socioeconomic and health data linkage for EU-level research: challenges and solutions

D. Advancing socioeconomic data integration: generalisation, sustainability, and policy relevance

11:45 – 12:00
Reporting back from breakout sessions & Wrap-up

ELIXIR All Hands 2024
2024-06-10 - 2024-06-12 | Uppsala, Sweden
Workshops must be inclusive and consider diversity in all aspects, including speakers, hosts and participants, especially regarding balanced gender representation. Please encourage contributions from everyone using different techniques, such as small group discussions or platforms that allow anonymous participation, such as Sli.do. Most negative feedback from previous workshops often relates to a lack of dynamic engagement, i.e. too many back-to-back slide presentations.
Workshops will run as hybrid events, so efforts should be made to include remote attendees to a similar level as those in the room.

TNC24
2024-06-10 - 2024-06-14 | Rennes, France
The largest and most prestigious research and education networking conference, TNC attracts a truly diverse audience of over 800 participants from more than 70 countries, representing national and regional research and education networks, schools and universities, technology providers, and many of the world’s most exciting scientific projects. By bringing together decision-makers, networking and security specialists, identity and access management experts, researchers, academics and students, TNC offers a unique collaborative experience.

The Emerging NREN Programme aims to integrate individuals from emerging NRENs from around the globe into the TNC community and create further synergies and connections at different organisational levels between European and international NRENs. Its purpose is to bring to TNC NREN staff members who would not be able to participate otherwise, focusing particularly on engineering and technical personnel. For further information, please contact Leila Dekkar at GÉANT.

The Future Talent Programme’s Lightning Talk Challenge offers students and young professionals the opportunity to present their project or idea to TNC’s international audience. Nominated by GÉANT project partners, participants receive training to help them master presentation skills and prepare to deliver an impactful presentation. For further information, please contact Lisa Melrose at GÉANT.

PID festival
2024-06-11 - 2024-06-13 | Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
Embark on a three-day journey of enlightenment at this international summit, where captivating talks, engaging activities, and insightful workshops converge to explore the transformative power of persistent identifiers in shaping world-class research infrastructure. This event is organised by the National Library of Technology (NTK) and the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC), esteemed collaborators within the FAIRCORE4EOSC initiative.
The overarching objective of PIDfest is to unite global pioneers in the field of persistent identifiers, fostering collaborative solutions to tangible infrastructure challenges that stand in the way of expediting research and innovation. An event of this magnitude promises dynamic discussions, centred on practical strategies for overcoming real-world hurdles in the delivery of research infrastructure.
e-mail: contact@pidfest.org

EuroScience Open Forum 2024
2024-06-12 - 2024-06-15 | Katowice, Poland
The EuroScience Open Forum is a biennial meeting designed to offer the scientific community a platform for interdisciplinary and intersectional debate about scientific culture, scientific research, and innovation. It is created for the society’s benefit and carried out with the society’s participation.
The main goal of the ESOF2024 conference is to explore the connections between science and society, the conditions for conducting research, and their impact on society. We aim to stimulate debate on social changes related to science and analyze the social, cultural, and economic consequences of scientific breakthroughs at regional, national, European, and global levels. In the face of global challenges and to enhance international scientific cooperation, scientists want to discuss science as a factor of change in our lives and how the very life changes science.
The programme includes lectures, seminars, a debate, workshops, poster presentations and exhibitions, interactive sessions, and a wide array of public engagement forms. The theme for the ESOF2024 is: Life changes science. Katowice will host Europe’s and the world’s leading personalities in the world of science, academic researchers, representatives of public and non-public institutions supporting science, business people, representatives of media, and those interested in the role of science in the contemporary world.

New Repositories for New Biodiversity Research
2024-06-13 11:00 - 12:00 | Online
Recent technology-driven advances in biodiversity research have created a need for more, new types of FAIR repositories. In this meetup, we discuss two of these. Firstly, the broad and expanding application of AI-based methods in image/sound/text/sequence classification has created a need for repositories for exchanging pre-trained models and their training data. Secondly, the advent of massively parallel DNA sequencing techniques applied to the environment has shown a large diversity of sequence variants, whose incremental aggregation in a central repository would enable a more fine-grained assessment of the presence and abundance of distinct haplotypes in the natural environment and in medical settings. In this event, we will introduce the current research practices and challenges and discuss how the community can proceed in light of these developments.
This virtual workshop will take place from 11:00-12:00 CEST on June 13 2024. The agenda will be added shortly.
Registration for this workshop is free but mandatory. Reserve your place by filing out the registration form below.

Workshop on high-throughput sequencing data analysis with Galaxy
2024-06-17 - 2024-06-21 | Schänzlestrasse 1, Freiburg, 79104, Germany
Target Audience: Scientist with no or little Galaxy experience who want to analyse sequencing data.
Learning Objectives:

To get introduced to Galaxy as data analysis platform and the GTN training material
To learn how to use use tools and databases in Galaxy
To be able to run different tools and workflows

Training material: For the hands-on course, we will use the training material from the Galaxy Training Network

Advancing Research Data Management and Open Science in Austria
2024-06-18 10:00 - 12:00 | Online
The aim of this event is to present the work done in Austria on the national level and also learn about European developments and results of EOSC-related projects such as FAIR-Impact. The event will debate around metadata and semantic interoperability, as well as FAIR-enabling repositories and Austrian National Open Science Policies.

2024 Coordination meeting of EOSC-related projects funded under Horizon Europe
2024-06-20 - 2024-06-21 | Brussels, Brussels, Belgium
The 2024 edition of the “Coordination meeting of EOSC-related projects funded under Horizon Europe” will take place on 20-21 June in Brussels.
As in previous editions, the meeting will bring together representatives of project consortia, the European Commission, the Research Executive Agency and the EOSC Association.
The main objectives of the meeting have been identified by the EC as follows:

To deepen the collaboration between the consortia involved in EOSC-related projects funded under Horizon Europe, the EOSC Association and the EC in the context of implementing the EOSC European Partnership and its Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA).
To provide an update of the contributions made by projects consortia, the EOSC-A and the EC towards achieving the strategic and operational objectives of the SRIA.
To discuss the challenges and next steps for the implementation of EOSC as fully operational, federated infrastructure that enables the sharing of FAIR data and services across borders and disciplines.

For reference, you can find here the report for the 2023 coordination meeting.

Zertifikatsprogramm "Data Steward" an der Universität Wien: Rückblick auf die ersten zwei Jahre
2024-06-20 10:00 - 12:00 | Online
Die Aus- und Weiterbildung von Data Stewards wird zunehmend zu einem Schwerpunktthema im Ausbau forschungsunterstützender Services in Österreich und international. Im bevorstehenden Webinar mit dem Titel „Zertifikatsprogramm „Data Steward“ an der Universität Wien: Rückblick auf die ersten zwei Jahre“ haben Sie die Gelegenheit, tiefer in die Entstehung und Entwicklung dieses Weiterbildungsangebots einzutauchen.
Erfahren Sie mehr über die spannenden Anfänge und die Entwicklung des ersten Weiterbildungsprogramms für Data Stewards in Österreich. Das Programm integriert aktuelle Erkenntnisse im Bereich Forschungsdatenmanagement, Open Science und Open Research, die nahtlos mit den praktischen Aufgaben von Data Stewards an Forschungseinrichtungen verbunden werden. Mehr als 50 Personen aus über 10 verschiedenen Ländern haben bereits an den ersten beiden Runden dieses Kurses erfolgreich teilgenommen. Im Webinar werden nicht nur die wertvollen Erfahrungen und Erkenntnisse des Organisationsteams präsentiert, sondern auch das Feedback der Teilnehmenden diskutiert. Darüber hinaus erhalten Sie einen Einblick in die geplanten nächsten Schritte und Entwicklungen dieses Programms.
Bewerbungen für die dritte Runde des Programms können bis zum 30. Juni 2024 eingereicht werden. Das Zertifikatsprogramm beginnt im Oktober 2024. Mehr dazu auf der Website des Zertifikatsprogrammes „Data Steward“.

2024 Galaxy Community Conference (GCC2024)
2024-06-24 - 2024-06-29 | Brno, Brno, Czech Republic
The Galaxy Community Conference (GCC) is an annual conference focused on the use and development of the Galaxy platform for data-intensive biomedical research. The conference brings together scientists, software developers, and trainers of Galaxy from a variety of disciplines to share their experiences, knowledge, and skills.
The conference included talks, posters, and workshops on a wide range of topics related to Galaxy, including genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, and more. The GCC provides an opportunity for attendees to learn about the latest developments in the Galaxy platform and to connect with other members of the Galaxy community.
GCC2024 will have over 50 talks and about 40 posters presenting methods, tools, pipelines, and software improvements for the Galaxy framework.
Check out the schedule page for more details. The abstract book with all the details is coming soon!
And don’t forget the amazing lineup of keynote talks.
If you haven’t registered yet, registration is (still) open.

Strategies for training and knowledge exchange with a consulting perspective
2024-06-25 - 2024-06-26 | Online
BioNT – BIO Network for Training – is an international consortium of academic entities and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). BioNT is dedicated to providing a comprehensive training program and fostering a community for digital skills relevant to the biotechnology industry and biomedical sector. With a curriculum tailored for both beginners and advanced professionals, BioNT aims to equip individuals with the necessary expertise in handling, processing, and visualising biological data, as well as utilising computational biology tools. Leveraging the consortium’s strong background in digital literacy training and extensive network of collaborations, BioNT is poised to professionalise life sciences data management, processing, and analysis skills.
This hands-on workshop will introduce you to essential training theory, needs assessment techniques and effective delivery strategies in training and consulting, followed by an introduction to consulting with a focus on bioinformatics. You will explore the theory of learning, emphasising how people learn, followed by practical teaching techniques, learner-centred instruction, and creating an inclusive classroom environment. Its primary emphasis lies in hands-on teaching methods, constructive alignment, formative assessment, and providing valuable feedback to learners. Additionally, the workshop will highlight other knowledge-exchange formats, like consulting and mentoring, offering insights into the interface between industry and academia, and how bioinformaticians can leverage their skills in related roles.
BioNT offers a two-day workshop with the primary aim of introducing participants to good enough practices for teaching and consulting.
On the first day, participants will dive into the theory of learning, drawing upon The Carpentries material to provide a solid foundation. This includes an introduction to evidence-based teaching practices, equipping participants with strategies grounded in research to enhance their instructional effectiveness. The workshop also focuses on creating a positive environment for learners, offering practical guidance on fostering inclusivity and engagement during workshops. Furthermore, participants will have ample opportunities to practise and refine their teaching skills through hands-on activities and group discussions. This allows participants to gain valuable experience and confidence in their instructional delivery. In addition, the workshop will also cover training development and surveying training needs. Participants will learn how to assess the learning needs of their target audience and make informed decisions on training content and delivery methods. Exercises will be conducted to guide participants through the process of surveying training needs and developing collaborative training materials within the community.
On the second day of the workshop, we broaden the scope to include other forms of knowledge transfer, such as consulting and mentoring. Participants will dive deeper into how to communicate efficiently by focusing on refining their delivery style, tone, and pacing to optimise learner or consultee engagement and comprehension. Emphasis will be placed on integrating feedback to continually improve the learning experience and meet the diverse needs of learners and consultees. In addition, participants will explore strategies for effectively teaching technical knowledge using the proven BioNT training format, known for its structured and hands-on approach. Through practical examples and exercises, participants will learn how to break down complex technical concepts into digestible modules and facilitate active learning experiences.
On the second half-day, participants will engage with key questions related to consultancy in bioinformatics, including how to technically keep track of tasks and document projects, the frequency and criteria for follow-up, initiation of new projects, delegation decisions, managing multiple consultancy sessions, handling unreasonable requests, prioritisation between projects, time management strategies, prioritisation of consultancy over general training, division of time among different activities, and defining the threshold between consultancy and research involvement.

Public Launch of the Skils4EOSC Competence Centres Network
2024-06-25 09:30 - 12:30 | Online
During this virtual event, you will discover the Skills4EOSC Competence Centres (S4E CCs). According to the project’s vision, these CCs are hubs for Open Science and EOSC activities in their respective countries or thematic domains. The S4E CCs are collaborative entities and networks bringing together extensive expertise in Open Science and data management across various domains. They provide training and support while collaborating at the pan-European level to align curricula, quality assurance, and certification schemes for competencies and materials related to Open Science, FAIR research output management, and the EOSC context.

Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration (HMC)
2024-06-25 23:59 | Online
The annual call for proposals from the Incubator platform Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration (HMC) has been published on April 8th, 2024 and will be closed June 25th, 2024

The most important information in a nutshell

Application opens: 08.04.2024
Application deadline: 25.06.2024 (23:59h CEST) ! please note: tech support on June, 25th is possible until 16:00h CEST!
Details HMC Call 2024: The complete call can be found here as PDF
Further documents: All further material (incl. relevant templates) can be downloaded here.
Submission: via the Project Proposal Portal
Budget: 400k€ (max. 200k€ by the INF + counter-financing by participating centres/partners)
Project duration: max. 2 years
Information events: 29.04.2024, 10:00-13:00h CEST & 16.05.2024, 11:00-14:00h CEST
Please also check the FAQs for further details about the call.

Wissenschaftliche Publikationen sicher nutzen mit Creative Commons Lizenzen
2024-06-27 11:00 - 12:00 | Online
In dieser Ausgabe des OA-Talks führt uns Dr. Christoph Bruch in die Grundlagen der Creative Commons Lizenzen (CC-Lizenzen) ein. CC-Lizenzen sind Musterverträge, die weltweit genutzt werden, um eine freie Nutzung urheberrechtlich geschützter Werke rechtssicher zu ermöglichen. Im Vortrag werden die Rechtsgrundlagen für CC-Lizenzen erläutert und die verschiedenen Ausprägungen der Lizenzen vorgestellt.
Dabei werden folgende Themen zur Sprache kommen:

Warum sollte ich meine Publikationen unter eine Creative Commons Lizenz stellen?
Wann darf ich eine Creative Commons Lizenz vergeben?
Was gestatte ich bei den verschiedenen Ausprägungen der CC-Lizenzen?
Welche CC-Lizenzen erlauben die Nutzung durch KI-Anwendungen?

Den Vortrag hält Dr. Christoph Bruch, Referent des Helmholtz Open Science Office der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft.
Eingeladen sind Wissenschaftler*innen, Student*innen, Beratende sowie alle Interessierte. Nach dem Vortrag gibt es die Möglichkeit Fragen zu diskutieren.

Für weitere Fragen wenden Sie sich gerne an Dr. Sarah Dellmann.

Handle with CARE? Möglichkeiten und Herausforderungen für ethischen und sensiblen Umgang mit Forschungsdaten
2024-07-03 14:00 - 18:00 | Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie,, Universitätsstraße 7, 4. Stock, Wien, 1010
Die Ansprüche an Forschungen und an Forschungsdaten werden immer größer. Der Aufwand auch. Gerade in der Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie, bei der nicht nur bei, sondern auch gemeinsam mit beforschten Menschen Daten entstehen. Das bringt große Verantwortung mit sich. Besonders beim Umgang mit sensiblen Daten, Daten aus Gewalt-, Kolonial-, rassistischen Kontexten. Die CARE-Prinzipien (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics) für indigene Daten werden immer öfter als Lösungsansatz für alle diese ethischen Fragen herangezogen. Sie sind von indigenen Aktivist*innen nur für indigene Daten gedacht und entwickelt worden. Können diese Prinzipien auf andere, nicht-indigene Daten angewendet werden? Wenn ja, wie? Wie können wir in unserem Fach ethisch, respektvoll, möglichst kollaborativ und gemeinwohlorientiert forschen und Daten sammeln und archivieren? Gibt es andere Ansätze? Und wie umgehen mit unseren vorhandenen Daten? Ob und wie können diese Daten dekolonialisiert und weitergenutzt werden? Wem gehören die Daten? In Vorträgen von Christian Huber und Ingolf Ortner zum Thema „Beware! Take CARE! Überlegungen zum praktischen Umgang mit sensiblen Daten im Forschungsdatenmanagement“ und von Veronika Kocher über „IMAGE+ und die Frage der praktischen Anwendung von CARE Principles im Umgang mit Bildmaterial in Repositorien“ werden diese Fragen beleuchtet und danach diskutiert. Im Anschluss soll mit praktischen Beispielen aus dem ethnographischen Datenarchiv, der Ethnographischen Sammlung des Instituts für KSA oder auch von Teilnehmenden diskutiert werden, welche Möglichkeiten es gibt, gut und ethisch vertretbar mit Forschungsdaten umzugehen.
Vortrag: Christian Huber und Ingolf Ortner – Beware! Take CARE! Überlegungen zum praktischen Umgang mit sensiblen Daten im Forschungsdatenmanagement
Vortrag: Veronika Kocher – IMAGE+ und die Frage der praktischen Anwendung von CARE Principles im Umgang mit Bildmaterial in Repositorien
Anmeldung: bis 25.06.2024 unter eda.ksa@univie.ac.at
Datum: 03.07.2024, 14–18
Ort: HS A, Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie, NIG, 4. Stock, Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Wien

Abstracts:
Christian Huber und Ingolf Ortner – Beware, take CARE! Überlegungen zum Umgang mit sensiblen Daten im Forschungsdatenmanagement
Die CARE-Prinzipien werfen in ihrer praktischen Anwendung mitunter mehr Fragen auf, als diese beantworten können. Forschungsdaten, gerade solche die ethische Fragestellungen implizieren, können auf allen Ebenen, bis hin zu den Metadaten, in ihrem gesamten Datenzyklus hochsensibel sein. Deshalb wurden 2019 die CARE-Prinzipien (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics) als ein Komplementär zu den 2016 postulierten FAIR-Prinzipien (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Re-usable) formuliert. Die FAIR-Prinzipien erkennen im Gegensatz zum reinen Open Data Konzept auch Restriktionen des Datenzuganges an, fokussieren aber auf Merkmale, die den Datenaustausch erleichtern und sind eher als Grundsätze eines guten Forschungsdatenmanagements zu sehen, welche aber ethische Aspekte und historische Kontexte in der Datenproduktion und in der Nachnutzung von Daten weitestgehend unberücksichtigt lassen. Gerade aber in der ethnographischen Forschung müssen die Beforschten, die Forschenden und die aus dem Forschungsprozess hervorgebrachten Daten bzw. Metadaten, von der Entstehung bis zur Nachnutzung, als sich gegenseitig bedingende äquivalente Aktanten angesehen werden. Was bedeutet dies nun für den praktischen Umgang mit sensiblen Forschungsdaten? Im Vortrag werden unter anderem 10 Punkte präsentiert, welche aus qualitativen Interviews mit ExpertInnen erhoben wurden, die ein Desiderat darstellen und zu einer weiteren Beschäftigung bzw. zur praktischen Umsetzung der CARE-Prinzipien im Umgang mit qualitativen sensiblen Forschungsdaten führen sollen. Die 10 Punkte, die zum weiteren Diskurs anregen sollen, umreißen Themenfelder wie sensible Forschungsdaten vs. Open Data, aktuell gehaltene Metadaten als Schlüsselelement, das Spannungsfeld Beforschte – Forschende (Datenschutz als Hürde, Wer spricht?, Macht und Teilhabe u.v.m.), institutionelle Langzeitarchivierung, der Faktor Zeit und seine Risiken, finanzielle Ressourcen (prekäre Forschungs- und Arbeitsbedingungen), die Schwierigkeiten einer praxisnahen Umsetzung der CARE-Prinzipien sowie eine frühzeitige Sensibilisierung durch Schulungen und Einbindung in die universitäre Lehre.
Veronika Kocher – IMAGE+ und die Frage der praktischen Anwendung von CARE Principles im Umgang mit Bildmaterial in Repositorien
In den letzten Jahren ist eine Debatte immer stärker in der Öffentlichkeit ausgetragen worden: Wie mit rassistischen oder diskriminierenden Inhalten verantwortlich umgehen? Sei es der Sturz öffentlicher Statuen von Menschenhändlern, der Umgang mit bekannten Kinderbüchern, die neu aufgelegt werden und eine Revision erfahren oder Kunstwerke, deren rassistische Titel in digitalen Datenbanken überarbeitet werden und mithilfe einer Sternchen-Barriere gekennzeichnet sind – ein Wandel im Umgang mit diesen Inhalten ist festzustellen. Das Sammeln, Bewahren und Erforschen von Ressourcen ist darauf ausgelegt, diese zu erhalten und entsprechend der Textautonomie so abzubilden, wie sie sich präsentieren – als Abbild einer Gesellschaft. Oftmals finden auf diesem Weg aber gerade die exklusiven und diskriminierenden Seiten einer Gesellschaft Eingang in die historisch gewachsene Welt von Bibliotheken, Archiven, Sammlungen und Datenbanken und können hier ohne weiteren Kommentar verwendet werden. Auch in Bibliotheken, Archiven und Museen muss daher die Frage gestellt werden, welche Methoden Anwendung finden sollen, sodass rassistische und diskriminierende Inhalte nicht weiter reproduziert werden. Inwieweit und in welcher Form können archivarische Strukturen diverser und aktueller gestaltet, und wie auch andere gesellschaftliche Perspektiven abgebildet werden? Gleichzeitig scheint damit aber ein Konflikt mit dem bewährten Selbstverständnis dieser Einrichtungen unausweichlich.

Maturity Model for Pathogen Data Platforms
2024-07-05 13:00 - 15:00 | Online
Maturity models are a useful tool to support data platform managers in assessing current gaps in their maturity and development lifecycle. The Pathogen Data Platform maturity model specifically targets managers of data platforms that host on pathogens, and associated, contextual sensitive, personal metadata. It was developed within ELIXIR-CONVERGE and tested in a pilot run within BY-COVID. It is very largely inspired from the maturity model of the Federated EGA.
During this highly interactive workshop, generally addressed to platform managers and those involved in platform development (bioinformaticians, ITs, legal services etc.), we will present practical illustrations of how to understand and score the various indicators of the maturity model, with examples focusing on SARS-CoV-2, bacterial, and wastewater data. We will also discuss the importance of ensuring FAIRness of platforms by design and how maturity models can support this.

FOAM 2024: FAIR principles for Ontologies and Metadata in Knowledge Management
2024-07-15 | Enschede, Netherlands
FOAM is a new workshop merging the Workshop on Ontologies for FAIR and FAIR Ontologies (Onto4FAIR), the Conceptual Modeling, Ontologies and Metadata Management for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) Data (CMOMM4FAIR) and the FAIR Ontology Harmonization and TRUST Data Interoperability Workshop (FOHTI).The main objectives of this workshop are:

to bring together new methods for enabling FAIR research outputs (data, software, workflows, ontologies, mappings, etc.) through ontologies and vocabularies
discuss techniques, metrics and guidelines to improve the FAIRness of ontologies and vocabularies
to share experiences, identify new challenges and opportunities applying FAIR for different communities

FOAM will be an in-person event.

Topics of interest
Making the resources produced by researchers fully reusable and understandable requires complex efforts. To address these issues, the Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) principles have been developed to provide guidance on making resources more reusable and interoperable. These principles have gained increasing attention in a number of different domains and applications. On the one hand, a key aspect is the ability to describe resources correctly and semantically, in particular using ontologies. On the other hand, ontologies themselves have to comply with the FAIR principles.
The workshop aims to bring together leaders from academia, industry and user institutions to discuss the adoption of the FAIR principles and share real-world requirements, challenges and experiences in their respective domains. In addition, we aim to explore how the FAIR principles are supported by the use of ontologies that are ideally FAIR themselves, and to discuss the challenges and perspectives in adopting the FAIR principles.
The topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

ontologies, schemas and vocabularies for FAIR data and metadata;
domain and cross-domain ontologies for FAIR research outputs (data, software, mappings, workflows, ontologies, ML models, etc.);
techniques, methods and tools to increase the FAIRness of vocabularies and ontologies;
FAIR ontology harmonisation, mapping, alignment, merging and modularisation;
best practices on modeling FAIR research outputs;
semantic descriptions of FAIR digital objects;
challenges in FAIR research output management and modeling;
novel applications of the FAIR principles, FAIRification process and use cases;
metrics for FAIRness assessment;
provenance in FAIR environments;
FAIR principles and open science;
FAIR principles and linked open data;
Application of the FAIR principles in scientific communities (life science, digital humanities, health, smart cities, etc.)

Submissions
Submissions can be made in the following categories:

Full papers (10 – 12 pages, including references)
Short papers (6 – 9 pages, including references)
Posters (up to 5 pages, including references)

Submissions should be original work and follow the CEUR one-column template (Overleaf template, CEUR author kit). However, FOAM 2024 explicitly welcomes alternative and enhanced submission formats, such as HTML submissions. Authors who are preparing such a submission should contact the workshop organizers in advance to make sure we can accommodate for them in the submission and review process.
Submissions should be managed through Easychair. At least one author of each accepted paper is expected to attend the workshop (in person).
FOAM embraces the adoption of FAIR best practices. If your paper proposes a dataset, has associated source code or proposes a new ontology or demo, please make sure these resources conform with the FAIR Best practices from FOIS.

EASST-4S 2024 Conference
2024-07-16 - 2024-07-19 | Amsterdam, Netherlands
As governments and funding agencies increasingly demand alignment with Sustainable Development Goals, STS scholars grapple with the tension between societal expectations and the transformative potential of their research. Rather than offering predetermined solutions, scholars are encouraged to reframe problem spaces through empirical analyses and innovative practices. Key questions will be addressed, such as how to frame transformations within STS frameworks, avoid co-optation and technosolutionism, and foster collaboration between STS and other disciplines.
This conference embraces diverse topics within STS, including speculative ethics, governance of science and technology, decolonial scholarship, and innovation studies. Join us for stimulating conversations and explore new avenues for mobilizing STS sensibilities in addressing global challenges.

Workshop on high-throughput sequencing data analysis with Galaxy
2024-07-22 - 2024-07-26 | Werthmannstrasse 4, Freiburg, 79104, Germany
Target Audience: Scientist with no or little Galaxy experience who want to analyse sequencing data.
Learning Objectives:

To get introduced to Galaxy as data analysis platform and the GTN training material
To learn how to use use tools and databases in Galaxy
To be able to run different tools and workflows

Training material: For the hands-on course, we will use the training material from the Galaxy Training Network.

Questionnaire for parties interested in contributing to the build-up phase of the EOSC Federation
2024-08-18 23:59 | Online
The construction of the future EOSC has entered an important phase. The EOSC EU Node is expected to be presented to the scientific community in the frame of the EOSC Symposium in October 2024. Meanwhile, the discussions are intensifying on the aims, structure and tasks of the individual EOSC Nodes that will complement the EOSC EU Node to initiate the formation of the EOSC Federation.
The Tripartite Governance of EOSC is therefore launching a questionnaire to gauge the scale and scope of general interest and readiness for the build-up phase of the EOSC Federation. Interested parties are invited to reply to the questionnaire as the first step in their eligibility to contribute to a testbed of potential EOSC Nodes representing the different stakeholders involved in the research communities of Europe.
Based on the replies to the questionnaire, several organisations will be invited by the Tripartite Governance to contribute to the refinement of the EOSC Federation concept during the build-up phase. The build-up phase will help the Tripartite to gain experience from cooperation between the future EOSC EU Node and the individual future EOSC Nodes, and to test the different aspects of the EOSC Federation Handbook in practice. The invited organisations shall reflect the different types of stakeholders and organisations to ensure the best possible representation of the various European research communities.
No additional funding is associated with this activity. Submitting the questionnaire does not commit the respondent to onboard their resources (i.e. services/data repositories) nor to establish a future EOSC Node. At the same time, the invitation to form a node in the build-up phase does not automatically guarantee the status of a federated EOSC Node at a later stage. The decision of the future structure, organisation and funding of EOSC will follow the negotiations of the next European Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, FP10.
An overview of the results of this questionnaire will be shared with respondents and will be used to plan the next steps in the building of the EOSC Federation.
WEBINARS FOR PARTIES INTERESTED IN BUILDING UP THE EOSC FEDERATION
The EOSC Association will hold two webinars in June to explain the purpose of the questionnaire and provide guidance on how to complete it. Registration is required to attend. Interested participants can choose from the following dates and times:

Wednesday, 19 June 2024, 15:00-16:00 CEST
Tuesday, 25 June 2024, 15:00-16:00 CEST

How To Be Open: Libraries
2024-08-20 11:00 - 12:00 | Online
Libraries are the heart of the scholarly ecosystem, acting as gateways to knowledge and resources for researchers, students, and the public.
This session, led by Dr. Alwaleed Alkhaja, Head of Open Access and Copyright at Qatar National Library, will explore how libraries can embrace and promote Open Science principles, ensuring wider accessibility, transparency, and collaboration in research.
This session will delve into:

Implementing Open Access Policies: Practical steps for libraries to adopt and enforce open access policies, ensuring that staff and patrons benefit from unrestricted access to information.
Setting Up Open Access Funds: Guidance on establishing and managing funds dedicated to supporting open access initiatives within libraries.
Read and Publish Agreements: Insights into negotiating and implementing agreements that facilitate open access publishing, benefiting both researchers and institutions.
Developing Institutional Repositories: The importance of creating and maintaining repositories that preserve and disseminate scholarly work openly.
Making Digitised Content Accessible: Strategies for making digitised content available to the public, enhancing the reach and impact of library collections.

The session aims to address the unique opportunities and challenges in the Arab states for achieving various levels of openness in libraries. By discussing these topics, the hope is to empower libraries to become more open, transparent, and collaborative.
This event is ideal for librarians, open access managers, consortium managers, heritage library managers, open science advocates, and repository managers. By bringing together these diverse stakeholders, they aim to foster a collaborative environment that advances the cause of Open Science in the library community.

Expedition Zukunft START 2024/2
2024-08-27 12:00 | Online
In der Ausschreibung Expedition Zukunft START werden Vorhaben in einer frühen Phase angesprochen, in der Innovationen vorbereitet und die Basis für große Veränderungen in Märkten, Technologien oder Gesellschaften gelegt werden.
Folgende Projektarten werden als vorbereitende Maßnahmen für FTI-Projekte unterstützt:
(1) Anwendungsfälle für eine vorhandene Technologie
Es existiert bereits eine vorhandene technologische Lösung, aber es ist unklar, wie diese vorhandene Technologie am Markt angewendet werden kann bzw. welches Geschäftsmodell passt. Im Projekt können konkrete Anwendungsfälle erarbeitet und getestet werden. Am Ende steht die Erkenntnis, für welche Anwendungsfälle die technologische Lösung relevant ist und in welche F&E-Aktivitäten investiert werden soll.
(2) Ursachenanalyse
Es liegt ein konkretes und ungelöstes Problem vor, wobei die Ursachen nicht klar oder ausreichend untersucht sind. Förderbare Vorhaben analysieren dieses Problem im Detail und erkennen relevante Akteure. Die Probleme können einen technologischen Charakter oder aber gesellschaftliche Ursachen haben. Wichtig ist, dass auf Basis der Ergebnisse potenziell ein FTI-Projekt entsteht.
(3) Ausarbeitung und Erprobung eines technischen Konzepts
Es existieren technische Ideen, deren Lösungskonzept noch ausgearbeitet, überprüft oder entwickelt werden muss. Dies umfasst auch den Bau erster Prototypen, um die Validität von Konzepten und Machbarkeit zu testen. Wir unterstützen risikoreiche Konzepte, ausgefallene Ideen und technische Lösungsansätze für große, ungeklärte Probleme. Wichtig ist, dass naturwissenschaftliche Gesetze eingehalten werden.
(4) Strategie und Umsetzungsplanung großer Veränderungsprozesse
Viele disruptive und radikale Innovationen starten mit vagen Ideen, denen zur Umsetzung oftmals eine strukturierte Herangehensweise fehlt. Daher werden hier Vorhaben unterstützt, die als Vorbereitung für FTI-Projekte die Strategie und Vision, sowie einen Innovationsprozess entwickeln. Entsprechend der strategischen Zielsetzung von Expedition Zukunft ist ein Prozess gemeint, der über den herkömmlichen Strategieprozess von Organisationen hinausgeht und ambitionierte, globale Ziele ins Auge fasst: zB solche, die große Veränderungen in Märkten oder bei Zielgruppen vorbereiten, regulatorische Hürden ansprechen oder große technologische Umbrüche strategisch steuern.
Wie hoch ist die Förderung?
Die Unterstützung im Rahmen von Expedition Zukunft START erfolgt auf maximal 12 Monate und Projektkosten werden mit einem maximalen Zuschuss in der Höhe von € 80.000,- gefördert.
Für verschiedene Organisationen sind verschiedene Maximalanteile am Projektvolumen förderbar, und zwar:

Kleine Unternehmen: 70 %
Mittlere Unternehmen: 60 %
Forschungseinrichtungen: 80 %

Zusätzlich zur monetären Unterstützung begleitet Sie die FFG über die Förderung hinaus mit einer zentralen Ansprechperson und individuell auf das Vorhaben angepassten Services.

Guidelines for creating a user tailored EOSC Compliant PID Policy - D3.3 - Open for comments
2024-08-31 23:59 | Online
The Guidelines for creating a user tailored EOSC Compliant PID Policy (D3.3) formulates 16 guidelines for helping PID Managers to formulate an EOSC compliant PID policy.
The main source for the guidelines are the outcomes of the compliance assessment of the EOSC PID policy. Other sources of best practice are a review of national and institutional PID policies, outputs and recommendations of the Research Data Alliance (RDA), review of PID Stack documentation and published use of PIDs in workflows and specific use cases.
The results provided by the report are relevant for all actors in the PID Ecosystem, such as PID Service Providers, PID Owners, PID Authorities and PID Standards Bodies. The main target group, however, are PID Managers, who have the responsibility to maintain the integrity of the relationship between entities and their PIDs. PID Managers may include a provider of a data repository, a data catalogue, or a research workflow system.
This deliverable is opened for the external community review as well as review in the ongoing FAIR-IMPACT support programme Creating EOSC compliant Persistent Identifier (PID) policies. The period for the reviews is open until 2024-08-31
Provide your feedback in this shared document

Open Consultation: Crafting a vision for European Repositories
2024-08-31 23:59 | Online
In January 2023, OpenAIRE, LIBER, SPARC Europe, and COAR unveiled a joint strategy to strengthen the European repository network. This aim is to further strengthen the open science landscape in Europe by reinforcing and enhancing repositories across Europe by emphasizing their value, spreading best practices, and supporting the establishment of national networks.
Open Consultation – European Repository Strategy
As the first step, a comprehensive survey of the European repository landscape was conducted from February to March 2023. The survey revealed that European repositories collectively acquire, preserve, and provide open access to tens, if not hundreds, of millions of valuable research outputs, serving as critical, non-profit infrastructure in the European open science landscape. However, the survey also identified several areas needing improvement.
Specifically, repositories face three primary challenges:

Maintaining up-to-date, highly functional software platforms.
Implementing consistent and comprehensive best practices in metadata, preservation, and usage statistics.
Achieving appropriate visibility in the scholarly ecosystem.

Crafting a Vision for European Repositories
Based on these findings, it was agreed to prepare a position paper outlining our collective vision for the future of repositories in Europe. To achieve this, we are seeking input from various communities to gather insights and feedback. This open consultation is specifically designed to collect input from a variety of stakeholder communities, and your participation is vital.
We can’t do it alone—we need YOUR insights and feedback to shape this vision.

Give us your input

Your valuable contributions will help to inform the initial draft of the position paper, which will be refined through focus groups. Together, we can build a stronger, more connected European repository network.

Towards a Transparent Transition to Open Access: The Current Data Landscape
2024-09-03 14:00 - 15:00 | Online
LIBER’s Open Access Working Group invites you to this webinar to learn about the findings from two recent studies published on the financial aspects of transitioning to open access and to have a discussion roundtable on implications in libraries’ open access strategies moving forward. The webinar will be facilitated by Dr. Birgit Schmidt, Head of Knowledge Commons at the Göttingen State and University Library.
Speakers: Bianca Kramer, Independent Research Analyst at Sesame Open Science. Her work focuses on open science, open metadata and open infrastructure. Najko Jahn, Data Analyst at the State and University Library Göttingen, University of Göttingen. His work focuses on scholarly communication analytics.
DISCLAIMER: The event has a capacity of 500 persons; The event will be recorded.

NORDUnet Conference 2024 – NDN2024
2024-09-10 - 2024-09-12 | Bergen, Bergen, Norway
This 32nd edition will take place on 10th-12th September, 2024 in Bergen, Norway where Norwegian NREN Sikt together with NORDUnet will welcome everybody with a vested interest in the research and education community.
In line with the long-established way of shaping the conference there will be plenary sessions with compelling keynote speakers, parallel sessions that cover some of the most recent and relevant topics, ample room for hallway conversations, not forgetting the social networking events such as the opening reception and the dinner.
Participation continues to be both relevant to NREN and Campus staff, including researchers and scientists from all areas.
We will meet up at the Radisson Blu Hotel where the programme will unfold.

From open data to knowledge: enhancing European resilience to health crises
2024-09-11 10:00 - 17:00 | Brussels, Brussels, Belgium
The BY-COVID project is hosting a high-level event entitled “From open data to knowledge: enhancing European resilience to health crises” to highlight and discuss the value of open data and showcasing the impact of the project on science and society.
The event will feature panel discussions with experts from various sectors, including policy-makers from the European and international scene, industry and academia, who will share their insights and experiences when building innovative products, structuring alliances and sustaining long-term initiatives.
The event will also showcase a series of success stories from the BY-COVID project, demonstrating how integrating data from a range of domains can support research, public health and policy.
The interactive format of the event will allow all the participants to share experiences and discuss ways to empower pathogens and infectious disease research and sustain a good basis for future health crises.

Call for nominations Sarah Jones Award
2024-09-12 23:59 | Online
On the occasion of what would have been Sarah’s 43rd birthday, the Research Data Alliance launched a call for nominations for The Sarah Jones Award for exceptional contribution to fostering collaboration in Open Science on 14 June 2024 in Prague. Sarah Jones served as a member of the EOSC Association Board of Directors since 2021 until her passing in 2023.

She was also an esteemed member of the Research Data Alliance (RDA) Council and the RDA Technical Advisory Board. The annual award honours Sarah’s memory and her significant contributions to the Open Science community globally. You can read more about Sarah’s life and career on her EOSC-A webpage.
Nominations
The RDA invites nominations for the Sarah Jones Award for individuals who have demonstrated an exceptional contribution to fostering collaboration in Open Science. The deadline for nominations is Thursday, 12 September 2024.
The impact the nominated individual has made can be on an organisational, community or individual level. The award is open to all nominees and not restricted to members of the RDA community, however a demonstration of contribution within the RDA community is of great importance.
The winner will be announced during the 23rd RDA Plenary Meeting between 12-14 November 2024 in Costa Rica and will receive a physical award, a certificate, and be included on the RDA Sarah Jones Award website listing with details of the exceptional contribution. Finally, the winner will have access to a fund to be invested in activities relevant to the winning activities.
Donations
The RDA is accepting donations to the fund for the Sarah Jones Award 2024. All contributions go to the award.

Open Science Stories
2024-09-16 - 2024-09-22
Amplifying the work of the scientific community made possible through our open science tools.
Now in its fifth year, Open Science Week will take place Sept. 16-22, 2024. Leaders, producers, educators and users of open science are encouraged to engage with this campaign. A celebration of open science in all its forms – Open Science Week calls attention to scientists and organizations who share their tools, resources and data openly to accelerate research and discovery. This annual celebration, founded and coordinated by the Allen Institute, takes place during the third week of September.
