15–17 Sept 2025
CERN
Europe/Zurich timezone

Strange bedfellows, indeed: How the impact of the current political moment could accelerate an open science future

W-SEC-PAN-1-76
17 Sept 2025, 10:45
1h 30m
81/R-003C - Science Gateway Auditorium C (CERN)

81/R-003C - Science Gateway Auditorium C

CERN

198
Show room on map
Panel Open, but at What Cost? Research Security & Open Science Open, but at What Cost? Research Security & Open Science

Description

The current US government attacks on science and international collaboration are shaking the foundations of the global scientific endeavor. The damage to both research itself and the essential underpinnings of good science – collaboration, integrity, openness – may be irreversible.

US government acts of censorship, intimidation and erasure – like the removal of critical websites, discontinuation of vital data collection, and proliferation of conspiracy theories and debunked research – would lead the casual observer to assume the administration was anti-science at its core, and open science, itself, would be anathema. However, open science advocates within the administration – including the current NIH Director, Jay Bhattacharya – are viewing openness in a different light. They argue open practices will keep the government and scientific community accountable, reducing group think and enabling greater freedom for inquiry.

So, where does this leave open science globally, given the reduction in US research funding and the EU/UK commitment to increasing support (and poaching) those researchers? Does the shift in emphasis by the current Administration still move us collectively toward a more open future that achieves similar goals, just under different motivations? How are funders, research institutions and researchers themselves thinking about the global scientific endeavor in this new world? Is the open science movement being co-opted? Join this panel of experts – researchers, practitioners, and open science advocates – for a robust debate on the strange bedfellows pushing for open science policies in this new world.

Tagline

US Government priorities in open science seem to run counter to the global effort to open/enable science for all. However, current policies indicate a desire to double down on open science. What does this mean for OS globally?

Keywords US government, funding, global research endeavor

Author

Ms Sara Rouhi (Co-Author, Declaration to #DefendResearch from US Govt Censorship (DefendResearch.org))

Co-authors

Dr Dan Rudmann (Utrecht University) Dr Frances Pinter (Central European University Press & Amsterdam University Press) Dr Michael Anne Kyle (University of Pennsylvania)

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