Granada hosts first SKA Open Science school as hybrid meeting

BY DR THERESA WIEGERT (INSTITUTE OF ASTROPHYSICS OF ANDALUSIA – IAA-CSIC)

The emerging era of Big Data is demanding a transformation in the way science is done, with a growing push to make scientific research more accessible, a movement known as “Open Science”. To explore what this means in practice for researchers, the first SKA Open Science School took place in Granada, Spain, from 8-10 May 2023, bringing together 80 participants from 14 countries.

The hybrid school was endorsed by the SKA Regional Centre partner training programme and co-organised with the SKAO under the IAA-CSIC Severo Ochoa Programme.

Participants ranged from graduate students looking for tips on making their thesis work reproducible (making tools and techniques public so that others – and even the original researchers themselves – can achieve the same results later), to the already Open Science-savvy wanting to learn practical tools. Instructors discussed transitions in science practices with accompanying challenges, and presented practical solutions, including hands-on demos. They covered topics on how to make projects/code portable throughout new versions of software, how to best use containers and science platforms, virtual observatories, setting up citizen science projects, licenses, and more.

Discussions continued between sessions on how to change habits that give quick, publishable results (the “publish-or- perish” mentality) and instead invest the time needed for long-term open and reproducible science, including how Open Science work can be appreciated by employers. As Prof. Eva Mendez of Charles III University of Madrid (UC3M) asked: “Are we prepared for a new research evaluation?”

SKAO Scientist Dr Philippa Hartley shared the new SKAO statement on Open Science, including its mission and what Open Science will do for the SKA, and the IAA’s Dr Lourdes Verdes-Montenegro, coordinator of the Spanish participation in the SKA, noted that “large scientific infrastructures have an ethical role and a practical need in Open Science”.

Sessions from the Open Science school are publicly available on the school webpage: https://www.granadacongresos.com/skaopenscience

The IAA-CSIC Severo Ochoa program CEX2021-001131-S is funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033.