Knowledge Exchange Newsletter December 2016
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Knowledge Exchange news
Welcome to the fourth Knowledge Exchange (KE) newsletter of 2016.
The purpose of Knowledge Exchange is to exchange knowledge, build expert networks and cooperate between partners, with special a focus on Research Data, Open Access and Open Scholarship. KE has an open eye for emerging opportunities to enhance and support an open higher education and research infrastructure.
CNRS joins Knowledge Exchange!
As of 1 January 2017 Knowledge Exchange will be six partners with French CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) joining the initiative. For Renaud Fabre, Director of CNRS Scientific and Technical Information Department, this is “a natural consequence of the fruitful exchanges and cooperation which already exist between KE and CNRS and which we want to develop further”. Bas Cordewener, Coordinator of Knowledge Exchange welcomes a major research organisation in Europe joining Knowledge Exchange: “CNRS taking part in our explorative work will enrich our exchanges and help to increase relevance and impact of the KE activities“.
Since the Strategy Forum in May 2016, CNRS and Knowledge Exchange have been working to integrate CNRS interests in KE’s strategic direction, including a strong focus on Open Scholarship, and CNRS participation in KE expert groups on Open Access and Research Data. On the first of January the membership will be completed with a new Collaboration Agreement between six partners and CNRS represented in all organisational parts of KE.
Our Latest Work
Open Scholarship priorities and advisory group
A year since the KE Event ‘Pathways to Open Scholarship’, a lot of thinking and discussion has led to clear ideas how KE will work on this important and overarching strategic theme.
A KE Open Scholarship framework has been developed, in which a variety of challenges (e.g. legal, financial, incentives) towards research being truly open is combined with the phases in the Research Life Cycle (e.g. discovery, applying for a grant, publication), forming a matrix of potential areas of work. After consultation with renowned experts in this area Knowledge Exchange have prioritised two topics: ‘The Economy of Open Science’ and ‘Open Scholarship from the Researcher’s Perspective’.
The KE Open Scholarship Advisory Group (KEOSAG) has recently been established. In this advisory group, experts that have a thorough insight into Open Scholarship issues will advise KE. Confirmed experts in KEOSAG are Martin Fenner, Michael Svendsen, Sascha Friesike, Cameron Neylon, Laurents Sesink, Jessica Parland von Essen, Mogens Sandfær, Wilma van Wezenbeek, Magchiel Bijsterbosch and Serge Bauin. Their role will be a ‘Think Tank Plus’: to provide their expert views and beliefs towards the most relevant challenges and effective approaches, as well as to reflect and comment on resulting outcomes. The first meeting of KEOSAG and an Open Scholarship community workshop are planned for the first half of 2017. Watch this space!
Recommendations for a Repository for RDM Training Materials
Following the KE workshop in February 2016 and the resulting workshop report 'Training for Research Data Management: Comparative European Approaches', Knowledge Exchange have now published recommendations for the creation of an international repository for information on training resources.
To make existing nationally focused training material Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) an international initiative is needed to establish a repository or platform to deposit or link Training Materials on RDM. Following the publication of these recommendations, Knowledge Exchange will make an effort to bring together national Research Data Infrastructures to discuss how the need for a repository for Training Materials on RDM could be tackled.
In the Pipeline
Monitoring of OA publication and cost data (2.0)
An Open Access Monitoring workshop took place at the Royal Library in Copenhagen on 29 and 30 November. Over 50 attendees from 11 countries exchanged approaches, experiences and views regarding the monitoring of OA publications and OA costs. A thorough/kick ass report with recommendations on issues such as quality of data collection, efficiency of workflows, aggregation standards and policy alignment are expected to be published in February 2017.
Follow-up activity on KE work on Open Access Policies
The KE report Putting Down Roots, Securing the future of open access policies and a consequent KE facilitated session for stakeholders at the Open Science Conference organised by the Dutch Ministry of Education (April 2016), both informed the Amsterdam Call for Action on Open Science.
SPARC Europe is now exploring the feasibility of setting up a Committee with a number of high-level trusted stakeholders from the international funding, research and library communities to see how to help fund some of the world’s important OA services. These currently include LIBER, EIFL, European University Association (EUA), The European Research Council (ERC), Science Europe, the Australasian Open Access Strategy Group (AOASG), the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL), and SPARC (US).
Research Software Sustainability
A telephone exchange on partner’s initiatives and ambitions around Research Software Sustainability took place on 6 December. Besides useful insights and sharing of resources and ideas, topics were listed that might be taken up by KE. Follow-up activities will be shared with you in early 2017.
Study on Federated Research Data Infrastructure
Pilot interviews on Federated Research Data Infrastructure are underway. Based on the results, interviews will be held in the six KE partner countries, exploring various aspects of infrastructure (services) being federated. How does ‘federated-ness’ influence research practice? Can we learn from good and bad examples? Use cases, analysis and recommendations for emerging federated infrastructures are foreseen to become available before summer 2017.
Other news
Partner Representation in KE
The addition of CNRS wasn’t the only change this year, and you may wish to know the colleagues that are currently working as partner representatives in the Knowledge Exchange Group (KEG) are: Karin van Grieken (SURF), Riina Salmivalli (CSC), Herbert Grüttemeier (CNRS), Matthias Katerbow (DFG), Christian Hagen Thomasen (DEFF) and Verena Weigert (Jisc).
The KE Steering Group (KESG) are: John Doove (SURF), Bo Öhrström (DEFF), Rachel Bruce (Jisc), Stefan Winkler-Nees (DFG), Irina Kupiainen (CSC), and Serge Bauin (CNRS).
Thank you & best wishes!
Nearing the end of 2016 we would like to thank all experts for their generous and enlightening contributions to our work. You made true knowledge exchange really happen. We hope to meet again in 2017. We wish you a very good Christmas and an excellent start in the New Year.
On behalf of the Knowledge Exchange team,
Bas Cordewener, Knowledge Exchange Coordinator
Feedback or comments on this newsletter? You can contact us at office@knowledge-exchange.info or visit our website
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