Do we need some kind of national observatory for consultation projects ?

These slides are from a presentation given on 2025-12-03, part of the Open Science Community Leiden's OSCoffee series. Archived event page: https://web.archive.org/web/20251203111844/https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/2025/12/oscoffee-251203 *** Abstract Do we need some kind of national observatory for consultation projects? There is currently a great deal of interest in the Netherlands in conducting consultations focused on research data/software management, FAIR data, open science, and related themes. Some of these are institution-specific, others domain-specific, and still others more nationally scoped and domain-agnostic. These initiatives -- many of which are funded by NWO (via OSNL and the TDCCs), but that also include grassroots projects and even individuals who are doing this work -- are asking a fairly delimited set of questions, and are targeting an equally delimited set of stakeholders. Along with the benefits that accompany our enthusiasm for carrying out the consultative work required to develop better policies, practices, and infrastructures to support more open/FAIR/responsible research in the Netherlands, however, comes certain risks: doing duplicative work and over-researching certain populations are but two examples. Without greater visibility of the many projects happening in this space, we also risk limiting the reuse of the methodological approaches, documentation, and data that such projects generate. Drawing from our recent experiences running the TDCC-SSH/NWO-funded SLIPPRS-NL project, we’d like to use this OSCL session to have a conversation with the Leiden community about these risks and challenges and to collectively brainstorm ways to address them. Do we need some kind of national observatory for consultation projects? If so, what would such a thing look like, and who should be responsible for shepherding it? We look forward to hearing about your own experiences and your ideas for how to move forward!