Working group for open science trainings

Head: Daniel Dörler, BOKU University

The open science trainings working group is concerned with specific open science tools and their discipline-specific application. Tools that are used in the entire research cycle are brought together in regular meetings. The tools identified form the basis for training workshops in which the use of the individual tools is explained. Experts are invited to lead the training workshops. The results are collected, processed and, where possible, made available online.

The open science trainings working group has set itself the goal of promoting the dissemination of Open Science methods and facilitating their implementation in everyday scientific work. Project managers often lack knowledge of specific tools or their application. The training workshops, which are available to all interested parties, follow a “train-the-trainer” approach, where those who complete them should acquire the knowledge needed to then be able to pass on that knowledge of how to use specific tools to others. The goal is to offer discipline-specific training workshops. Workshops are announced on Österreich forscht.

The working group was established in 2018 in cooperation with the Open Innovation in Science Center at the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft and the Open Science Network Austria (OANA). In July 2019, the working group was transferred to a collaboration project as part of Wissenstransferzentrum Ost (WTZ Ost). The associated funding will make it possible to hold regular training workshops and provide a more intensive range of trainings until the end of 2021. If you are interested in the working group, please contact Daniel Dörler (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or Benjamin Missbach (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) at any time.

Previously organized training-workshops:

GitHub 4 Newbies (25/10/2018):

Trainer: Stefan Kasberger

The GitHub 4 Newbies workshop was designed to introduce the concept of version control to scientists who do not have a technical affinity for the GitHub platform. This should enable participants to share their own projects, events and other activities with the community and to participate in other GitHub projects themselves.

Finding and getting found: a workshop on academic literature search (26/04/2019):

Trainer: Peter Kraker

In this workshop, questions concerning the search for scientific literature and how innovative tools based on Open Content can help to solve these questions were discussed. Specifically, Open Knowledge Maps, a visual interface to scientific knowledge, was presented in detail. Search engines and so-called discovery tools are also a way for other people to find research. The participants learned more about how these tools work and how you can use this knowledge to their advantage. Dr. Peter Kraker gave practical tips to finally answer the question: How do I get my research to appear in search engines and discovery tools?

How can I make my data FAIR? (27/06/2019):

Trainers: Daniel Spichtinger and Susanne Blumesberger

What is open data and is open data necessarily good data? Meanwhile, open data is a prerequisite for the registration of citizen science projects on Österreich forscht to be listed as a project on the platform. In addition, the preparation of data is now regulated by the FAIR Data Concept (Findable - Accessible - Interoperable - Reproducible). What is FAIR data and how can I prepare my data in a "fair" way are questions that more and more researchers are asking themselves. In this hands-on workshop, the aim was to take a closer look at their own data. Daniel Spichtinger and Susanne Blumesberger led this workshop together and guided the workshop participants to check their own data for FAIRe principles. The goal of the workshop was to prepare one's own research data in such a way that it complies with these principles.

Open Science & Care: Opportunities and Barriers - a Dialogue (25/11/2019)

Trainers: Petra Sallaba, Barbara Kieslinger, Jakob Doppler

Care plays a major role in an ageing society. The demand for care is increasing alongside the average age in society, as is the cost of care. Research in the field of care is primarily conducted from this perspective of rising costs. However, care concerns not only medical services that can lead to costs and added value for society, but also a social aspect between carers and those being cared for that is often disregarded, despite having a major impact on the success of care. It is therefore all the more important to initiate research projects that are focused on the needs of those being cared for and those who are carers. This can only take place with the involvement of carers and those being cared for. Participatory and clearly designed research into care is therefore particularly important. Nevertheless, comparably few research projects are participatory and clearly designed, which is mainly because research of this nature creates new challenges for project managers. The three-hour workshop provided an insight into open and participative research, started a dialogue between researchers and carers and those being cared for and showed what opportunities there are to use open methods for your own research. All information about and results from this workshop are available for free on the website of the Center for Open Science. 

Webinar: Digitization and Participation in Health Research (07.07.2020)

Trainers: Barbara Prainsack, Pietro Michelucci, Johannes Oberzaucher

Corona presents us all with different challenges. Very often the keyword digitization is currently used to enable seemingly new forms of collaboration and participation. This webinar, which is being organized in the framework of the Knowledge Transfer Center East, aims to show which digitization steps and participation opportunities have been available in this field for a long time, how they have been received, which opportunities have arisen, which hurdles have been overcome, but also what we can learn from them for the future. Critical questions were raised in the introduction: What does digitization mean in this area of research, which is also very much based on sensitive and highly personal data? Will digitization and participation also automatically make research cheaper because no premises and fewer staff are required? Where are the limits of digitization and participation beyond laboratory-based research? The possibilities and opportunities arising from digitization and participation were also discussed in the introduction: personalized medicine is within reach as a result of digitization. New questions concerning the lives of patients that were not previously addressed can now be heard and implemented. Three projects were then presented that show how digitization and participation can look like in concrete terms:

• Stall Catchers by EyesOnAlz: Stall Catchers is an online game that anyone can play - experience is not required. In the game you watch films from the brains of mice and try to identify vessels as open or blocked. This helps to accelerate Alzheimer's research at Cornell University.
• Smart VitAAlity: Within the framework of Smart VitAAlity, an integrated Active and Assisted Living system in the Smart City Setting "Health, Inclusion and Assisted Living" is being evaluated together with 230 senior citizens. The service aims at a long-term preservation of the quality of life and its dimensions (health, social inclusion) as well as a positive influence of subjective well-being.

In a concluding group discussion the experience and findings were reflected upon and the online audience had the opportunity to ask questions.

The webinar and all slides of the speakers are now freely available on the Open Science Framework site of WTZ Ost.

Workshop: senseBox - Citizen Science and Open Hardware for SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements

The number of people living in cities will rise to over 5 billion by 2030. With this increase, existing challenges will come into even sharper focus. Together with citizens, concepts must be developed and awareness created for sustainable living.

The participation of citizens in the design of their living space increases the quality of life and identification with their own city or district. By observing the air quality in the district, an understanding of the connections between traffic, heating or the use of stoves and high fine dust pollution can be built up and, in the best case, an adjustment of one's own actions for the benefit of the entire city can happen. Furthermore, air quality measurements are often not openly available or transparent, and are often not available across the board. Although there are official standards, these are not sufficient to provide a comprehensive picture of air quality. However, the quality of living and resource-saving and healthy living in one's own four walls can also be improved, e.g. through the use of correct ventilation strategies. Here, too, the focus is on the triad of observation, understanding and action. SDG 11 of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations aims to create liveable cities and settlements. Air quality is an important factor in this. For this, methods from the context of Open Science, especially the use of open source hardware and software and the generation of open data, are advantageous. This guarantees transparency and makes it possible to compare different districts. The senseBox offers a tool that enables citizens to participate in the generation of data and is also openly available hardware.

In the workshop on 18.12.2020 which was conducted online as part of the Knowledge Transfer Centre East, three sensors were installed which are important in the context of Healthy Living: Environmental Sensor, Fine Dust Sensor and CO2 Sensor for the indoor area. The CO2 sensor can be used, for example, during the time of the corona pandemic to indicate when a room needs to be ventilated. The environmental sensor can measure several values such as humidity or temperature. The fine dust sensor is used to measure fine dust particles of different sizes.The workshop provided a challenging but very rewarding introduction to the senseBox ecosystem and all its possibilities. Participants were able to gain insight into an open tool and also used the workshop to ask questions and discuss. We hope to have laid a good foundation for further projects with the senseBox.

All slides of the speakers are now freely available on the Open Science Framework site of WTZ Ost.

Workshop: Open Education: Presentations, Slides & open licences

Trainers: Sandra Schön, Joachim Losehand

Due to the current situation, online education has gained a lot of importance. Most meetings, training sessions or teaching events now take place via video conferencing. Teachers and lecturers constantly face the challenge of finding new resources for their (teaching) events and adapting them for the needs of their audience. In addition, every work is protected by copyright law and may not be modified or republished without the permission of the creators. This makes the already challenging task of providing appropriate materials even more complex. In a three-hour workshop Dr. Sandra Schön (Forum Neue Medien in der Lehre Austria, short fnma, for the project "Open Education Austria Advanced") presented Open Educational Resources (OER) as a solution to the problem described above. Dr. Joachim Losehand, M.A., M.A. (Creative Commons Austria) gave an overview of the Austrian copyright law and explained how open licensing through Creative Commons can also be used for online lectures.

All slides of the speakers are now freely available on the Open Science Framework site of WTZ Ost.

Webinar & Workshop: Copernicus: Using Europe's satellite data for your own climate research

Trainers: Christian Fuchs, Edward Comyn-Platt, Thomas Nagler, Wouter Dorigo, Markus Immitzer, Martin Sudmanns

The current societal challenges are vast and can only be tackled in a joint effort: Climate change, the biodiversity crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic are just a few of them. The last months have shown us in particular that in order to deal with these crises, large amounts of data must be freely available to be able to react quickly. With Copernicus, the European Union has implemented an Earth observation system based on satellites that renders global data on our environment and security openly available in near real time. This can meet needs at both global and regional levels to better understand our planet and sustainably protect the environment in which we live. Citizens worldwide - from policy makers and researchers to commercial and private users - as well as the global scientific community benefit from Copernicus data and the information it provides. Copernicus provides open-access services in a number of areas, including directly contributing to the monitoring of climate change. This three-hour event, entitled "Copernicus: Using Europe's satellite data for your own climate research", presented the European Earth observation programme Copernicus using a variety of examples from polar research, water monitoring, vegetation analysis and agriculture. The broad range of speakers also shows that the expertise on Copernicus in Austria is very large and that all speakers are open to new collaborations.

All slides of the speakers are now freely available on the Open Science Framework site of WTZ Ost.

Webinar & Workshop: How to win grants with open science

Trainers: Ivo Grigorov, Marion Poetz, Barbara Sanchez-Solis, Vanessa Hannesschläger, Michalis Tzatzanis, Florian Heigl, Daniel Dörler

Since the start of the EU's Horizon Europe funding programme, Open Science is a prerequisite for successful applications. But other funding bodies also increase their funding when projects use Open Science methods. Science should be open, data should be accessible and the population should be involved. But although Open Science is gaining more importance than ever, the definition and the methods that are counted as such are often unclear. In this event, the most important aspects of Open Science were presented by experts and the definitions of the different aspects of Open Science of the European Commission were explained. This presentation is intended to provide applicants and National Contact Points with a basis for implementing or advising on Open Science methods.

All slides of the speakers are now freely available on the Open Science Framework site of WTZ Ost.

Webinar: How to address Open Science in EU projects

Presenters: Michalis Tzatzanis, Barbara Sanchez, Florian Heigl, Daniel Dörler

With the start of the EU’s Horizon Europe, Open Science is a prerequisite for successful applications. But other funding bodies also increase their funding when projects use Open Science methods. Science should be open, data should be accessible and the public should be involved. Although Open Science is gaining more importance than ever, the definition and the methods that are counted as such are often unclear. In this webinar, the definitions of the different Open Science elements of the European Commission were explained. It also provided practical guidance for implementing the so-called mandatory and recommended Open Science practices. This event was part of the event series “Research Data Management in Austria”.

All slides of the speakers are now freely available on Phaidra, the recording of the webinar is available on Youtube.

Sustainability Award 2022

The workshops organized in the working group in the framework of the "Innovation Matters"-project funded by the AWS received the Sustainability Award 2022. Find more information in the corresponding blog post (in German).