Open Science Office Made Permanent

The Open Science Office was established at the University of Mannheim in 2021 to anchor Open Science institutionally and create a central point of contact for enquiries relating to Open Science within the university. It supports researchers at all career levels and disciplines in implementing Open Science practices by providing advice, training, and special grants.

After three years of start-up funding, the university has now decided to make the Open Science Office permanent based on an evaluation of its impact report.

“The decision to establish the Open Science Office as a permanent institution underlines our commitment to transparent and reproducible research at the University of Mannheim. Our researchers can implement Open Science research practices such as pre-registration, provision of open materials, and reproducible and transparent workflows, with the support of the Open Science Office”, says Prof Henning Hillmann, Ph.D., Vice-president for Research and Early Career Researchers and Chair of the Open Science Council.

The impact report outlines the achievements of the Open Science Office from 2021–2023. The Open Science Office has organised numerous workshops, seminars, and training courses as part of the University Library's Research Skills Seminars to provide researchers with the knowledge and tools needed to apply Open Science practices. In addition, the Open Science Office has helped to acquire third-party funding for researchers at the University of Mannheim.  It also offers its own Open Science Grants, which incentivise researchers to integrate Open Science practices into their research.

Text: Viktor Boecking / August 2024