Mag. Dr Stefan Reichmann, BA MA

Integrating (European) research infrastructure into national institutions

This presentation is based on an article (Reichmann et al., 2025) that examined the adoption of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) by Austrian research institutions. Building on the paper, the talk will outline how Open Science has been imbued with competing meanings since its inception, which has led to conflicting interpretations of the goals of the EOSC. In this regard, the article argued that ‘official’ EOSC narratives have drifted away from the current Open Science discourse, which explains the reluctance of researchers and institutions towards the EOSC. To substantiate this, the presentation situates Open Science within the broader context of science studies to argue that these competing narratives give rise to tensions that surface during practical implementation. Consequently, the EOSC operates in a highly contested environment and, in this sense, is open to contradictory interpretations. Its foundational philosophy, the FAIR Guiding Principles (Wilkinson et al., 2016), tacitly universalises one set of practices, norms and values as the sole reference point. Drawing on anecdotal evidence from research support staff actively involved in the implementation of EOSC, the article describes how the tensions inherent in the development of EOSC are perpetuated ‘on the ground’ within research-performing institutions.

References

Reichmann, S., Prandner, D., Solís, B. S., Flicker, K., & Hasani-Mavriqi, I. (2025). Adopting EOSC on the ground – Integrating (European) research infrastructure into national institutions. ABI Technik. doi.org/10.1515/abitech-2025-0059

Wilkinson, M. D., Dumontier, M., Aalbersberg, Ij. J., Appleton, G., Axton, M., Baak, A., Blomberg, N., Boiten, J.-W., da Silva Santos, L. B., Bourne, P. E., Bouwman, J., Brookes, A. J., Clark, T., Crosas, M., Dillo, I., Dumon, O., Edmunds, S., Evelo, C. T., Finkers, R., … Mons, B. (2016). The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship. Scientific Data, 3, 160018.

Stefan Reichmann holds a Ph.D. in sociology with a focus on science studies. His research examines digital research practices and research infrastructures, and how these are changing in light of current reform movements in academia, particularly with regard to the production, communication, and evaluation of knowledge. Previously, Reichmann examined the impact of Open Science on the academic system, including the sharing and reuse of research data. His work has shown, amongst other things, that openness alone does not create equal opportunities; at the same time, the adoption of Open Science practices depends on the conditions and context in which researchers work.