Netherlands eScience Center supports Open Science NL

31 Mar 2023 - 2 min

On March 29, 2023, Open Science NL was officially established with the signing of the covenant by 16 partners, such as the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, and several key organizations in the field, including the Netherlands eScience Center. Open Science NL aims to accelerate the transition to open science in the Netherlands by fostering a more open and participatory research practice.

“Today’s signing of the covenant is a big step forward for Open Science in the Netherlands. We are excited to contribute to making research, and research software in particular, more open, more reproducible and more sustainable,” says Joris van Eijnatten, General Director of the Netherlands eScience Center.

Open Science NL will be organizationally part of NWO, but will have broadly supported governance, enabling key parties in the field to give their perspective. Hans de Jonge, Director of Open Science NL, expressed his satisfaction with the achievements until now, stating, “I am pleased that 16 parties wanted to sign. It shows that there is a lot of support for the governing body and also that open science really lives. The signing marks the start of the next phase, in which we will develop innovative funding programs to support and accelerate the high ambitions we have in the Netherlands.”

Open Science is a movement towards a more open and participatory research practice, in which research output is shared as early as possible and made available for reuse. Open science leads to more impact, both on science and society. The establishment of Open Science NL is part of the significant additional investments announced by the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Robbert Dijkgraaf, to boost the transition to open science (€20 million per year over the next ten years). Open Science NL will oversee the allocation of these funds.

Apart from the eScience Center, Open Science NL will work closely with NWO, UNL, NFU, VH, SURF, KNAW, NWO-I, ZonMw, UKB, KB, DANS, 4TUResearchData, Health-RI and SHB to accelerate the transition to open science in the Netherlands.