Enter if you dare!

As the academic world embraces digitalization and Open Science, not everything is as it seems. Lurking in the shadows are predatory publishers, eager to prey on your hard-earned research, and hackers watching closely, ready to steal your data and funds. Open Science doesn’t always go smoothly.

Join us for a thrilling Halloween-themed session, where we confront the dark side of research. Our speakers will guide you through the challenges of ensuring transparency in a landscape filled with hidden dangers. Can we banish the ghosts of bad practices? Can we summon institutional support to move forward? Through storytelling, we’ll explore ways to create a future where research is reproducible, transparent, and secure. Prepare for insights, frights, and bring your curiosity and sense of humor!

Come to meet likeminded people at VU Amsterdam, share your stories and hear others. Find the registration button at the bottom of this page.

Location

This is a meeting with lunch in the Botanical Garden, a 5 minute walk from VU Main Building

Agenda

12:00 – 12:10 walking from the VU buildings 12:10 – 12:20 taking sandwiches, getting settled

12:20 – 12:35 Leighann Kimble on why Open Science Doesn’t work

12:40 – 12:55 Anne van den Maagdenberg on Predator publishers

13:00 – 13:15 Erik van Duijn on hackers

13: 20 –13:35 Meron Vermaas Horrors of modelling

13:40 – 13:55 Andres Vidal Itriago Horrors of systematic search

About the speakers

Leighann Kimble

Leighann is a PhD researcher at the KIN Center for Digital Innovation at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She has a background in international affairs, public health and health system strengthening, having previously worked in improving health systems in low- and middle-income countries. Her research is on data sharing and reuse in collaborative contexts with a focus on open data, open science, and open innovation.

Erik van Duijn

Erik serves as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at VU Amsterdam and is an experienced IT security expert. Previously, he worked as an Information Security Officer for PostNL and held the role of Client Information Security Officer for the Dutch Railways (NS). In addition to his CISO role, Erik enjoys giving guest lectures on Security Awareness, serves as a host and speaker at events, and conducts social engineering experiments.

Anne van den Maagdenberg

has is VU Open Access Librarian; she develops and implements Open Access policies and advises on Open Access and scholarly publishing within VU. In addition, Anne is the Project Manager for the Implementation of VU’s Research Strategy. She is responsible for supporting the structured implementation of this long-term strategy, ensuring that the VU’s research goals align with broader institutional objectives.

Meron Vermaas

Meron Vermaas is VU Amsterdam's Coordinator Research Software Management. He works on improving software sustainability by focusing on developing expertise in software practices, infrastructure, and support. Meron has worked in computational neuroscience at the Donders Institute Nijmegen and UMC Utrecht, where he obtained a PhD.

Andres Vidal Itriago

Andres is a Human Health and Life Sciences Information Specialist at VU Amsterdam. He supports students and researchers in accessing and managing information related to health and life sciences. Andres holds a PhD from Macquarie University in Australia.

What to expect? 

This Halloween-themed session will feature short talks from researchers and colleagues who support research. The talks will be scary, humerous and optimistic!

Who should attend?

This meeting brings together researchers, research support staff and data management and data science experts from all subject areas. Early career researchers, as well as experienced academics, are welcome to attend. No primary knowledge is required. It is a fun festive event, celebrating love, data and open science, open to everyone interested.