Open science is a topic that is gaining more and more attention in the international community. Vilnius University supports and promotes the application of the open science principles documenting its position in the Vilnius University Open Science Policy (text in Lithuanian) approved by the Senate of the University on 22 February 2022. In order to turn the ideas expressed by the Open Science Policy document into deeds, on 6 June this year, the Rector of the University approved an Open Science Policy implementation plan (text in Lithuanian).
In response to the University's expressed support for Open Science and in order to stimulate discussions about the principles underlying Open Science and their influence on academic practices, Vilnius University Library invites the University community to presentations touching on various aspects of Open Science delivered by internationally renowned experts.
This year, we invite you to a lecture by Dr. Louise Bezuidenhout from Leiden University Centre for Science and Technology Studies under the title Ethics and Open Science: How does it all fit together? that will touch not only on Open Science, but also on another important topic of academic ethics:
The Open Science movement is rapidly gaining prominence in discussions about responsible research. It is associated with a range of different activities, as well as an evolving number of research technologies. However, in addition to being a practical movement, Open Science is also changing how we think of ourselves as responsible researchers, and how we communicate with our fellow researchers and the general public. In this lecture I will look at the values underpinning the Open Science movement, and how they relate to more familiar topics such as research misconduct, research integrity and transparency. I will show how Open Science builds on these movements and fosters responsible research in an increasingly digital age.
About the speaker: Louise Bezuidenhout is a social science researcher who specializes on issues relating to Open Science, data sharing and access. Her research is broadly oriented around themes such as justice and access, inclusion and marginalization and equity. Much of her work to date has concentrated on identifying ways to improve the inclusion of low/middle-income country researchers into the Open Science landscape. This work has involved embedded ethnographies, interviews and surveys in a number of countries in Africa, Europe and North America.
Dr Bezuidenhout holds PhDs in cell biology (University of Cape Town, RSA) and sociology (University of Exeter, UK). She has had postdoctoral research posts at the Universities of Exeter (UK), Notre Dame (USA), Oxford (UK) and Cape Town (RSA). She has also held lectureships at University College London (UK), University of the Witwatersrand (RSA) and the University of Oxford (UK). Dr Bezuidenhout currently works for the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University as a senior researcher.
Date and time of the lecture: 21 November 2023, 3 to 4 p.m.
The duration of the lecture will be 1 hour.
Registration: https://forms.office.com/e/G0g5dbmnBR
The lecture will be held remotely in English with live captions.
If you have any questions, please contact Dr Ginte Medzvieckaite at