Belgium

Belgium

Overview

European Commission

Mandated Organisation

Belnet

EOSC Steering Board representatives

Belgian organisations have invested in Open Science infrastructure and policies since the early 2000s. Universities subscribed to the Berlin declaration in 2007, as did the Belgian, Flemish and French Community ministers of research in 2012. The European projects DRIVER and OpenAIRE started coordinating efforts in Belgium, uniting Open Science ambassadors in the informal network Open Access Belgium. Research organisations have set up publication and data repositories throughout the years, most of them compliant to OpenAIRE guidelines and thus part of the OpenAIRE Research Graph.

Research is a regional competence, managed by Flanders and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. Flanders started the Flemish Open Science Board (FOSB) to coordinate efforts, in Wallonia-Brussels Federation a working group is established. The Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) is managing the Open Science (OS) policies at the Federal level. In November 2019, the first Belgian EOSC event “Belgian Open Science EOSC Initiatives” was organised by the three policy levels.

Source: EOSC-Pillar

ICC-FCC OS EOSC

The National structure in Belgium is a taskforce named International Cooperation Commission (ICC) and Federal Cooperation Commission (FCC) Open Science EOSC Taskforce or in short: ICC-FCC OS EOSC. This Taskforce is for consulting or common decision making only.

The federal Science Policy Office (Belspo), the research foundation of Flanders (FWO) and the Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS) for the Wallonia-Brussels Federation are the three entities in Belgium who are actively engaged in Open Science. They consult within the ICC-FCC OS EOSC and have all committed to the EOSC Partnership.

The ICC-FCC OS EOSC wants to foster Belgian participation with EOSC through sensitising or creation of infrastructures. The taskforce wants to participate in the EOSC decision making process accordingly with Belgium’s engagements regarding Open Science as expressed in Belgium and its entities’ multiple national and international engagements.

Main priorities for the ICC-FCC OS EOSC taskforce are:

  • Disseminating and promoting EOSC at national level
  • Offering a channel to connect the national stakeholders with the EOSC governance
  • Coordinating EOSC activities at national level.

Belgium is represented in the EOSC Steering Board and a consensus was reached to provide Belnet, the National Research and Education Network (NREN), as a mandated organisation to the EOSC Association.

National Events

National Tripartite Event: Belgium
calendar_month 16 April 2024
pin_drop Palais des Academies, Brussels, Belgium

The Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union cordially invites the Belgian and European Open Science community to take part in the EOSC National Tripartite Event: Belgium. This event will follow the EOSC Partnership’s...

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Policies

Via the Brussels Declaration on Open Acces most Belgium universities, research institutions and research funders request their researchers to provide open access to their research publications. An open acces provision (Right to Secondary Publication) has been adopted in the Belgian law in September 2018 (art.29). Furthermore, Open Research Data mandates have been issued at funders’ level, actively implementing DMPs.

EOSC in Practice

Embracing the principles of transparency, reproducibility, and accessibility, these examples highlight the innovative approaches adopted by researchers across various disciplines. From open data sharing and collaborative platforms to pre-registration and open peer review, these practices enhance scientific integrity and contribute to the advancement of knowledge.

People

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    Laetitia Lagneau

    Head of the Marketing and Communication Unit at Belnet, EOSC-A Mandated Organisation for Belgium, at the EOSC Symposium in September 2023 in Madrid.
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    Edith Euan Diaz

    Former advisor at EBRAINS
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    NTE Belgium 2024

    16 April 2024, Brussels, Belgium. Photos: © FW-B – Jean POUCET