Open Data and Data Management - Issues and Challenges
SCNAT Workshop for Swiss stakeholders
The SCNAT is organizing this one day event in Bern, with the aim to give the research community the chance to raise their concern and also the SNF and the European Commission to present their view and to inform about recent trends. The workshop should provide recommendations on how to implement the open data requirements.

In recent years a number of changes in scientific research took place, under the umbrella of the ‘open science’ label. Open access has essentially been introduced, and researchers from the sciences took the lead when introducing the preprint arXiv many years ago. Many researchers followed the path of open source by making their simulation codes publicly available. Presently the introduction of open data (and open data management plans) are on the horizon (or already introduced) by many European Funding Agencies.
However, the concept of ‘Open Data’ is also widely debated. While in certain fields the full disclosure of research data is suitable and straightforward, and happens thus naturally, in others it can become a burden and possibly affect research productivity. Its implementation leads to the following questions:
Can data of very diverse fields, from biology, chemistry, pharmacy, physics, geology, meteorology, material science, particle physics, mathematics, astronomy, etc. be treated in the same way?
How should one deal with data that are subject to competition with research groups from other (non-European) countries where other rules are in place?
What kind/level of data products must be disclosed?
How large is the effort to disclose the data in a useful way and are there enough resources?
Téléchargements/Liens
- Minutes of the Workshop on Open Data and Data Management 2018
- Open Data Workshop 2018: Talk 1 on the EU policies by Jean-Claude Burgelman and Christophe Rossel
- Open Data Workshop 2018: Talk 2 on the SNSF views by Matthias Egger
- Open Data Workshop 2018: Talk 3 experience at PSI by Joël Mesot
- Open Data Workshop 2018: Talk 4 experience in Biology by Florian Altermatt
- Open Data Workshop 2018: Talk 5 experience in Chemistry by Marcel Mayor
- Open Data Workshop 2018: Talk 6 experience in CERN by Robert Jones
- Open Data Workshop 2018: Talk 7 experience in Space Sciences by Nicolas Thomas
- Open Data Workshop 2018: Talk 8 experience in Data Management by Ana Sesartic Petrus
- Open Data Workshop 2018: Discussions in the working groups
- Open Data Workshop 2018: A retrospective view by Friedrich Thielemann
Sujets correspondants

Open science is a complex and transversal topic that can only be understood when a variety of point of views collide. We invited world-class researchers and policy makers to give their perspective on the promises and challenges of open and reproducible science.
Image : EPFLCe Factsheet contient des recommandations sur la mise en oeuvre de l’Open Access et de l’Open Data afin de promouvoir le progrès scientifique et de bénéficier à la société en Suisse.
Image : Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences
The conference aims to: • Highlight the limitations of metrics in capturing scientific quality and the resulting pressure on the quality of scientific output; • Present assessment approaches - San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment DORA, Leiden Manifesto for Research Metrics - that challenge conventional metrics; • Consider whether steps are necessary to maintain the high quality of the Swiss science landscape long-term.
Image : PhotocaseOrganised by the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT), the one-day workshop on Open Data and Data Management gathered around 120 participants on Monday, 29 October 2018 in Berne. Globally, it was a very successful event enabling the sharing of partially contrasting opinions on the topic by all involved parties. The main outcome is that a general practice cannot be followed, because each scientific field has its specific needs and limitations.
Image : Platform MAP / SCNAT
On the national and the international level science is pushing towards Open Data. As noble as the principle is, the challenges for scientists are immense. Nicolas Thomas, space scientist from the University of Bern, will talk at the event «Open Data and Data Management – Issues and Challenges» on 29 October in Bern.
Image : Physikalisches Institut, Universität Bern