Type of event: News

Nathanael Sheehan gave the talk Handling Data & Data Ethics to the alignAI-MSCA Doctoral Network held at the Garching Campus of the Technical University of Munich on 13 May 2025. His talk addressed data ethics, exploring the environmental, social, and epistemic risks of large-scale data use. He emphasised the importance of data transparency and representativeness, reinforced by frameworks like FAIR and CARE principles.

Nathanael Sheehan gave the Keynote talk titled A journey from data ethics to AI governance for the “Data science for life scientists” course at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) in the UK on 19 June 2025.

New report on transdisciplinary research: Sabina Leonelli engaged with a wide variety of stakeholders in public engagement around science and technology at the 19^th Munin Conference for Scholarly Publishing, where she conducted a workshop on Mechanisms for Transdisciplinary Research together with Stefano Rimini of the Pianeta association. A report of the proceedings, with lessons learnt and the original presentation slides, is now available on the Septentrio Conference Series: https://doi.org/10.7557/5.7842

 

Frontiers in Open Research Colloquium: We are delighted to announce the launch of the interdisciplinary colloquium led by Sabina Leonelli. Beginning on Thursday, 24 April 2025, the weekly hybrid seminar (Thursdays, 14:00–16:00 CET) will feature critical discussions on Open Research, research cultures, and systemic challenges, focusing on life sciences, data science, and AI. Each session includes expert talks and insights from recent research. Location: Augustenstrasse 40 (3rd-floor seminar room) and via Zoom.

The Res Philosophica 2025 Conference “Pragmatism and Scientific Inquiry”, to be held in St Louis on April 25-26, 2025, will provide an opportunity for Leonelli to trace and compare the intellectual origins and legacies of Popperian and Bergsonian approaches to the Open Society, and point to their implications for contemporary views on Open Science.

At the International Conference on “Responsible AI” hosted by the Munich Centre for Responsible AI Technologies, held on April 8-10 2025, Sabina Leonelli delivered a keynote on “AI for Democratic Societies” tackling questions of inequity and discrimination in relation to research development, the spread of misinformation and more broadly the imagination of AI underpinning specific ways of using computational technology for science (distinguishing between ‘convenient’ approaches to AI and the different framing provided by Environmental Intelligence).

The 10th seminar of the PCI webinar series, titled “When Open Publishing Is Not Fair,” is now available for those interested in understanding the challenges of inequity in Open Science. Originally held on 20 March 2025, the webinar featured Sabina Leonelli, who explored how Open Access can unintentionally reinforce inequalities, particularly through publishing costs, access to research infrastructure, and disparities in digital skills. This insightful session provides valuable perspectives on making Open Science more inclusive. Watch it now via the following link: https://youtu.be/Bsxggp6o6kc?si=s_VGtMlyOv8L1kVR.

Sabina is giving a keynote at the German Society for Philosophy of Science’s (GWP) three-yearly conference, in Erlangen on 24‐26 March 2025.

Paola Castaño explores how the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) is transforming space biology through open data practices in her newly published report: Expanding the Space Biology Community: NASA Open Science Data Repository’s Analysis Working Groups – Survey Report. Conducted as part of the PHIL_OS project, the study examines how data processing and sharing at OSDR support scientific collaboration. This study aims to shed light on how open science practices are transforming space biology and the relationship between the repository’s goals of maximizing discovery and democratizing access.

Nathanael Sheehan and Sabina Leonelli have recently published an article, “Reconciling data actionability and accountability in global health research: The case of SARS-CoV-2,” in the Global Public Health Journal. The study investigates the perceived trade-off between actionability and accountability in data infrastructures, focusing on genomic data sharing during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Through a comparative analysis of two data-sharing infrastructures, the authors argue that actionable data must drive knowledge development and remain accountable to contributors and users. The findings challenge the notion that easy accessibility is essential for data actionability, highlighting the critical role of responsiveness and open communication.