Speaker
Description
Open Science (OS) intentions to enhance the transparency, accessibility,
reproducibility, and reusability of research outputs. Within this framework,
Research Data Management (RDM) has emerged as a fundamental pillar for
ensuring that research data are effectively managed, shared, and preserved
throughout their lifecycle.
To foster institutional and national strategies for Open Science and to strengthen a
sustainable culture of research data management in Portugal, the Re.Data project
was launched in 2025. Led by the University of Minho and co-coordinated by the
Institute for Interdisciplinary Research of the University of Coimbra (iiiUC), the
consortium brings together five Portuguese higher education institutions and aligns
its activities with European initiatives, including the European Open Science Cloud
(EOSC).
The project is structured around three complementary pillars: training, data
curation, and policies. Since 2025, Re.Data has developed an extensive capacity-
building programme comprising 16 webinars, 15 hands-on workshops and
bootcamps covering OS, data curation, and best practices in RDM across the data
lifecycle. These activities have engaged more than 2,000 participants from
research-performing and research-support institutions across the country during
the past year.
Beyond researcher training, Re.Data has focused on strengthening institutional
capacity. Within this effort, iiiUC coordinated the elaboration of a reference
frameworks and a practical toolkit to support the creation, implementation, and
revision of OS and RDM policies in higher education institutions. To encourage
collaboration and knowledge exchange, the project also established a Special
Interest Group on OS and RDM Strategies, bringing together more than 40
institutional representatives and decision-makers. With regular meeting, the group
provides a space to discuss common challenges, share experiences, and identify
approaches to advance OS at the institutional level.
The impact achieved during the project's first phase, together with the growing
demand for support and training in this area, led the Portuguese funding agency
FCT-FCCN to support a consolidation phase in 2026. Current activities include the
delivery of new editions of the training programme, the enhancement of existing
policy-support resources, and the development of an AI-powered chatbot designed
to provide guidance on best RDM practices.
This contribution presents the Re.Data experience as a national, multi-stakeholder
approach to capacity building and institutional transformation, demonstrating how
coordinated action can accelerate the adoption of Open Science and contribute to
making responsible research data management a standard practice across the
Portuguese research ecosystem.