Robert van der Vooren
Radboud University
Robert is a resilient and entrepreneurial person. He competed at the Sydney 2000 Olympic games, a magnificent experience and stimulation to pursue dreams and ambitions. In 2008 he was co-responsible for the financial reform of Radboud University Medical Centre. It took courage to turn down the imminent bankruptcy by developing a completely new financial management. In 2011 Robert started his own consultancy firm and successfully led a national program on alternative academic hospital funding. Two years later on behalf of the Dutch universities, he took up an ambitious plan to make a transition towards open access with a unique negotiation. This Dutch approach is internationally considered to be a ‘gamechanger’. Robert frequently advises research organizations in European member states about open access. Currently, he is leading a strategic project to make research data management one of the ‘competitive edges’ of Radboud University.
All Sessions by Robert van der Vooren
Chapter XI: Dublin 29/11/2018
12:15 - 12:50
Prevailing open science challenges between policy beliefs and operations
In the past few years, the open access debate evolved into a wider policy belief about open science. It was not only a shift to a larger framework that includes data and quality assessment, but also a shift towards the involvement of politics. Early adopters from universities successfully serve as ambassadors and brokers to EU policymakers. FAIR principles are key to EU open science policy and the infrastructural cloud focus. Inevitably divergence between policymakers and researchers occurs with a resulting gap. A majority of researchers does not share FAIR policy beliefs or is not even familiar with the acronym. I will highlight some challenges and best practices derived from my various positions and experience with political, institutional and individual research representatives. The biggest challenge may be bridging the gap between political policy beliefs on the one hand and institutional open science strategies on the other hand.
