Challenges and potential solutions for making science more open and FAIR (HMC Conference 2025 key note talk)

Key note talk given at the HMC Conference 2025, 2025-05-14, Cologne, Germany Abstract: At its core, science must serve society and contribute to solving its challenges. Enhancing the efficiency, transparency, and collaborative nature of scientific endeavors is essential for achieving this goal. Open Science and the FAIR principles aim to improve the scientific process by promoting openness, accessibility and efficiency. Metadata, the essential information that contextualizes research data, plays a crucial role in unlocking the full potential of scientific data. Translating these ideals into practical implementation, however, presents significant challenges. These include the absence of established standards and tools, as well as the slow adoption of these principles within scientific communities due to a lack of supporting incentives and norms. Additionally, the integrity of (meta)data infrastructure is increasingly threatened by political interference, which can hamper scientific progress globally. Recent events have demonstrated that research infrastructure can be significantly impacted by policy changes and funding cuts. These developments underscore the need to rethink strategies for sustainable research data management and how research infrastructures remain reliable for the global scientific community. The talk aims provide the foundation for a joint discussion that brings together the perspectives and experiences of different research communities.