Celebrating open science: key moments and photos from Groningen 2025

The festival opened with a word of welcome from Casper Albers, dean of the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences at the University of Groningen and co-chair of this year's programme committee. He highlighted the need for greater autonomy in research and reducing the influence of for-profit publishing. He was followed by Wiro Niessen, dean of UMCG, and a keynote by Ana Persic, head of open science at UNESCO, who shared a global perspective on the uptake of open science and the challenges it faces in a shifting geopolitical landscape.

Panels, posters, prizes, and more 

Throughout the day, participants engaged in practical workshops, explored posters, and visited information booths showcasing a wide variety of projects and services. 

During the plenary sessions, panels chaired by Hans de Jonge, director of Open Science NL, and Ana Ranitovic, chief of open science at the University of Groningen and co-chair of the programme committee, explored the impact of open science projects, the challenges of running them, and how open science can increase resilience in times of crisis. The discussions emphasised the importance of collaboration, communication, and engaging the public to (re)gain trust in science.

During the closing, three posters were awarded prizes after a vote by visitors:

1. Most Impactful: Readers of your paper in society – Astrid van Wesenbeeck, National Library of the Netherlands
2. Most Innovative: Designing Data Infrastructure Maturity Profiles – Shuai Wang, Maastricht University
3. Best Visual Design: Advancing the movement of Open Research Information in the era of Platform Capitalism – Tanya Lee, Leiden University

Also, the second Leo Waaijers Open Science Award was presented to Chris Hartgerink for their work on ResearchEquals. The rector of this year's host University of Groningen, Jacquelien Scherpen, closed the festival.

Video registration 

plenary sessions

In pictures

A selection of the photos taken during the festival can be found here.

Zenodo community

While this year's festival has concluded, the exchange of knowledge can of course continue. Participants can now revisit the materials from workshops, posters and the information market in a dedicated Zenodo community. If you contributed a session, poster, or stand, we warmly invite you to upload your materials there, so the wider community can access and benefit from your work.

Zenodo community: Netherlands National Open Science Festival 2025

There are also Zenodo communities for the festival editions in 2020/2021, 2022, and 2023.

To revisit our website, take a look at our archive.

See you in Delft

The Open Science Festival 2026 will be organised at Delft University of Technology.