Workshop 2.2 | Building Alliances for Copyright and Open Science Reform
Date: Thursday 3 July 2025
Room: TBA
Speaker(s): TBA
Organised by Knowledge Rights 21 project
While libraries are at the heart of efforts to drive open science, the ecosystem of stakeholders involved in advancing it – and in particular in securing policy change in the area of copyright to enable OA – is far wider and more complex. The interests of different groups – students (at different levels), researchers, research managers, deans, vice rectors, research funders, librarians and others need to be understood, requirements need to be met, and action needs to be coordinated. This collaboration and engagement are essential if we are to obtain the necessary structures, guarantees and support to realise the potential of open science to contribute to achieving wider global challenges.
So, what does it take to make change happen, and what role can libraries play in this? There is already rich experience at the national level to share, but this is also a particularly relevant question at the European level, with the new Commission making a priority of legislation to facilitate pan-European research and innovation. This offers a unique window to secure guarantees and new possibilities for research.
This session draws on experience from France and Ireland, as well as European-level insights on the specifics of the introduction of rights retention policies and secondary publishing right policies, in order to share reflections on how connections have been made, concerns addressed and alliances built. It also aims to answer questions – and define new ones – about how we can better work with others to shape the legislative agenda for open science.
The session will draw strongly on the work of Knowledge Rights 21 and its National Coordinators and provide inputs for upcoming work in Brussels.