The need for transparent, reproducible and impactful social science research has never been greater, sparking a cultural change across Europe’s leading social science institutions.
Leading this transformation is CIVICA, the European University of Social Sciences, which has strategically integrated Open Science (OS) initiatives into its core mission. The key mechanism is the establishment of local Open Science Communities (OSCs) across the alliance institutions, creating an inclusive, shared ecosystem of best practices and advocacy.
Open Science aims “to make multilingual scientific knowledge openly available, accessible and reusable for everyone” (UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, 2021) ensuring collaborations and knowledge exchange in an inclusive mechanism for advancing the betterment of society.
The CIVICA Open Science Incubator Programme
Recognising that cultural change requires structure and support, CIVICA launched a dedicated Train-the-Trainer, Open Science Incubator Programme. This programme’s approach was a structured, six-week initiative designed to build and sustain institutional OSCs.
The programme moved institutions from initial conceptual discussions to formalized communities by guiding them through critical steps:
Laying the Foundation: The first week focused on understanding the OS model, its relevance within the UNESCO recommendations, and defining their institutional community’s vision and mission.
Launch Strategy: The second week established a concrete strategy for creation, including identifying early adopters, planning launch activities, and establishing a web presence.
Sustainability and Engagement: The following weeks of the programme focused on developing active recruitment and communication strategies, identifying institutional stakeholders, and crucially building a funding strategy for long-term sustainability and scalability that integrates diversity, equity, and inclusion principles.
The Incubator Programme successfully brought together researchers, librarians, and research support staff, establishing a dedicated communications channel to facilitate vital knowledge exchange and experience-sharing across the CIVICA institutions. This foundational work ensured that the resulting OSCs were more than theoretical concepts, a viable and localised entities ready to drive proactive transformation.
Building Institutional Momentum: From Master-Plan to Practice
The success of the Incubator programme has brought about strategic shifts which are now underway across the alliance. Each institution has tailored its community to its specific academic culture, resulting in a rich tapestry of systemic change to Open Science practices:
Establishing Open Science Anatomy
Institutions are shaping their focus on developing the tools and governance for lasting change:
Policy and Capacity Building:
As a direct outcome of the incubator training programme, at National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, the community’s efforts secured funding from the Romanian Ministry of Education for the project titled “Strengthening Institutional Capacity for Research and Promoting Open Science”. This project aims to develop a core Open Science Community, conduct studies on faculty perceptions, and establish key Open Science policy and strategy, alongside developing the institutional digital repository.
Similarly, the SGH Warsaw School of Economics is also focused on structural change, proposing the transformation of its current Science Unit into a dedicated Centre for supporting and advancing Open Science and integrating a research data repository into its digital ecosystem.
Dedicated Support and Resources:
Sciences Po, offers dedicated support on intellectual property, assessing open success models, and managing article processing charges (APCs) through an open access fund for PhD students and post-docs.
Through its Open Science Community, the IE University focuses on creating a supportive environment by offering practical tools, training sessions like ‘Open Science Meet & Greets’, and developing a dedicated research section on their library website.
The LSE’s Open Research Services team provides the Open Research Working Group and Library dedicated guides on open research covering topics like ‘Using Wikipedia to support research visibility’, ‘Pre-registration and pre-analysis plans for experimental research’, ‘Pre-registration, pre-analysis, and registered reports’, and ‘How to be an open researcher’.
Developing Training and Collaboration
With the learning progression post the incubator programme, the alliance members are fostering a culture of openness driven by intellectual development through education and shared events:
Structured Training:
The Hertie School, which co-leads the CIVICA Open Science Working Group along with the LSE, provides a mandatory introductory session on Open Science themes for new researchers and hosts monthly drop-in sessions.
Bocconi University offers specialised training courses on Open Science for researchers and runs annual Open Access Week events, including topics such as Open Access and Copyright in the Age of AI.
The LSE’s Open Research Services Team also provides Open Research Workshop to departments at LSE through the induction of open research methods to PhD and ECRs.
Events and Engagement Initiatives:
The LSE Open Research Community hosts panel discussions, research showcases, and networking events each term, directed by its Open Research Working Group. Its past events have covered sensitive data, publishing, open research in the age of populism, and reproducibility.
The European University Institute is also highly active, hosting an exhibition titled ‘Who Owns Our Knowledge? Exploring Open Access through Voices of Change’ as part of its Open Access Week.
Cross-Alliance Initiatives:
Building on pathways of collaboration has been integral to the CIVICA project. The Hertie School and Bocconi University are thus co-hosting a CIVICA Open Science event focusing on copyright and AI as part of the Open Access Week, demonstrating a tangible commitment to tackling shared challenges through joint action.
A Unified Voice for the Open Social Sciences
The formation of institutional Open Science Communities is just the start. The next phase of development focused on bringing all these communities together, creating a unified CIVICA Open Science Community that can act as a powerful and collective advocate for the social sciences.
By acting together, the CIVICA alliance aims to create a louder and more informed voice which works together as a team in identifying opportunities and navigating challenges for a sustainable Open Science future. This systematic and collective approach ensures that social science research is not only transparent and robust but also becomes the essence of evidence-based policymaking in Europe and beyond.
