The symposium will take place on 4-6 September 2023 in Beijing, following the International Training Workshop on Open Science and SDGs 2023 (28 Aug – 8 Sep 2023, CAS Informationization Plaza, Beijing, China).

Registration: bit.ly/ISOSC2023Registration 

Background and Context

The major global human and societal challenges of our time call for broader cooperation based on the transparent, FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable), and intelligent linking of multiple research resources following the Open Science research paradigm. The benefits of such an approach, even partially realised, and the difficulties caused by a lack of FAIR (meta)data have been amply demonstrated in such current challenges as tackling the pandemic, achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as other global governance activities in the 21st century. Among all components of Open Science, large-scale data processing and exchange ignite more possibilities for scientific discovery but come with considerable additional costs. The Open Science Cloud approach offers economies of scale by providing large-scale cloud services based on federated resources across borders, also facilitating larger-scale data aggregation and analysis. Typical examples include the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), the China Science and Technology Cloud (CSTCloud), the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC), the African Open Science Platform (AOSP), and other international open science commons initiatives.

During the 2019 CODATA Conference in Beijing, experts from around the world discussed and proposed the idea of co-designing and co-building an interconnected Global Open Science Cloud (GOSC). The objective of the GOSC initiative is to encourage cooperation, alignment, and ultimately interoperability among Open Science/Research Clouds/Platforms. We aim to help connect various institutional, national, and regional initiatives, laying the foundations for cross-continental, federated, Open Science and FAIR infrastructure, and virtual research environments. The ultimate vision is of a global Open Science environment that connects trusted research e-Infrastructures to enable innovative scientific discovery. The GOSC initiative is currently promoting collaboration among partners, developing a GOSC testbed, and exploring domain and cross-domain exemplars. 

A series of discussions and activities are underway, including the GOSC panel and GOSC parallel session during the International FAIR Convergence Symposium 2020, GOSC sessions in the SciDataCon 2021 and International Data Week 2022, the joint GOSC workshops (1st workshop, 2nd workshop,  3rd workshop) co-organised by the European Grid Infrastructure (EGI), Committee on Data of the International Science Council (CODATA), and Computer Network Information Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CNIC, CAS), GOSC All Hands Meetings (1st & 2nd), the launch event of the GOSC International Programme Office (GOSC IPO). Additionally, related discussions in the Global Open Research Commons Interest Group (GORC IG) and its Benchmarking Working Group (WG) supported by the Research Data Alliance (RDA) are ongoing. 

Based on all these joint efforts, we see great potential for open science clouds bridging the science community as well as major challenges in aligning and connecting e-infrastructures for Open Science and in implementing a cross-continental GOSC testbed. Therefore, we invite all interested parties to attend the first annual International Symposium on Open Science Cloud (ISOSC) which will provide a forum for collaboration and exchange of ideas towards this vision. This year’s symposium will comprise a high-level summit and working session blocks. All stakeholders of the GOSC community are welcome to join, which include but may not be limited to representatives from funding agencies, open science policy makers, research infrastructure developers, diversified information service providers (commercial and non-commercial, academic and social), disciplinary scientists, other users, as well as those interested in promoting open science. 

Objectives

Based on the visions and strategies for Open Science, this international symposium will review the current state of developments of the international open science clouds or platforms from policy, scientific, and technical perspectives. We will discuss the successes so far and the challenges ahead in pursuing the GOSC vision and encouraging collaboration across various Open Science e-infrastructure initiatives. Together, examples will be selected from typical areas. Action plans to explore the most important next steps will also be shared and discussed. The main topics we plan to examine in detail are as follows:  

• Overview of Open Science and Open Science Clouds: challenges, opportunities, and priorities
• Roadmap for the development of a federated Global Open Science Cloud
• The framework for technical and policy alignment in a federated system
• Implementation of disciplinary exemplars across borders
• Steps forward toward the objectives of promoting cross-domain analysis at scale supported by a federated Global Open Science Cloud.

Practical Information

• Registration and participation

To attend, register at: bit.ly/ISOSC2023Registration

The event is free and no registration fees are associated. The participants are expected to cover the costs for their travel. The organisers expect up to 200 participants. 

Onsite participation in the event is encouraged, nevertheless online participation will be possible in parts of the Symposium. When registering, kindly select the format of your attendance (onsite or online). If wishing to attend in-person, you will be later contacted by the GOSC IPO regarding arrangements. 

• Venue: CAS Informatization Plaza No.2 Dong Sheng Nan Lu, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China 
• Dates: 4-6 September 2023
• Convenors: GOSC IPO, CODATA, CODATA China
• Sponsors: Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Association for Science and Technology
• Local organisers: CSTCloud, Computer Network Information Center of CAS

High level agenda outline (UTC/GMT+8)

4 September 2023

9:00-18:00 High-level GOSC Summit

• Session 1: Trends of Worldwide Open Science
• Session 2: Discussion and Agreements for Global Collaboration for Open Science Infrastructures
• Session 3: Review of Global Open Science Infrastructures

5 September 2023 

9:00-18:00 GOSC Parallel Sessions

• Parallel session 4-1: Open Science Cloud Policy and Governance
• Parallel session 4-2: Open Science Cloud Technologies
• Parallel Session 5-1: Open Science Cloud Stories to tackle humanity challenges
• Parallel Session 5-2: Open Science Cloud Stories for exploratory scientific discovery

6 September 2023 

9:00-12:00 GOSC Initiative Preparation Meeting (Invitation only)

• Advisory board meeting
• GOSC work meeting