Open Research Data Agreement SERI
Swiss Scientific institutions adopt the Open Research Data Strategy Action Plan
The external pageOpen Research Data (ORD) Action Plancall_made specifies the measures of the ORD Strategy published in July 2021. It represents a further step for swissuniversities, the ETH Board, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) as well as the Academies of Arts and Sciences towards facilitating access to research data and thus Open Science.
The ORD Strategy published in July 2021 contains four objectives for the Swiss ORD landscape: The targeted development and support of ORD solutions based on the needs and ORD practices of the respective research communities, the strategic development and consolidation of infrastructures and services, the promotion of researchers’ ORD skills and sharing of best practices, as well as the development of systemic, supportive frameworks for institutions and research communities.
Four action areas have been defined in the ORD Action Plan to achieve these objectives. The Action Plan furthermore describes different action lines within the action areas. The action lines lie in the primary responsibility of one of the partner institutions, which implements them in coordination with the others. The Action Plan covers the years 2022 to 2028.
external pageMore information on the ORD Action Plancall_made
swissuniversities, 26 January 2022
By adopting the Open Research Data (ORD) Strategy, swissuniversities has taken a further step towards Open Science and follows on the existing Open Access strategy. The ORD Strategy was developed jointly by swissuniversities, the ETH Domain, the SNSF and the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences and focuses on the open access to research data. Through the principles of open access and reusability of research data, ORD practices support transparent and reproducible research findings.
The ORD Strategy is developed on the basis of an agreement with the SERI and in coordination with the ERI partners. It is supported by the ETH Board, the SNSF, ETH Zurich, EPF Lausanne and the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences. The measures and the implementation steps of the Strategy will be specified into an action plan by the end of the year.
swissuniversities, 1 July 2021
In late January 2020, the SERI, swissuniversities, the SNSF and the two Federal Institutes of Technology signed an agreement to establish a national Open Research Data (ORD) strategy. The aim of the agreement is to provide the Swiss academic community with a vision and common objectives regarding processing, storing, accessing and reusing research data. This strategy needs to complement the external pageOpen Access strategycall_made set out in 2017, which aims to create a coherent and ambitious Open Science policy over time in Switzerland that is aligned with European and global developments in the field.
The ORD strategy is expected to be devised during the course of 2020 and approved by the Swiss Higher Education Council in early 2021. At the same time, researchers are to carry out an analysis to get a better idea of the infrastructures and practices currently in place as well as the needs of higher education institutions. Based on the information on these two aspects, a plan of action will be developed between the second half of 2020 and the first half of 2021 to define in more detail the measures to be taken to coordinate ORD practices in Switzerland. There are also plans to launch an impulse programme in 2022, which will be financed by project contributions in accordance with the Federal Act on Funding and Coordination of the Swiss Higher Education Sector. There are plans for swissuniversities to request around CHF 30 million in 2021 for this very purpose.
swissuniversities have been tasked with overseeing the initiative, which will be undertaken by its Open Science Delegation. The delegation brings together the signatory organisations of the agreement, the representatives of the cantonal universities, Universities of Applied Sciences and Universities of Teacher Education as well as academic libraries and IT departments. A project group has been set up to work on the initiative.
The involvement of the entire academic community is something that the initiative’s promoters hold very dear. Expert meetings and consultation periods are planned to take place throughout the process. swissuniversities will ensure that communication on the subject is proactive.
swissuniversities, 18 March 2020