On 12–13 December 2013, Egenis hosted a workshop sponsored by the ESRC Cross-Linking Grant Trajectories of Emerging Science and Open Innovation”. 

This workshop brought together invited biologists, social scientists and philosophers to explore the challenges and opportunities presented by the recent RCUK policy on Open Access. We discussed the impact of Open Access mandates on scientific practice and the ways in which they foster research and innovation, particularly in the fields of systems and synthetic biology. Organised by Sabina Leonelli at the Exeter Centre for the Study of the Life Sciences (Egenis).

The workshop report, published in the EASST Review (March 2014), is available here: pdf.

Workshop programme

Thursday 12 December

14:00-14:30 Welcome and introduction: John Dupré (University of Exeter) and Sabina Leonelli (University of Exeter) pdf

14:30-16:15 Session 1: Open Science. Chair: David Castle (University of Edinburgh)

  • Laura Clarke (EBI): The European Bioinformatics Institute: Enabling open science since 1994 pdf
  • Ian Overton (Edinburgh): Principles and practice of open data in systems biology and beyond
  • Javier Lezaun (University of Oxford): Probing the openness of open-source drug discovery pdf

16:45 - 18:30 Session 2: Open Dialogues. Chair: Sabina Leonelli

  • Dagmara Weckowska (University of Sussex): Motivations for openness in biosciences
  • Nadine Levin (University of Exeter): Negotiating openness in practice

Friday 13 December

9:00 - 10:15 Session 3: Openness, Innovation and Participation. Chair: John Dupré

  • Barbara Prainsack (KCL): “Thank you for taking part in our revolution” — Data-rich medicine and the quest for personalization
  • Jean-Paul Gaudillière (Cermes3 - Paris, CNRS): An open resource for proprietary innovation? About the Indian Traditional Knowledge Digital Library and its uses

10:45 – 12:45 Session 4: Troubled Openness. Chair: John Dupré

  • Sabina Leonelli: Valuing open science: Meanings, incentives and challenges pdf
  • Brian Rappert (University of Exeter): The potential for and of trouble with openness pdf
  • Discussants: Brian Balmer (UCL) and Gail Davies (University of Exeter)

13:15 - 14:00 Session 5: future plans. Chair: Sabina Leonelli