The ENLIGHT Alliance is moving towards Open Science, aiming for improved education and collaboration of research teams
Bratislava, 24 November 2023: On 23 November, ten partner universities of the ENLIGHT alliance endorsed a set of joint Open Science principles in Uppsala, Sweden. Comenius University is a member of the alliance. The aim of the initiative is to create a common basis for a culture of open science across the participating European universities. Open science is intended to facilitate faster dissemination, sharing, and application of science.
ENLIGHT is committed to implementing an ‘open by default’ approach to online resources in its teaching, research, outreach and engagement activities, for the benefit of science and society.
As an enabler of quality and impact, Open Science plays a key role in the ENLIGHT universities’ higher education transformation agendas. It is a powerful driver for transparency, accountability and reusability of the results of science, and increases collaboration.
"We endorse the principles of Open Science. We are committed to making sure that science serves the entire society and that it is available to all researchers, but also people who are not professional researchers. I am pleased that Comenius University is embarking on this journey together with other partner universities in the ENLIGHT alliance," said Marek Števček, Rector of Comenius University.
The main elements of the joint statement of rectors include a broad promotion of Open Science through training and sharing of good practices, importance given to FAIR data principles, unrestricted Open Access to publications, support of Open Education materials and Responsible Research Assessment.
The ENLIGHT alliance brings together ten European universities, and Comenius University is one of them. Its goal is to expand study opportunities, share know-how, foster networking, internationalise and connect research, science and education. After three years of operation, the Alliance received 14.4 million euros in funding from the European Commission for the next four years. Some of the money will be allocated to initiatives from within the academic community, with an emphasis on research activities. In addition to Comenius University, the alliance includes the University of Uppsala in Sweden, University of Ghent in Belgium, University of Bordeaux in France, University of the Basque Country in Spain, University of Galway in Ireland, University of Göttingen in Germany, University of Groningen in the Netherlands, University of Tartu in Estonia, the University of Bern in Switzerland.