Which role for society in Europe’s research future? Open science in research evaluation and assessment

The future of open science, research assessment and evaluation is currently under intense debate in Brussels, Berlin and other capitals – not least given its potential impact on scientific careers and projects across Europe and at the international level. In recent months, the European Commission has included open science as a criterion in the “excellence” part of its evaluation criteria for Horizon Europe funding, while the current French presidency of the EU emphasised this topic inter alia at its Open Science European Conference (OSEC) in February.

Nonetheless, there is a sense that many of these forward-looking discussions often overlook a key component of open science (as defined by UNESCO), beyond open access and open data – namely, the rationale and processes for stakeholder inclusion throughout the research value chain. Against this backdrop, the Berlin University Alliance is convening a high-level public conference in Brussels on June 30 to explore when, where and why it is truly beneficial to involve stakeholders in European science – and by extension how that should be recognised and rewarded going forward. Among the topics to be addressed around this central theme:

• Are policy makers and research organisations on the same page?
• Should stakeholder inclusion matter in basic research?
• Is a more open approach to research evaluation the key to mainstreaming SSH?
• Could transdisciplinary research point the way forward for Horizon’s ‘moonshot’ missions?
• Does medical translational science offer a template for solving global challenges with society?