Facilitating equitable collaborations: the National Open Science Week returns to Leiden University
In the week of 14-18 September, we celebrate the national Open Science Week at Leiden University. What is your next step towards open, inclusive and equitable science?
For the third year in a row, the Network of Open Science Communities in the Netherlands organises the National Open Science Week to celebrate and appreciate the important role of Open Science in the advancement of science. In Leiden, the theme this year is ‘Facilitating Equitable Collaborations Through Open Science’. Open Science is increasingly supported by universities around the world and is changing the way that research is done, disseminated and reused. Nonetheless, how Open Science is practiced within universities varies due to policy differences, resourcing capacity and local preferences.
Understanding the power of Open Science to enable equitable collaborations requires that we start having conversations about how to navigate these differences and variations. How, it becomes important to ask, can collaborations ensure that openness works for everyone in the team and does not unfairly burden or stress certain members.
Kick off workshop
To kick off the national 2026 Open Science Week in Leiden, we look into how Open Science can enhance equitable collaborations through the Open Science NL funded workshop Enhancing Equitable Collaborations through Open Science. The ambition of this workshop is to start a national dialogue on how Open Science commitments can be more strategically positioned in inter-university partnerships. We build on the recently set up partnership between the University of Ghana and Leiden University, as part of which research support staff are having bilateral conversations on similarities and differences of approaches, sharing capacity building opportunities, and developing an ‘open science checklist’. During the workshop we will broaden this to a national discussion.
Join the other Open Science events during the week
- Tuesday 15 September – A Spotlight on the Leiden UNESCO Chairs: How can science become more open, inclusive and equitable? (Requires registration)
- Wednesday 16 September – Open Science Coffee: How can we build a sustainable future for the quality assurance of our research publications?
- Thursday 17 September – Workshop: Open Up DIY Journals (Requires registration)
- Thursday 17 September – Impact or Integrity? Publishing Dilemmas in Archaeology
- Friday 18 September – Researching Open Science (Requires registration)
Ask all your Open Science questions
During the entire week we will raise awareness of the various support services and support structures that exist. Did you know you can ask all your Open Science related questions to the Open Science Community at Leiden via the dedicated OSCL teams channel?