MD-NOSCI Inaugural Event in the Republic of Moldova

The Memorandum of Understanding on the National Open Science Cloud Initiative in the Republic of Moldova (MD-NOSCI) was signed by 5 representatives of Moldovan organisations from the higher education and scientific research arena at the MD-NOSCI Inaugural Event held in the Senate Hall of the Moldova State University (MSU) on March 30, 2023.

This event was attended by 56 representatives of Moldovan universities and research institutions, librarians, policy makers and invited speakers from abroad. The event was organized by MSU, the National Agency for Research and Development, and the Research and Educational Networking Association of Moldova (RENAM), with support of the Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Moldova and the Academy of Sciences of Moldova. Organisational support for the event was provided by the NI4OS-Europe (National Initiatives for Open Science in Europe) project.

The event started with a welcome speech from the Rector of MSU, Dr. Igor Sharov, as the host, who stressed the importance of aligning with the demands and needs, dictated by the current academic community at the European level, and understanding that coordinated actions for creation, shared management and joint exploitation of cognitive content become indispensable, acting for the benefit of the MSU community, at the local and national levels, but also at the transnational one in a broader vision.

The Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Moldova was represented at the event by Dr. Olga Izbash, principal consultant of the Directorate for Research and Innovation Policy, who in her welcome speech mentioned that MD-NOSCI establishment is vital and necessary at a time when the development of research and education largely depends on access to resources and the use of advanced technologies. She noted that the Republic of Moldova has an opportunity to be integrated more rapidly into the European Research Area and be part of a larger ecosystem, which encourages collaboration, exchange of ideas and experience.

The President of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Acad., Prof. Ion Tiginyanu, delivered a welcome speech and drew the attendees’ attention to the role of RENAM as a national infrastructure which should be used to the maximum. He accentuated the need to promote Open Science by all actors, by all research and education institutions in Moldova, and to implement the Open Science requirements at the national level, while MD-NOSCI represents a basis for creating new collaboration bridges and new consortia for Moldovan researchers in order to participate in European projects.

After that, Vadim Iatchevici, General Director of the National Agency for Research and Development, member of the EOSC (European Open Science Cloud) Association, in his welcome speech stressed the importance of close cooperation of research and innovation entities in their joint activities to address the most pressing global challenges. In this context, EOSC is an environment, which allows the shared use of international resources for research, providing access for all categories of beneficiaries.

The first presentation was given by Eleni Toli, NI4OS-Europe Project Director, Research Associate at the Athena Research Center (Greece), who introduced the priorities and needs that led to establishment of EOSC (problems, barriers, objectives, benefits), EOSC guiding principles, regional projects supporting EOSC implementation, and NI4OS-Europe lines of work (ORDM tools, on-boarding and policy support, training). Also detailed information was provided about community efforts (creating awareness and capacity building) related to National Open Science Cloud Initiatives (NOSCIs) establishment and running in each country, impact of NOSCIs, their interconnection with EOSC ecosystem, and the way forward.

In the second presentation Dr. Iryna Kuchma, the EIFL Open Access Programme (EIFL-OA) Manager and OpenAIRE member, spoke about national initiatives in European countries (Austria, France, Ireland, Italy), that led to significant developments related to national Open Science policy/plan, enabling FAIR research data, Research Data Management, skills and training, evaluation, incentives and rewards, etc. Also she presented a successful international initiative International Network of Open Science & Scholarship Communities, which comprises initiatives at national, municipal and institutional levels, sharing Open Science tips and good practices.

In the third presentation, Dr. Habil. Aurelia Hanganu, vice-rector for scientific activity and international relations of MSU, highlighted the importance of informing the community in the Republic of Moldova, giving an overview of the EOSC initiative, timeline of the EOSC establishment and development, peculiarities of its implementation, the EOSC projects on thematic areas (ENVRI-FAIR, EOSC-Life, ESCAPE, PaNOSC, SSHOC), rules of participation in EOSC, the future of EOSC and challenges at technical and societal levels. She noted that EOSC, together with MD-NOSCI, target all researchers and all domains.

Lastly, Mihaela Cucu, expert from the Executive Unit for Financing Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation (Romania) talked about promotion of Open Science through the Open Science Knowledge Hub, international projects which support transition to Open Science at national level, and practical aspects of Open Science implementation in Romania. She informed the present audience about the experience of RO-NOSCI establishment (founded by 3 coordinators, now it gathers 27 organisations), membership options and joining procedure, and agenda of RO-NOSCI meetings (presentations and discussions focused on EOSC and NI4OS-Europe activities and service catalogue, examples of good practices, Open Science national strategic framework, as well as the creation of working groups on specific topics).

Signatories of the Memorandum of Understanding on the National Open Science Cloud Initiative in the Republic of Moldova are the National Agency for Research and Development, the Moldova State University, the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts, the University of European Political and Economic Studies “Constantin Stere”, and RENAM.

The event was led and moderated by Dr. Natalia Cheradi, Director of the Scientific Library of the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova.

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