Participation in the international conference “Open Science Fair 2025”

From 15 to 17 of September, representatives of the Latvian Data Stewards Network Svetlana Sokolova (RTU), Danija Maļceva (LU) and Agate Jarmakoviča (RSU) participated in the international conference “Open Science Fair 2025”.

This valuable and inspiring experience allowed data stewards from Latvian universities to get an in-depth look at the developing trends of open science in Europe. The conference discussed issues such as data management standards, digital security solutions, reproducibility, infrastructure sustainability and ethical responsibility in research. The conference emphasised that open science cannot be reduced only to access to data – it requires a structured and community-coordinated approach throughout the research cycle.

The event took place at CERN – the European Organization for Nuclear Research – which symbolically confirms the connection between data-intensive science and openness. Leading researchers and policymakers from different European countries presented projects, tools and examples of how to build collaborative infrastructures and support systems. The role of communities in the development of data standards was particularly emphasised, as well as the need for clearly defined policies in the field of data management and scientific communication.

Data stewards established professional contacts with three experts: Prof. Dr. Yusuf Baran (Türkiye Izmir Technical University), who shared his experience of successfully integrating open science into university policies, Vladimir Otasevic (University of Belgrade), who presented an artificial intelligence solution for protecting open data repositories against bot attacks, combining the principles of security and openness, and Hana Jensterle (Univerza v Mariboru), who presented a strategy for supporting researchers and structured data management at her university, where a comprehensive open science policy has been developed. The possibility of further cooperation was discussed with all experts – including the development of joint projects in the field of open science infrastructure, the involvement of experts in seminars in Latvia, and experience exchange initiatives for researchers and data management specialists.