From Guidance to Practice: Implementing Open Science Data Policies in Crisis Situations

Recorded: Wednesday 15 October 2025
Title: From Guidance to Practice: Implementing Open Science Data Policies in Crisis Situations
Presenters: Ana Persic, LILI Zhang, Simon Hodson, Virginia Murray, Francis P. Crawley, Gnana Bharathy

DESCRIPTION
This workshop addresses the urgent need to translate the high-level vision of the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science into concrete, actionable data governance mechanisms tailored for crisis contexts. Whether triggered by natural disasters, health emergencies, climate change, or geopolitical conflicts, in times of crisis effective and ethical data management is essential for informed decision-making, resource coordination, and community resilience. Drawing on the practical outputs of the UNESCO-CODATA project Data Policies for Times of Crisis Facilitated by Open Science (DPTC) (including the Guidance, Checklist, Factsheet, and Technical Report), participants will explore how to operationalize these tools to design agile, transparent, and context-sensitive data policies. These tools are part of the UNESCO Open Science Toolkit and are aligned with global instruments such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, UNDRR’s Hazard Information Profiles (HIPs), and the WHO’s International Health Regulations (IHR).

Workshop (90 minutes) – Format: Interactive, Practical Implementation
All of the listed authors are invited to participate as either presenters, panelists, or breakout group leaders.
It includes a mix of brief presentations, group work, and structured discussion, designed to enable hands-on learning and policy co-creation. Here's the breakdown:

Opening Presentation (10 minutes)
Introduction to the UNESCO-CODATA DPTC tools (Checklist, Guidance, Factsheet) and their global policy context (UNESCO Open Science, Sendai, WHO IHR, etc.)

Lightning Case Presentations (20 minutes)
Short, real-world examples from diverse crisis contexts (e.g., WHO Health-EDRM, Royal Society data privacy tools, Ukraine conflict, Australia’s federated systems)

Breakout Group Exercises (35 minutes)
Participants work in small groups to simulate applying the DPTC Checklist to a hypothetical crisis (e.g., multi-hazard urban flooding)
Focus: data governance, stakeholder roles, ethical AI, equity, infrastructure, privacy

Plenary Debrief and Synthesis (20 minutes)
Group insights shared; common challenges and local adaptations identified
Draft “Implementation Roadmap” template introduced for further use

Closing Remarks (5 minutes)
Summary, feedback, and invitation to join the DPTC community of practice

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This is a recording from International Data Week 2025: https://internationaldataweek.org/idw...

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