Workshop on Open Science

On Wednesday, 11th March 2026, the 5th Workshop on Open Science took place at the University of Nova Gorica (in the Amphitheatre in Ajdovščina and online). The event was organised as part of the activities of the SMASH MSCA project, coordinated by the University of Nova Gorica. This was the first time the workshop was organised under the auspices of the Across Alliance, as a course within the Across Teacher Training Academy (TT2.4), open to Across member universities.

Following the introductory speech by Prof. Dr. Irina Elena Cristea from the Center for Information Technologies and Applied Mathematics at the University of Nova Gorica, Andreja Repič Agrež (MA), coordinator of the Across office at the University of Nova Gorica, briefly introduced the Across Alliance.

The workshop was divided into two parts. In the first part, Asst. Prof. Dr. Ana Slavec from the Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies at the University of Primorska, presented the Slovenian Open Science Community and its activities within the framework of the national Action Open Science Action Plan.

The second part focused on Open Science and Academic Publishing. Stefan Milojević, Senior Journal Relations Specialist at the MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute) talked about the basic principles of open science, the role of the MDPI in Open Science and the future of scientific publishing. Dunja Mladenović, Senior Journal Relations Specialist at the MDPI, talked about ethical foundations of scholarly publishing and the growing impact of artificial intelligence on research integrity.

The workshop was attended by nearly 100 researchers and students, 40 of whom were from Across alliance partner universities. The workshop sparked a lively discussion on the quality of the peer review process in open-access journals, as well as on the ethical questions and limitations surrounding the use of artificial intelligence in writing and reviewing scientific publications.

Dr. Maja Bovcon