The Global Young Academy (GYA) was founded in 2010 to provide a voice for early-career researchers around the globe. Since then, it has developed into an independent science academy of 200 outstanding early- to mid-career researchers from six continents who are selected from across disciplines based on their academic excellence and commitment to engage with society. The GYA presently counts members and alumni from 94 countries.
Some of GYA’s activities include helping young scientists establish National Young Academies or similar initiatives in their home countries, promoting the role of women in science, and acting as a strong proponent of Open Science (OS). The GYA is also one of the key project partners helping to deliver and promote Open Research Europe (ORE).
We spoke with James Curtiss, Srinjoy Mitra, and David Rivas Fernandez at GYA about their involvement with ORE and why the GYA is a strong advocate of Open Science in publishing.
Why is Open Science important to your organization?
For the Global Young Academy, Open Science fosters research communication that is inclusive, effective, and conducive to collaboration and discovery across fields and locations.
Young researchers in particular need to make their ideas and scientific qualities known to several stakeholders, from faculty superiors to funding agencies and industrial partners, as they are still building their scientific reputation. Open Science and Open Access aids young researchers by easing traditional and historic barriers to data and knowledge transfer, as well as widening their publishing options. Overall, early career researchers (ECRs) are under-represented when science is communicated to society, therefore they also have a special interest to speak to society at large.
Making science more accessible to all is something which motivates our membership as part of a broader aim to give young scientists a voice, which often aligns with Open Science. The GYA is composed of young researchers who work towards understanding what Open Science means, detecting any problem that could affect scientific progress or ECRs’ ability to innovate, and ensuring that publicly funded projects are properly executed to the benefit of the relevant stakeholders.
What motivated you to partner with F1000 on ORE?
As an Open Science advocate, the GYA wanted to help F1000 and ORE reach a broader audience of early- to mid-career scientists, to not only inform them and potentially help them publish on the platform, but also to allow them to have a voice in the process.
The GYA also has members in the Global South who have deep concerns over Open Access and Open Science, especially about the traditional system of high publication fees which prevent many researchers from publishing – and not only those in their early-career stages. As a global organization of young researchers from six continents, we need to make these concerns public, and are grateful to have a forum in which we can share them.
This is part of what makes Open Research Europe such an attractive publishing platform – all researchers funded by a Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe grant can publish original research related to their project on ORE at no cost to them. This is covered by the European Commission, and will help make sure that all researchers have the opportunity to publish their research outputs, regardless of their background. We hope that eventually the ORE publishing platform – and others like it – will be available beyond the Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe programmes, and similar to ORE, bear low/no costs for researchers from underfinanced science systems around the world.
How do you engage young researchers to utilize the Open Research Europe platform?
The GYA is committed to advancing the discussion on Open Science and Open Access publishing through various partnerships and commitments – most notably together with our great partners at Open Research Europe.
In addition to regular social media posts, newsletter items and a resource page on the GYA website, during the GYA 2021 Annual General Meeting and International Conference of Young Scientists, the ORE communications team organized a session during the “Building Trust with Open Science” panel session. The session featured Liz Allen from F1000, and Victoria Tsoukala from the Directorate General for Research & Innovation at the European Commission, as well as several GYA members. It produced a lively discussion and debate.
Also in the works is an Open Research Europe workshop, planned as a side-event during the Annual General Meeting and International Conference of Young Scientists in June 2022. The meeting is planned to take place in Japan as a hybrid event.
Read more about the Global Young Academy here.
