OSCARS Work Package 4, WP4 – Management, Communication and Open Calls, oversees the coordination, communication, and engagement efforts crucial for the success of OSCARS.
In addition to managing the OSCARS project as a whole, the WP has been in charge of setting up and implementing two Open Calls for Open Science projects and services, taking over the role of a funding agency, with the final aim of fostering the uptake of Open Science in the scientific communities within, across and beyond the Science Clusters.
This meant:
Organising two online launch events with in total over ~840 participants;
Answering to ~430 general questions via email;
Holding four “Ask me anything” webinars in the run up of the submission deadline of the 1st Open Call (240 attendees) resulting in 280 questions that were summarised and added as 75 entries to the FAQ page;
Holding one “Ask me anything” webinar in relation to the 2nd OSCARS Open Call with 201 attendees, resulting in 155 questions answered both live and via Slido;
Signing contracts with 80 external evaluators that produced 512 review reports for the 1st Open Call;
Preparing and signing 58 Third Party Project Agreements for the projects funded via the 1st Open Call;
Assigning evaluators to the 746 proposals submitted to the 2nd Open Call.
The 1st OSCARS Open Call for Open Science projects and services closed on May 15th, 2024, with 264 proposals submitted, involving organisations from 33 countries. The call, which offered over 13 million EUR of funding, concluded in July 2024, resulting in a total of 58 funded projects. Forty of them are related to the five domains of the Science Clusters (SCs), fifteen are cross-cluster, and three are from areas not included in the domains represented by the SCs. All funded projects can be browsed by Science Cluster and by thematic area (Repositories; Data annotation; Software, AI and tools; Promotion of Open Science) in the presentation here.
The 2nd OSCARS Open Call closed on May 14th, 2025, with 746 submitted proposals from 67 countries. The total funding available in this second call amounts to ~€3 million EUR. Project proposals involve 1282 participating organisations spanning universities (39.8%), research technology organisations (19.1%), Research Infrastructures (9.4%), SMEs and startups (17.2%), large corporations (1%), non-profit or NGOs (6.9%), pan-European organisations (0.7%), international organisations (1.4%) and others (4.4%).
Due to the very high number of applications, it is expected that the evaluation process will be finalised by the end of August 2025 at the earliest.
To increase visibility of the projects funded via OSCARS Open Calls, comprehensive communication campaigns have been carried out spotlighting funded projects’ key challenges, proposed solutions and scientific impact, while a first set of results has been collected and published in the dedicated project webpages released on the OSCARS website.
Also, WP4 has developed promotional material, such as banners, videos, web pages, infographics and templates, enabling stakeholders to easily explore and analyse the breadth and depth of OSCARS funded projects.
Moreover, the WP organised the OSCARS kick-off meeting in March 2024 and the 1st Annual General Meeting (AGM) in March 2025, where interactive stakeholder engagement sessions were facilitated, including World Café discussions to incorporate community feedback into future strategies. This inclusive approach, which was also successfully implemented at the EOSC Winter School 2024, ensures that OSCARS remains responsive and aligned with the evolving needs of the Science Clusters, the research communities, and the EOSC.
During the 1st OSCARS AGM, funded project representatives had the chance to meet, present their projects and discuss common challenges and future activities, also in exchange with representatives of OSCARS and the Science Clusters. Project presentations were grouped into the four thematic areas the projects contribute to: Repositories, Data annotation, Software, AI and tools, and Promotion of Open Science. All these areas are of great importance for the advancement of Open Science in Europe.
Finally, various WP4 members have actively participated in other strategic events, such as the EC organised EOSC Coordination meetings, the EOSC Symposium, and meetings with the European Commission to discuss the cascading grant mechanism used in the frame of the OSCARS Open Calls and share the knowledge and experience acquired in the process.
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