My experience on the “Open Science” trip, as a lawyer

Honestly, as a lawyer, I was very unfamiliar with the correct idea of what “open science” meant and its importance in disseminating knowledge. Today, I would venture to say that open science is a movement to do scientific research, which may include publications, data, among other things, and its dissemination accessible to society. This way of approaching science includes the data obtained, especially scientific knowledge produced with public funds.
In class, we saw essential elements to access this type of knowledge. In particular, Open Access publications were analyzed (class 2), in which search results in online search engines for publications were communicated and analyzed. Naturally, many factors have enhanced the possibility of accessing this open knowledge, but, above all, the technologies. In order to be open access, it must be digital, online, and free of economic barriers or copyright on published works. In particular, this class provided much practical information on how to access the material.
Regarding session 3, I was very interested in the Eurodoc continental process, which is a federation of national organizations of young researchers in the European Union for those who do not know it. Young researchers are doctoral candidates (early-stage researchers) or recent doctoral graduates in their first years of their postdoctoral research career (postdoctoral researchers). As a non-profit organization, Eurodoc addresses the situation of young researchers in Europe from different aspects (e.g. academic mobility, working conditions, career paths, supervision, and doctoral training). Additionally, the annual conferences will be held in hybrid form (virtual and on-site).
I believe that the fourth meeting was the most important one, in which we made contact with FAIR data. The acronym groups the four principles that give its meaning, referring to precise and measurable qualities that every formal data publication should have: “Findable”, which it is accompanied by metadata that identifies, describes, and allows the data to be located; “Accessible”, because it can be retrieved through standardized communication protocols and the metadata persists even when the data is no longer available; “Interoperable”, in the sense that it is presented in a way that is applicable and includes references to other data; “Reusable”, since it can be reused, because the provenance of the data and the conditions for its reuse are clear.
In the fifth class on “Citizen Science and Public Engagement”, I found the idea of citizen science as scientific research that has the active involvement of the lay public along with scientists and practitioners fascinating. This is an aspect of research that is growing a lot. Such is this that on April 6th, the European platform EU-Citizen Science was launched to exchange knowledge, tools, training, and resources for citizen science.
In the last session, we analyzed the convenience of making our possible doctoral thesis accessible through the institutional repository of the UC3M, since this gives us European visibility, collaborating in the socialization of information.
In short lines, I wanted to mention the issues that most caught my attention and that I liked in each class. I think it is a field of knowledge that, honestly, is new to me because of my background, I think it is applicable in the sense of field study. As you know, the law is a social science, and its approach must be scientific. The collection of data with specific parameters for doctoral research can serve for further studies for future researchers who “stand on our shoulders” to achieve a critical analysis of the status quo and manage to contribute elements that help to improve the field of study and, through it, society as a whole.