EIFL is pleased to announce that it is a partner in a new European Commission (EC) funded project FOSTER (Facilitate Open Science Training for European Research) that will deliver training programmes for researchers and other stakeholders. The project will start in February 2014.

The two-year project aims to set in place sustainable mechanisms for EU researchers to foster open science in their daily workflows, thus supporting EU objectives on responsible research and innovation, while optimising research visibility.

Project objectives:

• Support different stakeholders, especially young researchers, in adopting open access in the context of the European Research Area (ERA) and in complying with the open access policies and rules of participation set out for Horizon 2020 (openaire.eu/en/open-access/open-access-in-h2020);
• Integrate open access principles and practice in the current research workflow by targeting the young researcher training environment; 
• Strengthen the institutional training capacity to foster compliance with the open access policies of the ERA and Horizon 2020 (beyond the FOSTER project); 
• Facilitate the adoption, reinforcement and implementation of open access policies from other European funders, in line with the EC’s recommendation.

These objectives will be pursued through the combination of three main activities:

1. Identifying already existing training content that can be reused in the context of the training activities and repackaging, reformatting it to be used within FOSTER, and developing/creating/ enhancing the content if/where it is needed.
2. Creation of the FOSTER Portal to support e-learning, blended learning, self-learning, dissemination of training materials/contents and Helpdesk.
3. Delivery of face-to-face training, especially training trainers/multipliers that can carry on further training and dissemination activities, within their institutions, countries and/or disciplinary communities. 

EIFL will lead a work package on delivering face-to-face training, especially training trainers/multipliers, that can carry on further training and dissemination activities, within their institutions, countries and/or disciplinary communities.

Some of EIFL's tasks:

• Define and manage the general training programme.
• Organize training courses: at least 20 face-to-face training events,  5 self-learning courses and 5 moderated elearning courses.
• Provide support to ERA stakeholders, including a Helpdesk service (in cooperation with other initiatives, e.g. OpenAIRE).

Project partners:

• Universidade do Minho – Portugal
• Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen Stiftung Oeffentlichen Rechts – Germany
• Danmarks Tekniske Universitet – Denmark
• Stichting eIFL.net (EIFL) – Netherlands
• SPARC-Europe – UK
• Stichting LIBER – Netherlands
• University of Glasgow – DCC – UK
• Technische Universiteit Delft – Netherlands
• The Open University – UK
• ICM - Uniwersytet Warszawski – Poland
• Consortium Universitaire de Publications Numériques Couperin – France
• Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas – Spain
• University of Edinburgh - DCC – UK

FOSTER strategy relies on wide community involvement in developing training content and training courses.

Beyond the consortium partners, 27 organizations (institutions, graduate schools, students and young researchers associations) from 13 countries have already committed to collaborate with FOSTER.

How to participate 

• Provide/suggest content for FOSTER training materials;
• Host/organize FOSTER training sessions at your institution/community/country/event;
• Attend FOSTER courses on open access and open research data;
• Become a FOSTER multiplier by replicating training at your institution/community/country.

Organisations based in European Research Area (ERA) will be eligible to participate. 

For more information about EIFL's role in the FOSTER project, please contact EIFL-OA Programme Manager, Iryna Kuchma, at iryna.kuchma [at] eifl.net.

For more information about the FOSTER project, please contact Eloy Rodrigues, University of Minho, at eloy [at] sdum.uminho.pt.