Winning proposals with Open Science: time for an update

Can #OpenScience make your next grant proposal more competitive, reproducible, and with a solid ground for societal impact? Is there a "section" funder expect you to tick off, and why is that a poor strategy? Where is the EC Evaluator evidence that #OpenScience makes any impact at grant proposal evaluation?

These are some of the questions that fueled the generation of the Winning Horizon2020 with Open Science back in 2015. Since, and thanks to two rounds of funding from H2020 FOSTER and FOSTER+ Projects, the brief for Reseachers, Grants Officers and Research Support staff has been tested in over 100 applications across Horizon 2020 instruments.

The societal impact of Open Science has recently been elevated on the global stage, as COVID19 situation yet again reminds us of how much more open research could be. Even if the details are yet to come, EC has made its position clear with respect to Open Science in #HorizonEU for coming 7 years: Open Science is embedded in the WorkProgramme and according to Kostas Glinos (Head of Unit for Open Science at EC) grant applicants will be evaluated on their Open Science performance as part of the "Excellence" criteria.

As a result of all this, and inspired by the recent amazing efforts by librarian colleagues at Un. Lille, Lorraine, Strasbourg, it is time to update "Winning Horizon 2020 with Open Science" for the next few years. The goal is to do so with the institutional actors in the Research Ecosystem most likely to need such an aid, and the evidence behind it from the past 5 years of testing.

Calling all institutional Open Science Officers, Open Science Ambassadors, Young Researcher Representatives, Grant Officers (with a weakness for Open Science!), NCPs and NOADs that might already be working in the same direction in supporting young researchers and #HorizonEU applicants to MAKE OPEN THE DEFAULT!

Contact @OAforClimate on Twitter or via mail.

Image DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3056