From June 12 to 16, 2023, OPTIMA project team members participated in a training workshop on open science and open educational resources, which took place at the Côte d'Azur University in Nice, France. The main objective of the event was to deepen the team's knowledge of various aspects of open science, prepare for the creation of an open educational resource within the project by undergoing practical training and discussing the relevant requirements, and coordinate further actions in the format of personal communication. The latter was especially relevant due to the recent prolongation of the project for a year due to the war in Ukraine.
The workshop was attended by representatives of almost all the partner organizations of the consortium, some of whom were trainers and lecturers, and some of whom were listeners who received new theoretical and practical knowledge. However, this division was often arbitrary, as the project team works together to achieve all its goals and actively discusses all aspects of the project. Notably, the event was the first opportunity for representatives of the OPTIMA consortium to meet in person, as previous training workshops and animation events were held online due to the coronavirus pandemic and Russia's full-scale invasion.
Ukainian team members were thrilled to participate in trainings, presentations, and follow-up discussions organized by Nicki Lisa Cole and Eva Kormann from the Graz University of Technology; Sebastian Dahle and Agnieszka Żyra from the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (Eurodoc); Wojciech Wodo from the Wroclaw University of Technology. The event also featured a long-awaited face-to-face meeting with Thomas Guillemaud, one of the founders of the French community of scientific reviewers PCI (Peer Community In), who has repeatedly conducted lectures and trainings for the project team online.
The highlight of the workshop was a visit to the University's Center for Pedagogical Support (Centre D'accompagnement Pédagogique - CAP), whose multidisciplinary team provides support to educators through training, coaching, and the introduction of innovative tools for creating educational materials. The center's team, led by Natalia Timus, conducted training on creating open multimedia educational resources for the OPTIMA team, during which Ukrainian participants recorded audio podcasts and videos. The knowledge and experience gained will be useful to the project team very soon, as it is planned to create multimedia materials for an open educational resource on open science in the fall, which is to take place at Sumy State University.
In addition to the planned results, the workshop allowed its participants to significantly expand their professional networking and discuss new cooperation projects with existing and new international partners. This, in particular, was facilitated by the fact that the OPTIMA project event was held in parallel with the traditional Digital Week, co-organized by the European university Ulysseus where University Côte d'Azur is a key partner.
