High-Level Expert Group on Open Science

High-Level Expert Group on Open Science
Name	High-Level Expert Group on Open Science
Formation	2015
Founders	European Commission; Francis Bacon (inspirational)
Type	Advisory group
Purpose	Open science policy recommendations
Headquarters	Brussels
Region served	European Union
Leader title	Chair
Parent organization	European Commission

Contents

High-Level Expert Group on Open Science The High-Level Expert Group on Open Science was an advisory body convened to guide European Commission policy on open research practices, drawing on expertise from institutions such as CERN, European Space Agency, Wellcome Trust, Max Planck Society and OECD. Modeled in part on precedents like the Royal Society reports and initiatives from UNESCO and G20, the Group produced strategic recommendations that influenced frameworks at European Union level and national agencies including UK Research and Innovation and Science Foundation Ireland. Its remit intersected with policy actors such as Horizon 2020, European Research Council, European Open Science Cloud, Digital Single Market, and civil society stakeholders like Creative Commons and SPARC.

Background and Establishment

The establishment followed a series of consultations involving European Commission Directorates-General, reports by Royal Society, and summits hosted by European Council and G7 where leaders from Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Sweden emphasized open scholarship. Influences cited included historical figures and documents like Francis Bacon's advocacy for knowledge commons, the Budapest Open Access Initiative, the Berlin Declaration on Open Access, and policy lessons from Horizon 2020 and OpenAIRE. The Group was formally announced amid parallel efforts by UNESCO and OECD to harmonize data governance, with founding context linked to debates at European Parliament committees and meetings involving European Commission President leadership.

Membership comprised experts nominated by national governments, research organisations such as Max Planck Society, CNRS, Karolinska Institutet, funders like Wellcome Trust and European Research Council, and representatives from tech institutions including CERN and EMBL. Chairs and rapporteurs included figures associated with Royal Society panels and leading universities like University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, ETH Zurich, University of Amsterdam, and Utrecht University. The structure mirrored advisory bodies such as the Scientific Advisory Board models used by European Medicines Agency and included working groups on Open Access policy, FAIR data principles, and infrastructures akin to European Open Science Cloud and OpenAIRE. Observers and liaisons included representatives from UNESCO, OECD, World Health Organization, and funders such as Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The mandate emphasized policy alignment across European Commission priorities, including recommendations for Horizon 2020 successors, data stewardship consistent with General Data Protection Regulation implementation, and interoperability with infrastructures like CERN and ELIXIR. Objectives targeted systemic change across organisations such as Max Planck Society and Wellcome Trust, promotion of open access journals related to COPE principles, adoption of FAIR data guidelines pioneered by GO FAIR, and fostering public engagement models used by European Space Agency and museums such as the British Museum. The Group aimed to harmonize practices across member states represented by entities like German Research Foundation, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, and Swedish Research Council.

Major outputs included reports recommending platforms modeled on OpenAIRE and governance frameworks similar to those of European Open Science Cloud, endorsement of FAIR data and integration with ORCID identifiers, and policy roadmaps for funders such as Wellcome Trust, European Research Council, and national agencies like Science Foundation Ireland. Reports referenced case studies from CERN's open data policy, Human Brain Project data challenges, and lessons from Human Genome Project's open practices. Recommendations advised alignment with legal frameworks like Copyright Directive debates in European Parliament and interoperability standards used by Crossref, DataCite, and Creative Commons licensing paradigms.

Implementation occurred through adoption by European Commission programmes, integration into Horizon Europe work programmes, and influence on funder mandates at Wellcome Trust, European Research Council, and national agencies including German Research Foundation and Agence Nationale de la Recherche. The Group’s proposals informed technical initiatives with OpenAIRE, European Open Science Cloud, ELIXIR, CERN open data portals, and identifier systems like ORCID and DataCite. Impact was observable in policy shifts at Universities UK, Max Planck Society, Karolinska Institutet, and research infrastructures across Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Netherlands, and in international dialogues at UNESCO and OECD.

Critiques mirrored controversies in wider open science debates, with stakeholders from Elsevier, Springer Nature, and some university presses expressing concerns about transitions to open access business models. Debates involved legal interpretations tied to Copyright Directive disputes in European Parliament and tensions with data protection principles under General Data Protection Regulation, attracting commentary from national bodies including Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung and policy analysts from Chatham House and European Policy Centre. Critics pointed to challenges observed in projects like Human Brain Project and issues raised by OpenAIRE users regarding costs, sustainability, and incentives for researchers at institutions such as University of Oxford and Harvard University.

Category:Open science