Universities must embrace an open future

The shift to open science gives institutions both new duties and new opportunities, says Paul Ayris.

At University College London, we believe that openness is a cornerstone of the 21st-century university. There is growing momentum to make open science the default approach, rather than the exception. UCL is engaged with or initiating work in all eight areas of open science, as defined by the European Commission, ranging from publishing and research data to citizen science.

But for open science to be the default global set of values for research and education, the culture of research and teaching needs to change. This is the message in the League of European Research Universities’ Roadmap for open science, published in May 2018. UCL is a Leru member, and I chaired the roadmap’s editorial committee.