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5 questions to Laura Dijkhuizen MSc, member of the Open Science Platform.

Who is Laura Dijkhuizen?

PhD candidate and junior teacher at the department of biology. Until recently, I was enthusiastically involved with the Graduate School of Life Sciences as chair of the PhD Council. However, after four years at the PhD council it was about time to hand over the baton to my successor. As a researcher, I spend my time studying the floating fern Azolla; specifically, the microbes that live in and around the plant and are key to its unique properties. Being part of the "Azolla team", I also work on domesticating this feral fern and study the fern life cycle from a more fundamental perspective. Besides my PhD, I'm contracted as a part-time junior teacher. I have been privileged to contribute to all kinds of aspects of the biology bachelor, and I will conclude my time as a teacher here coordinating the course 'introduction to bioinformatics for life sciences'. Outside of work, you may find me tinkering with computers and electronics, wall climbing. In summer however, I prefer to spend my time on a classic Dutch sailing boat.

How did you get involved in Open Science?

As a PhD candidate in The Netherlands, you are an employee and a student simultaneously. One of the many courses a PhD can attend is 'this thing called science'. This course (which I cannot recommend enough to any PhD candidate) introduced me to the legacy of ''. Especially the theses and discussions afterwards changed my perspective on science permanently. After the course, I enlisted in the '' to proceed with these discussions. From here on, I joined the Open Science Platform as a PhD representative. In that role, I gladly volunteer my network and experience in PhD representation for the transition to open science.

My enthusiasm for people with good ideas and an inability to say 'no' have led me to all kinds of places. I can only encourage fellow PhDs to try the same. Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ is home to so many interesting developments. Hopefully you too will find that people will gladly include the PhD perspective. For a moment, forget the fear of spending too much time on a side project and reach out to your local PhD Council or Faculty Open Science Team. Perhaps they are looking for you without you even knowing. I promise you, the experience you will gain is much more valuable than a few hours you'll spend.

What would you like to draw specific attention to in the context of Open Science?

Stating the obvious, the involvement of PhDs naturally! PhDs are more often than not the executing party in our scholarly endeavours. A transition to open science cannot be complete without them. Luckily, PhDs tend to be enthusiastic and inquisitive. With proper supervision, they can be the motor behind changing the norm to Open Science. Remember that the PhDs of today will be the professors of tomorrow. Besides, I can hardly imagine a PhD who disagrees with the principles of open science.

Simultaneously, the concept open science is surrounded by a lot of confusion in the PhD community. It's up to us, open science advocates and ambassadors, to take away this confusion and it is up to the architects of open science implementation to involve PhDs along the way.

What are the main challenges within the Faculty of Science concerning Open Science? How do you see the role of PhDs?

Within the Faculty of Science, some things seem to be going very well. Data sharing in internationally recognised databases is the norm, and usage of open-source software is increasing. Yet, within the community, a sentiment perseveres that an academic career is solely built on publication counting and impact factors alone. As long as promotors sustain these criteria, this sentiment will be justified.

In my perspective, the main challenge is securing careers for early career academics (ECAs) that have embraced open science, but whose CV may lack in publications or impact factors. Note that while most ECAs leave the academy after their PhD or post-doc, most do aspire an academic career (based on numbers from the GS-LS). The latter group is left doubting if they will be assessed by the "old criteria", the "new criteria", or some combination of both. How fast will this transition to open science move, and may foreign academic institutes lag behind? The competition for academic jobs will remain fierce. Hence, ECAs moving from job to job, need some certainty on the criteria by which they'll be evaluated.

Those criteria, especially the more modern open science-inspired criteria, remain vague to ECAs. At least, that is my experience as representative. A false assumption persists that besides publishing papers, ECAs now must simultaneously show a great track record teaching, be involved in management and partake in outreach activities. Old-fashioned paper-counting perhaps didn't do justice to the diversity of academic talents, but at least it was clear how to proceed onto the faculty ladder. This is not an opinion I share nor endorse, but one that lives withing the ECA community none-the-less.  

At least until the transition to open science is complete, ECAs are balancing on a tightrope. Preparing for either a future employer that orders CVs by publication count, or one that appreciates the broader skillset that we require from academics (and everything in between).

What are you proud of in relation to Open Science?

During my PhD track, I have ventured into a new subfield in which my research group had no experience yet. This was challenging at times but allowed me to choose and shape all routines and details of how I work and how I document my work. While learning by doing, I started to document my methods and results on platforms like GitHub, and the Open Science Platform (). Not everything is open from the start, but I strive to have all analyses, data and code open by the time that I defend my thesis. That is, all code I wrote myself. Not all my colleagues are equally engaged in the open science school of thought or the extra effort it takes to document all code and analyses for publication. Still, I hope that with time they can appreciate the advantages.

Secondly, I'm quite proud of the new 'quality assurance plan' of the GS-LS. While this name may sound utterly dry and bureaucratic, the content surely is not. Collaborating with the faculties associated with the GS-LS, we devised a new plan of what a PhD at Utrecht life sciences should look like. Some of the big themes in open science are prominently represented in this plan. After being signed by the three life sciences deans, this accord will support more than 1800 PhDs and supply much-needed clarity on what the faculty expects from its PhDs. I honestly can't wait to share the contents, but I will await the official publication to do so. Luckily, that won't take long anymore!