How FOSTER supports Open Science Training 
in the GeoSciences
About 
• Facilitate Open Science Training for European 
Research
• Two-year EU-funded FP7 project (Feb 2014 – Jul 
2016)
• 13 consortium partners (Project lead University 
Minho)
• Collaboration and support by 27 other organizations 
(Institutions, Graduate Schools, Associations from 
students and young researchers, etc.) from 13 
countries
“Spread the seeds of Open Access and Open 
Science”
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, 
technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 612425
Facilitate Open Science Training for European Research
OBJECTIVES
•  To support different stakeholders, especially younger 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
•  To integrate open access principles and practice in the current research workflow by targeting the young researcher training environment
•  To strengthen institutional training capacity to foster compliance with the open access policies of the ERA and Horizon 2020 (beyond the FOSTER project)
•  To facilitate the adoption, reinforcement and implementation of open access policies from other European funders, in line with the EC’s recommendation, in partnership with PASTEUR4OA project
About 
Facilitate Open Science Training for European Research
FOSTER Training Events
• More than 4600 participants in over 100 training 
events
• Diversity of approaches (institutional, national, 
discipline-specific), formats, geographies and 
languages
• Comprehensive coverage of Open Science topics
• Training all stakeholder groups: researchers, 
students, project, managers, research 
administrators, librarians and policy makers
Results of Training Events
• Preliminary analysis of training events
Courses and Contents for 
GeoSciences
Open Science trainings for Geo-Scientists
23.-25.9./21.-23.10./14.-16.12.2015 GFZ, Potsdam:
Software Writing Skills for your research
12.1.2016 Jaume I, Castellon: GEOTec UJI Workshop
Trainings for Young Researchers including 
GeoScience-specific sessions
19.10.2015 VUU, Amsterdam: Connecting  Research Data - 
Workshop GIS-data
23.-24.4.2015 UNESCO, Paris: Open Science for Doctoral Schools 
– Marine Breakout
GeoScience Events with Open Science trainings
12.-17.4.2015 Vienna: EGU2015 - series of sessions and courses
2.2.2016 Un Ghent: MARES Conference - Open Science Training 
Workshop
Learning Resources for GeoScientists
• All materials from the trainings above is available 
via the FOSTER Portal
• Find learning objectives for PhD Students and 
(Early Career) Researchers
• Access existing training materials and re-use with 
help of training toolkit
• Take self-learning courses and track learning 
progress
• Combine online courses with webinars for 
blended learning success
Best Practices
• Not a „one fits all approach“
• Local organisation (national, institutional or 
subject-specififc)
• FOSTER consortium expertise via invited 
speakers
• All training material made available and re-usable
• Train-the-trainer approach
Thank you
• Website:
• www.fosteropenscience.eu
• @fosterscience 
• Contact details:
• Astrid Orth
• orth@sub.uni-goettingen.de
• @ajancke
FOSTER
Offering
Training Toolkit
• Helping you to create your own successful Training Event
• Suggestion: 6 TYPES OF TRAINING SESSIONS 
1. Expert talk: ‘ex cathedra’ talk by an external expert on the 
subject, preferably followed by Q&A. 
2. Talk by peers: experience-based talk by a peer, preferably 
followed by Q&A. 
3. Panel session: panel consisting of three or more experts, 
preferably with audience engagement. 
4. Workshop: informal, hands-on session lead by an expert. Can be 
aimed at creation of tools/policies or just include practical exercises. 
5. Group work/Break-out sessions: informal sessions where experts 
and/or peers share knowledge and/or experiences. 
6. E-learning: using online educational technologies for learning and 
teaching (online courses, webinars, etc.). 
Training Toolkit
Learning Objectives
https://www.fosteropenscience.eu/project -> About the project -> Deliverables
Help you in choosing learning resources
FOSTER Portal
Open Science Taxonomy
Help you nagivating training content
Taking & Designing 
courses
• Take a course about 
how to create your own 
courses out of the 
FOSTER resources: 
https://
www.fosteropenscience.e
u/content/foster-course
-course-creation
• Propose courses