On 25 October 2024, the National Open Research Forum (NORF) hosted a meeting with the nineteen NORF-funded open research projects at the Royal Irish Academy (RIA), Dublin.
This event, which was predominantly in person, focused on progressing selected action areas within the National Action Plan for Open Research 2022-2030, based on expertise being brought together and developed in current NORF projects. The agenda included workshops with representatives of key stakeholders and the launch of Ireland’s National Persistent Identifier (PID) Strategy and Roadmap, Interoperability, Openness, and Impact – Recommendations and Roadmap for an Irish National PID Strategy which is published in the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI), available via DOI: 10.7486/DRI.sn00qt29n
Implementation of the National Action Plan is being overseen by NORF and delivered under Impact 2030: Ireland’s Research and Innovation Strategy. Included in the National Action Plan are actions to: invest in persistent identifier infrastructure; support the Irish Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier (ORCID) consortium; and develop a roadmap, in line with international best practice, to boost the adoption of PIDs.
The National PID Strategy and Roadmap was prepared by NORF and the NORF PID Task Force, in consultation with the scholarly communications consultants MoreBrains Cooperative. It is the final output of the NORF-led project to develop a national roadmap for the adoption of a range of Persistent Identifiers in accordance with A.4.4.2 of the National Action Plan for Open Research.
The meeting began with opening remarks from Dr Michelle Doran, National Open Research Coordinator who highlighted the progress made since the launch of the National Action Plan for Open Research, acknowledging the key achievements of the nineteen NORF-funded projects. This progress would not have been possible without the Open Research Fund, which is provided by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, through the Higher Education Authority. The funding has played a crucial role in advancing Ireland’s transition toward an open research environment in a strategic and focused manner.
Michelle expressed her gratitude to NORF’s host organisation, the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI), and to the Royal Irish Academy (RIA), which serves as the headquarters for both NORF and the DRI, for their ongoing support of NORF’s activities. She commended the hard work of the members of the NORF PID Task Force and MoreBrains Cooperative on the PID Strategy and Roadmap project.
Following the opening remarks, Michelle Doran welcomed Josh Brown, Research and Strategy Lead and Co-founder of MoreBrains Cooperative to launch the PID Strategy and Roadmap. Josh gave some background on the PID Strategy and Roadmap project and details of the key recommendations and actions included in the roadmap.
The launch was live streamed and the recording is available to watch on Vimeo.
Session 1
Discussions and workshopping began after the launch, starting with session one, ‘Mapping National Open Research Infrastructure’ which focused on the following
- What elements comprise open research infrastructure?
- What are the main current gaps?
- How should these be developed?
This session was followed by lunch, during which Roberto Sabatino, HEAnet delivered a talk titled ‘EOSC-Ireland Position Paper Discussion’.
Session 2
After lunch, Bianca Kramer from Sesame Open Science based in the Netherlands, joined the meeting online to introduce the ‘Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information’. Bianca raised questions for consideration of how NORF can support and promote openness of research information and what role open science statements and declarations play in guiding and mobilizing practice.
Bianca’s presentation was recorded and can be watched back on Vimeo.
Bianca’s presentation set the tone for the second workshopping session ‘Institutional Open Research Statements’ which looked at
- What kinds of barriers inhibit institutional commitments to statements on open research?
- How can these be addressed?
Session 3
The final session largely focused on the review of the National Action Plan for Open Research which will take place in 2025. Workshop participants discussed the following
- What emerging themes should feature in the next iteration of the National Action Plan for Open Research?
- What are the priorities for open research in the next iteration of the National Action Plan for Open Research?
- How should the review be conducted?
The event concluded with brief closing comments by Michelle Doran who thanked the speakers and attendees for their contribution and outlined the next steps for the workshop outputs A post-event report will be circulated to attendees in the coming months and their input will be sought before wider circulation.
The National Open Research Forum is a Government of Ireland initiative, funded by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, through the Higher Education Authority.
