Open Science Conference 2023

Since 2019, when the Dag Hammarskjöld Library held the 1st Open Science Conference at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the global open movement has been significantly enriched with new national and international policies and frameworks as well as daring and visionary initiatives, both private and public.

At the 2nd Global Open Science Conference, From Tackling the Pandemic to Addressing Climate Change, in July 2021 more than a year into the pandemic that had upturned daily lives globally, participants from around the world engaged in a public dialogue focusing on what open science has learned from COVID-19 and how this can be applied into actions addressing the global climate crisis, at the interface of science, technology, policy and research. The Conference took stock of actions undertaken nationally and internationally, collected lessons learned and identified directions for the way forward. Open science was recognized as the keystone to assert everyone’s right “to share in scientific advancement and its benefits”. Speakers and audience asked for the complete overhaul of outdated scientific processes, publishing and research assessment practices that oppose open science principles, proposed global curation infrastructures for the record of science and platform-agnostic discovery services, as well as enhanced bibliodiversity, inclusivity, and multilingualism.

On 23 November 2021, following an inclusive, transparent and multistakeholder consultative process, UNESCO’s Recommendation on Open Science was adopted by 193 Member States during the 41st session of the Organization’s General Conference. “This Recommendation outlines a common definition, shared values, principles and standards for open science at the international level and proposes a set of actions conducive to a fair and equitable operationalization of open science for all at the individual, institutional, national, regional and international levels.” So what comes next?

From 8 to 10 February 2023 – in the lead-up to the International Day of Women and Girls in Science –, the 3rd Open Science Conference will bring together policy makers, representatives of intergovernmental organizations, researchers, scholars, librarians, publishers and civil society. Under the theme Accelerating the Sustainable Development Goals, Democratizing the Record of Science they will engage in a dialogue about the opportunities and challenges of practicing open science and explore initiatives, themes and perspectives into the open scientific method and the digital scholarly communications cycle.

Under the three main themes

• Equity in open scholarship,
• Reforming scientific publishing, and
• Strengthening the science-policy-society interface

conference registrants will be able to participate in discussions about the present and future of open science practices for the SDGs and reaffirm that scientific progress and its applications are for the benefit of all.

The roundtable discussion among 19 eminent personalities in open science that preceded the Library’s 2019 Conference resulted in a document of principles elaborating on the necessary elements needed for the creation of a Global Open Science Commons for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the 3rd Open Science Conference, we will also revisit this idea and the way forward.

 For more information on the programme, registartion and more, please click here.