The Road to FAIR and Equitable Science

22 - 26 January 2024

Venue: Lorentz Center@Oort

If you are invited or already registered for this workshop, you have received login details by email.

Day 1 (Monday) Workshop introduction: Reflection and looking ahead - The first day is devoted to reflection (the previous 10 years) and broadly looking ahead (the next 10 years), and will provide participants with a clear agenda and goal for the week. The goal of Day 1 will be to set up the context for the following 3 days where both success and obstacles can be systematically documented. Concluding remarks that summarize the day will be formulated and shared. The day ends with the workshop reception.
Day 2 (Tuesday) Focus area 1: Machine actionability - Day 2 will focus on machine actionability, a central but often dismissed objective of FAIR. The clear role for FAIR Digital Objects and FAIR Digital Twins of real world entities will be highlighted. Concluding remarks that summarize the day will be formulated and shared.
Day 3 (Wednesday) Focus area 2: Equitability - Day 3 will address how FAIR can be used to promote fair, in the sense of equal opportunities for (citizen) scientists and innovators around the globe and how we can prevent that FAIR inadvertently contributes to further widening of the digital divide not only between the Global South and North, but also between the public and private sectors. Concluding remarks that summarize the day will be formulated and shared.
Day 4 (Thursday) Focus area 3: Fully AI Ready - The FAIR acronym is now also frequently interpreted in the sense of data and services that are Fully AI Ready, that is, as the substrate for data-intensive science. The recent rise and release of Large Language Models (LLMs) feeding Chatbots has severely aggravated the already difficult problem of misinformation and deliberate disinformation, not only in social media context but also in science. This day will be co-lead by CODATA and the International Science Council. Focus will be on how trustworthy information with full, traceable provenance can play a role. Concluding remarks that summarize the day will be formulated and shared.
Day 5 (Friday) Workshop conclusion: Looking forward to the next 10 years - Based on the successful precedent of the 2014 workshop, we will invite major stakeholders from the public and private sectors to review the successes, obstacles and recommendations logged the previous 4 days. Together, we aim for a final conclusions and recommendations document as well as a concrete decadal roadmap of desired outcomes, potentially published in a leading scientific journal comparable to the first seminal paper. Day 5 will thus contribute to the overall aim to come to a set of commonly agreed upon recommendations and a plan for FAIR and Equitable Science and Innovation in the coming decade.