Opening science to society: how to progress societal engagement into (open) science policies

U. Wehn; R. Ajates; C. Mandeville; L. Somerwill; G. Kragh; M. Haklay

doi:10.1098/rsos.231309

Opening science to society: how to progress societal engagement into (open) science policies

U. Wehn^*, R. Ajates, C. Mandeville, L. Somerwill, G. Kragh, M. Haklay

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Mathematics - Science Studies

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

A broad understanding of the aims and objectives of the international open science movement was recently adopted with the 2021 UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, expanding the focus of open science to include scientific knowledge, infrastructures, knowledge systems and the open engagement of societal actors. In response, recent discussions on science policy practice are shifting to the implementation of open science via national policy. While policy instruments to support some aspects of open science are well-studied, guidance on the emerging 'social' aspects of open science has lagged, prompting UNESCO to generate guidance. In this paper, authors of a UNESCO Open Science Toolkit guidance document on 'Engaging societal actors in Open Science' synthesize the scholarly underpinnings behind the guidance document's recommendations. This work draws upon a targeted search from academic, policy, and grey literature in the fields of open science and community engagement, with a special focus on citizen science, to derive guidance on how to overcome barriers to the uptake of societal engagement approaches. The results present building blocks of what an enabling environment for the open engagement of societal actors could look like, identifying key considerations and reflecting on opportunities and challenges for progressing and evaluating sound open engagement of societal actors into regional & national (open) science policies.

Original language	English
Article number	231309
Journal	Royal Society Open Science
Volume	11
Issue	5
ISSN	2054-5703
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.231309
Publication status	Published - May 2024

Keywords

citizen science
open access
open data
open science
policy recommendations
societal engagement

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10.1098/rsos.231309

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abstract = "A broad understanding of the aims and objectives of the international open science movement was recently adopted with the 2021 UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, expanding the focus of open science to include scientific knowledge, infrastructures, knowledge systems and the open engagement of societal actors. In response, recent discussions on science policy practice are shifting to the implementation of open science via national policy. While policy instruments to support some aspects of open science are well-studied, guidance on the emerging 'social' aspects of open science has lagged, prompting UNESCO to generate guidance. In this paper, authors of a UNESCO Open Science Toolkit guidance document on 'Engaging societal actors in Open Science' synthesize the scholarly underpinnings behind the guidance document's recommendations. This work draws upon a targeted search from academic, policy, and grey literature in the fields of open science and community engagement, with a special focus on citizen science, to derive guidance on how to overcome barriers to the uptake of societal engagement approaches. The results present building blocks of what an enabling environment for the open engagement of societal actors could look like, identifying key considerations and reflecting on opportunities and challenges for progressing and evaluating sound open engagement of societal actors into regional & national (open) science policies.",

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Opening science to society: how to progress societal engagement into (open) science policies

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Keywords

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