Open Academy
The Open Academy is a project to train users (researchers, higher education teachers, students and other interested parties) to use various open science and open education practices.
It is implemented by Central Technical Library at the University of Ljubljana in collaboration with external experts in various fields of open science and open education. It takes place in different formats (presentations, panels, interviews, etc.) and in different ways, mainly using videoconferencing systems.
All recordings are available at Arnes Video Pages Central Technical Library, and take a look at videos and presentations of the SPOZNAJ Project.
Participation It is free of charge at all events. The training sessions are mostly held in Slovenian, and in English in the case of foreign speakers. All training sessions are recorded and later available online in video format. Slides and other documents related to the presentations are also available. As a rule, the training formats are available in accordance with the Creative Commons CC-BY licence terms.
If you have any questions, please contact us contact. From your questions and solutions to problems, we are building a knowledge base that will be accessible to the widest possible range of users - including through the Open Academy.
Open Academy Presentations – 2026
Library News: Introduction of the Open Access portal
Darko Majcenović from Central Technical Library of the University of Ljubljana he introduced the portal Open Publications. Online event Library News took place in Thursday, 11 June 2026, online, viaZoom.
Round table: Science in the hands of the people: Do we (also) know how to fund it?
Citizen Science Network in collaboration with Central Technological Library The University of Ljubljana is organising a discussion on 12 March 2026 on one of the key issues of citizen science: how to ensure sustainable and inclusive project financing, where representatives of funders, political decision-makers and research organisations tried to answer questions such as (among others):
- How to financially support citizen science projects in our country?
- Where to look for financial support?
- What are the experiences with applications to ARIS calls so far?
More about the event: Roundtable Science in the Hands of the People: Do We (Also) Know How to Finance It? – CTK
Presentations of the Open Academy and the SPOZNAJ Project – 2025
Roundtable: Communication plan for a research project - Guidelines and expectations
The communication activities implementation plan is included as a requirement in the Public tender for (co)financing research projects for 2025, and it must be submitted within at least six months of the start of the approved project. So far, the only known specific requirement is the inclusion of various publics.
At the panel discussion on 3 December 2025, representatives of funders (Mirjam Dular, ARIS), policy-makers (Tit Neubauer, MVZI) and research organisations (Assist. Prof. Dr Tanja Kerševan, Dr Matevž Dular and Dr Saša Novak), as well as science communicators (Dr Zarja Muršič and Dr Sašo Dolenc), discussed what these plans should look like and what the expectations are.
Open science and stable funding
Lecture by Miro Pušnik on 2 Dec 2025 at Institute for Economic Research on open science and stable funding.
Month of Science 2025: Analysis of Citizen Science Data in Statistics and Data Science
As part of the Science Month project, organised by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation (MVZI), we prepared the event Citizen Science Data Analysis in Statistics and Data Science, which took place on Wednesday, 26 November 2025 at the premises of the Central Technological Library and via Zoom.
In his introduction, Mitja Vovk Iskrić briefly presented the Citizen Science Network project. Dr Andrej Srakar then outlined some fundamental statistical challenges in the analysis of citizen science data, which can lead to bias. He gave a more detailed presentation of a special issue of the *Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A*, which features three scientific, mathematical and methodological papers, along with an accompanying discussion amongst the international scientific community. This was followed by an online presentation by one of the lead authors of the three papers, Dr Elisabeth Bersson from MIT in the USA.
Lecture recording and slides.
3rd CITIZEN SCIENCE DAY “Discover, participate, research: From practice to the people”
Citizen Science Day 2025 took place v Wednesday, 12 November 2025, v France Bevk Nova Gorica Goriška Library.
Lecture recordings (slides are included in the video descriptions):
- shots 1 – 10
- clips 11 – 21
More about the event: CITIZEN SCIENCE DAY 2025 | Citizen Science Network
Citizen Science
Mitja Vovk Iskrić from Central Technical Library of the University of Ljubljana spoke about citizen science on RTV SLO's Good Morning.
Link to the recording: Good Morning
Date of broadcast: 10.11.2025 - RTV SLO 1
National Action Plan for Open Science
The plan, adopted in spring 2023, includes two new data centres for the storage and re-use of research data, which will be managed by ARNES. The construction of an artificial intelligence "factory" in Maribor has also started, with €40 million earmarked for it by the end of the decade. The plan also foresees the adaptation of 20 public research organisations to operate according to the principles of open science.
Mag. Miro Pušnik
Link to the audio recording: A look into science
Radio Slovenia's 3rd programme - Ars programme
Citizen Science - for us "laymen"
Citizen Science involves the participation of lay people in scientific research. The podcast speaker was Mitja Vovk Iskrić From Central Technical Library of the University of Ljubljana.
Link to the audio recording: Radiosfera podcast
Radio Slovenia's first programme
Presentations of the Open Academy and the SPOZNAJ Project – 2024
Research Data Management in Compliance with European Research Area Policies
Action plan for Open Science for the implementation of Objective 6.2: Open Science to improve the research quality, efficiency, and responsiveness of the Resolution on the Slovenian Scientific Research and Innovation Strategy 2030 (ReZrIS30).
Second mini workshop on Open Science
University of Nova Gorica, December 6, 2024
Dr Uroš Kunaver, mag. Miro Pušnik, CTK
Link to presentation.
2nd NATIONAL EVENT (2024) “Discover, collaborate, explore: From theory to practice”
The event addressed opportunities for researchers, citizens and all those interested in the field Civil sciences.At the centre was an in-depth discussion on the importance, role and contribution of citizen science in the modern research environment. Special emphasis was placed on exploring possibilities for organising Slovenian Citizen Science network, the analysis of current trends in international organisations and the integration of citizen science into the broader context of open science.
More about the event: NATIONAL EVENT 2024 | Citizen Science Network
Launch of the Open Science Handbook
Presented on 29 November 2024 at New developments in librarianship.
Mag. Miro Pušnik, CTK.
Link to Video. Link to the manual.
Presentation of the Citizen Science Network
Presented on 29 November 2024 at New developments in librarianship.
Mitja V. Iskrić
Link to Video.
Presentation on the implementation of the Open Science Action Plan
Presented on 19 June 2024 at New developments in librarianship.
Mag. Miro Pušnik, CTK.
Link to Video.
Action 6.2 of the Open Science and Libraries Action Plan
Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Ljubljana, 12 June 2024
Mag. Miro Pušnik, CTK.
Link to presentation.
Three Steps of Open Science Implementation in Slovenia
Conference Dani e-Infrastructure Heart DEI 2024 took place on 16, 18 and 19 April 2024 in Zagreb, organised by the University Computer Centre (Heart) in cooperation with the University of Zagreb.
DEI 24, Heart, Zagreb, 19 Apr 2024
Mag. Miro Pušnik, CTK.
Link to presentation.
How the Open Science project works Get to know
Radio Slovenia's 3rd programme - Ars programme
Miro Pušnik
Link to sound recording.
General training on Open Science practices in the framework of the KNOW Project
The training was carried out in accordance with the catalogue of competences for support professionals and the specialised training programme under sub-sets DS 4.1 and DS 4.2. the content strands of the SPOZNAJ project.
General training on open science practices and FAIR research sharing
We have carried out training on open science and FAIR principles. The aim was to increase awareness and understanding among researchers, academics and support staff.
Open Academy Presentations – 2023
1. NATIONAL EVENT (2023) “Discover, collaborate, explore: Citizen Science Day”
The event presented an opportunity for researchers, citizens and everyone interested in the field of citizen science to meet, exchange experiences and shape a vision for the future of this dynamic field.
At the centre was an in-depth discussion on the meaning, role and contribution of citizen science in the modern research environment. Special emphasis was placed on exploring possibilities for organising Slovenian Citizen Science network, the analysis of current trends in international organisations and the integration of citizen science into the broader context of open science.
More about the event: NATIONAL EVENT 2023 | Citizen Science Network
Presentation of the Citizenscience.si portal and discussion on the Citizen Science Network in Slovenia
We presented and discussed the project of the Citizen Science Network in Slovenia, which brings together various stakeholders in citizen science research, from public research and infrastructure organisations to individuals - representatives of the interested public. We also presented the portal citizenscience.si, an online hub for the flow of information on citizen science in Slovenia.
Designing a citizen science project: the role of higher education librarians in shaping research
Citizen Science is a recommended practice for open science in the Horizon Europe programme and is at the forefront of national policies on scientific research.
More about the event
The aim of the workshop is to introduce librarians to the basic principles of citizen science research design and implementation. We will learn about the five basic steps in research design, research planning and open research infrastructures that citizen science researchers can use in their work.
What is citizen science?
Radio Slovenia's 3rd programme - Ars programme
Mag. Miro Pušnik, dr. Uroš Kunaver
Link to sound recording.
Citizen Science for Urban Health - the CitieS-Health experience
This lecture presents the results and lessons learned from the Citizen Science (CS) activities in the field of environmental epidemiology. The activities were carried out in Ljubljana, in the framework of the H2020 project CitieS-Health (citieshealth.eu), which focuses on noise, health and well-being in the urban environment.
More about the event
In line with the project's methodological framework, Ljubljana residents were actively involved in all phases of the project - problem definition, co-design of experiments, data collection and interpretation. This presentation summarises the general results, experiences and impact assessment of the activities, obtained both in the main study with volunteers and in other specific activities carried out with primary school children.
Open Academy presentations – 2022
Open Science and the Data Management Plan in Horizon Europe - why do you need to know?
The event was organised by the Horizon Europe Slovenia National Contact Point Network and the Central Technical Library of the University of Ljubljana.
The event was aimed at both prospective applicants and recipients of funding from the Horizon Europe programme.
Open Science in Horizon Europe: Research Data Management Plan, Part 2
Data Management Plans (DMPs) are the cornerstone of responsible data management and are mandatory in the Horizon Europe programme, regardless of whether the data is generated or re-used. Effective data management requires careful advance planning of all aspects of data handling.
More about the event
You can create your own research data management plans or use templates often proposed by funders or institutions. The plan usually consists of questions that you answer in a way that makes sense in terms of the objectives and the way you expect the research to be carried out. To a large extent, its format depends on the research itself. A research data management plan is a living document that can be updated and enriched as the project progresses. Changes may relate to newly generated data or to modifications of the originally planned actions.
In the second part of the presentation, we continued with an overview of the DMPs for projects funded under the Horizon Europe programme. We covered the sections on data provenance, data formats, openness, metadata and licensing.
Open Science in Horizon Europe: Research Data Management Plan, Part 1
Data Management Plans (DMPs) are the cornerstone of responsible data management and are mandatory in the Horizon Europe programme, regardless of whether the data is generated or re-used. Effective data management requires careful advance planning of all aspects of data handling.
More about the event
You can create your own research data management plans or use templates often proposed by funders or institutions. The plan usually consists of questions that you answer in a way that makes sense in terms of the objectives and the way you expect the research to be carried out. To a large extent, its format depends on the research itself. A research data management plan is a living document that can be updated and enriched as the project progresses. Changes may relate to newly generated data or to modifications of the originally planned actions.
The first part of the presentation provided general information on how to create data, how to reuse it and how to describe it in a way that is understandable and reusable for other researchers. We also presented the parts of the DMP that relate to repository selection, finance, security, ethics and law.
The importance of research data provenance in interoperability and reuse
One of the most important sets of metadata (describing the research data) is information about the origin and the way in which the research data was obtained or captured, which is referred to as provenance.
More about the event
This includes not only basic information such as the date, the operator and possibly the method, but also detailed information such as the type and type of instrument, the conditions of the measurement, the standards used, the calibration method, the data processing methods and algorithms, and so on - in short, all the information needed to allow someone else to repeat the measurement (or to obtain the data in the same way) or to compare it with their own measurements (or to obtain the data in the same way).
The provenance of research data is essential for interoperability and reusability under the FAIR principles. The lecture will also present a practical example of one measurement method, where data pass from raw form through several processing stages and comprehensive documentation must be available for all these stages. In addition, we will look at some of the most well-known standards for describing the origin of data.
Open Academy presentations – 2021
Open Science in Horizon Europe - Part 2: Handling research data
In the Open Academy, we continue with an overview of the policies of Horizon Europe. In this presentation, we will outline the key principles for handling research data.
More about the event
How should researchers handle the handling of research data when applying for Horizon Europe calls? What are the necessary components of a Data Management Plan (DMP) for this programme? How to describe the origin of the data? What criteria must data repositories meet? How to ensure the best possible re-usability? How to access data management resources?
Open Science in Horizon Europe
In this first presentation, we will look at the basic principles of dissemination of research results under the Horizon Europe programmes, the basic principles of open science practices and, in more detail, the requirements for open access to scientific publications. What are early and open sharing practices? Which research outputs do you need to make openly available? What kind of licences should you use? How to publish open publications in the first place?
More about the event
We will try to answer these and similar questions in this presentation. In the following presentations, you will learn about the principles of handling research data and other research results. We will also look at the data management plan of this call, the open peer review system and other interesting practices in this field.
Creative Space and the CTK Library of Things
In this short presentation, you will learn about the principles of the Creative Commons, the facilities available in the Creative Commons, the possibilities of involving the user community in its management, and the ways and forms of training. We will also brief you on our plans in this area.
ORE - the platform for open publication of scientific work
ORE - Open Research Europe: a platform for open publication of scientific work
Mag. Miro Pušnik will present the ORE platform, its basic principles, the benefits of publications, APC costs, indexing, licences, peer review and much more.
Link to the presentation
Link to the video
FAIR Principles for Research Data
Researchers in research institutes and universities are uncertain about what is expected of them when sharing research data. There are the demands of scientific journals, European projects and the expectations of the scientific community.
More about the event
Researchers need to assess how their research data follows the FAIR principles, i.e. whether it is Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR).
The FAIR principles enhance the value of all digital resources - data, images, software, web services and repositories. They apply at all stages of research and are closely interlinked.
The aim is to generate quality research data that improves the quality of results and increases the impact of research and researchers.
Lecture Data stewardship (Dr Connie Clare)
Dr Connie Clare gave a talk as part of the Open Academy lectures on data stewardship and the role of data stewards at the university, how they are organised and how they are trained to do their job.
More about the event
She specifically touched on how this work is carried out in the 4TU.ResearchData partner organisations (TU Delft, TU/Eindhoven and University of Twente.).
Link to the presentation
Link to the video
Untrustworthy publishing practices
A key criterion that defines a scientific journal is an appropriate peer-review system. Electronic publishing offers many new opportunities, but there are also pitfalls in publishing. It should be stressed that this is not a consequence of open access, but of electronic publishing in general. We most often speak of so-called Predatory Journals, Predatory Publishers and Hijacked Journals.
More about the event
The pitfalls of open publishing are not limited to the publication of scientific works. There are fake conferences and fake metrics.
All of the above unfair and questionable practices abuse the principles of open science and constitute an obstacle to a faster transition to open science in the field of open publishing. Despite the seemingly straightforward decision to publish, researchers publishing in gold journals are increasingly encountering such practices and practices and publishing their scientific work on a platform that only superficially offers the functionalities of a scientific journal, but in reality does not fully or often partially adhere to the fundamental principles of scientific publishing.
In this lecture, you will hear from Mag. Miro Pušnik will present some possible actions and practices librarians can take to resolve researchers' dilemmas in choosing a title, as well as possible practices for dealing with a published scientific work.
Link to the presentation
Link to the video
How to develop guidance on the handling of research data in a research organisation
In this lecture, Dr Janez Štebe, Head of the Social Science Data Archive, a data infrastructure research unit at the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, and the national field unit for the European CESSDA consortium, will present a framework for researchers on how to deal with research data.
More about the event
He presented an example of how, on the initiative of the FWF management, a working group involving various stakeholders had drawn up such guidance, its basic elements, and some of the issues and dilemmas that had arisen in the discussions leading to the adoption of the guidance.
The presentation took place on Thursday 18 March 2021 at 10.00 and lasted approximately 60 minutes via the Zoom teleconferencing system.
Plan S: Support the transition to full and immediate open access to scientific publications
In her lecture, Maja Vihar, who works at CTK as a natural sciences information specialist and has recently also been working in the areas of open access and open publishing, presented the work of the cOAlition S since its establishment in September 2018 and its activities in implementing the core principles summarised in the ten points of the Plan S.
More about the event
This lecture will provide you with background information on the workings of CoAlicija S and give you an insight into the broader context of the implementation of the principles for making publications immediately openly available.
Recommendations for involving researchers in research data management processes
In this lecture, you will hear from Mag. Miro Pušnik, Director of the Central Technical Library of the University of Ljubljana, will present the recommendation "The 6 Pillars of Engaging Researchers in Research Data Management (RDM)", which was prepared by the LIBER working group and which talks about the role of libraries in engaging researchers in research data management processes.
More about the event
This lecture will give you the basic knowledge on how to approach and involve the researcher in the research data management process.
The presentation will take place on Thursday 11 February 2021 at 10.00, will last approximately 60 minutes and will be held via Zoom teleconferencing.
Citizen science as a pillar of open and collaborative science
Citizen science' refers to the general involvement of the public in research activities, where members of the public actively contribute to science, either through their intellectual work, their knowledge and skills, or their tools and resources.
The involvement of the general public in citizen science projects has been increasing in recent years.
Open Academy Presentations – 2020
Focus on Open Science 2020
Community science: a bridge between researchers and the wider community
Central Technical Library at the University of Ljubljana, in cooperation with the Central Medical Library of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ljubljana and the Open Library Competence Centre, is organising the expert meeting “A View of Open Science 2020”. The theme of this year's meeting is Citizen Science: A Bridge Between Researchers and the Wider Community.
Find out more: An insight into Open Science – Open Library