Dr Verena Heise, University of Oxford

A critical discussion of Open Science

As proponents of Open Science we intuitively think that being open is the “right thing to do”. Increased transparency allows better scrutiny of our work so that others can verify and build on results that we produce. Additionally, open research output (from materials to data and publications) is increasingly mandated by funders. But are there negative or unintended consequences if we make certain research outputs available? How open is too open? Have we got the necessary ethical and legal frameworks in place to deal with information in a responsible way? In all our excitement about the opportunities that the Open Science movement offers, we should not forget to take a step back and dare to ask critical questions. While I do not promise a lot of answers in this talk, I hope it will provide some food for thought and start some interesting discussions.