Welcome Remarks

The PhDnet Open Science Working Group is co-organizer of the event. Their representative Toluwanimi Afolayan will welcome the participants and introduce their group and activities.

Additionally, for the first time this year the PostdocNet Open Science Working Group is also a co-organizer fo the event. Their representative Tim Oberschulte will introduce their network and activities.

Intro to Open Science

The “Open Science in Practice” (OSiP) Team of the Max Planck Digital Library is co-organizer of the event. The Project Manager for Open Science, Larissa Leiminger, will give a short introduction to the principles and practices of Open Science. Additionally, she will introduce the tools and services the Max Planck Digital Library offers to support Open Science in the Max Planck Society (MPG). She will also say a few words about the Open Science Ambassadors program, its development and current status.

Julian Kiefer (MPI for Marine Microbiology) – Science Slam Workshop

How can we communicate complex research in a way that is accessible, engaging, and memorable? In this interactive workshop, we will explore the principles of Science Slams and practice approaches for turning scientific research into stories that connect with audiences beyond our own disciplines.

Julian Kiefer is a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, where he studies symbioses between marine invertebrates and bacteria. Beyond his research, he is passionate about science communication and has participated in and organized various science communication formats, including Science Slams and workshops on communicating research to non-specialist audiences.

Adam Day (Clear Skies) – Open is different: research integrity screening in 2026

Integrity screening has grown rapidly in recent years. Over the next 12 months, we anticipate that most of the world’s research journal submissions will pass through an integrity screening service (such as our own service, Oversight) prior to peer-review. This means that there is now potential to tackle research misconduct at unprecedented scale. We have learned a lot as the industry has matured. The reality of research fraud detection in the field is nuanced and ever-changing. Open access, and open science are important cases.

Adam Day is the CEO and Founder of Clear Skies Ltd – a multi-award-winning startup specialising in research integrity screening. Clear Skies was the first company to offer a papermill detection system (the Papermill Alarm) in 2022 and built the world’s first indexing service for research integrity: Oversight.

Open Science Ambassadors Talks

This session is open for contributions from the participants.
The following speakers can be expected:

• Michael Jahn – “The Snakemake ecosystem: Reproducible workflows for Science and how to use them”
• Vera Karlbauer & Mira Erhart – “How to shift Open Science from individual responsibility to group effort – Experiences from the MPI-P”

Interactive Session

This interactive session provides space for an open discussion among all participants on the future of Open Science especially in the MPG. Preceding the discussion will be short introduction by the theme moderators. The following four main themes will be addressed in groups:

• The Role of an Open Science Ambassador (OSiP-Team)
• MPG Governance on Open Science (Larissa Leiminger)
• Open Source Research Software in the MPG (Stephan Janosch)
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Ulf Tölch & Vladislav Nachev (BIH QUEST Centre) – Implementation of Open Research Practices: From Infrastructure to Norms

Open Science Practices are considered desirable by many, but widespread adoption is not straightforward. In this workshop we will discuss implementation strategies for open science practice adoption at an institutional level and how to monitor their uptake. We will work on strategies for implementation and develop strategies to cope with challenges and barriers. Additionally, we will explore practical tools like dashboards to monitor uptake and communicate progress in practicing open science.

Ulf Tölch obtained his PhD in biology at LMU Munich and the MPI for Ornithology. Following several postdoctoral positions in cognitive neuroscience in Utrecht and Berlin, he completed his habilitation in
psychology at the Free University of Berlin in 2020. Since 2017, he has also been a project and research group leader at the BIH QUEST Centre for Responsible Research. He develops and teaches new training programmes on responsible research for PhD students, postdocs and research leaders. His research group investigates the process of biomedical translation using quantitative and qualitative methods, with the primary aim of making pre-clinical research processes more patient-centred and efficient. He has been the spokesperson and centre head of the QUEST Centre since November 2025.

Vladislav Nachev is a data scientist at BIH QUEST Center, with a background in behavioural biology and neurobiology. He programs automated screening tools and dashboards with metrics of open and responsible research. Methods expertise: Data analysis, automated screening, experimental design.