Michela Bertero, head of the CRG International and Scientific Affairs Office, will represent EU-Life at the new Open Science Policy Platform. The Directorate-General for Research and Innovation at the European Commission established a Commission Advisory Group to provide advice about the development and implementation of open science policy in Europe.

Commissioner Moedas announced the launch of this new advisory platform as well as its members at the Competitiveness Council, which took place on 27th May in Brussels. He emphasised that open science is one of the three policy priorities of his mandate which represents a new approach to the scientific process based on cooperative work and new ways of diffusing knowledge by using digital technologies and new collaborative tools.

The Open Science Policy Platform comprises representatives of different stakeholder groups including universities, research organisations, academies and societies, funding and citizen science organisations, publishers, platforms and libraries. Michela Bertero, head of the International and Scientific Affairs Office at the alliance’s member Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and co-founder of EU-LIFE, will act as EU-LIFE representative within this advisory platform.

“By joining the Open Science Policy Platform EU-LIFE achieves again one of its major goals: to contribute to research policy at European level,” states Bertero. She also adds “The nomination of EU-LIFE as member of this advisory platform reinforces the role of our Alliance in the European research policy. We are happy to contribute to scientific excellence not only by supporting and leading successful research institutes throughout Europe but also by actively participating in establishing new policies and promoting initiatives in collaboration with other stakeholders”.

The mandate of the Open Science Policy Platform is to:

1. Advise the Commission on how to further develop and practically implement open science policy, in line with the priority of Commissioner Moedas to radically improve the quality and impact of European science.
    
2. Function as a dynamic, stakeholder-driven mechanism for bringing up and addressing issues of concern for the European science and research community and its representative organisations, following five broad lines for actions which are presented in the draft European Open Science Agenda.
    
3. Support policy formulation by helping to identify the issues to be addressed and providing recommendations on the policy actions required,
    
4. Support policy implementation, contributing to reviewing best practices, drawing policy guidelines and encouraging their active uptake by stakeholders.
    
5. Provide advice and recommendations on any cross-cutting issue affecting Open Science