Maastricht University endorses the principles of Open Science, offering its academics support to put these principles into practice and make science “as open as possible, as closed as necessary”. In this way, they strengthen ties with their communities and improve their relationships on many levels, from regional to international and from citizens to professionals. Open Science can contribute to making science more visible, in the broadest sense of the word. Now a series of videos is available with information covering the different subjects within the Open Science field (click on the image or here).

On 15 December 2025, the UM Library welcomed citizens, researchers and science enthusiasts to the Citizen Science Matchmaking Event at the Theater aan het Vrijthof. We look back on a vibrant event where members of the public explored and actively participated in research projects from across the region. The event, supported by a Dutch Research Council (NWO) grant, brought together a range of projects in an engaging science fair and speed-dating format. Participants were able to try out hands-on research activities and provide input, from developing AI tools and contributing to local history projects, to exploring apps for chronic pain management, financial literacy workshops and more.  Melissa Prinz, Citizen Science Project Officer:

I think this event did what it set out to do, which was to spark new interest in Citizen Science amongst the public. Citizen participants were very enthusiastic about the chance to engage with several projects at once, and loved the matchmaking, speed-dating format. There was definitely eagerness amongst everyone involved for more events like this!

The aftermovie captures the energy and enthusiasm of attendees as they connected with researchers and learned more about how Citizen Science brings academia and the wider community together.

The Open Science Community Maastricht (OSCM) highlights the value of preregistration in academic research through a dedicated video. Although preregistration is more common in some disciplines than others, all researchers can benefit from this practice to improve transparency and credibility.

Voices from the field

Recorded at the Maastricht School of Business and Economics (SBE), the video features Dr Roman Briker (Assistant Professor in Organisational Behaviour & HRM) and Dr Monika Barget (Assistant Professor in History). Roman and Monika are also the OSCM Open Science ambassadors for their respective faculties. Together, they discuss how preregistration can:

• Increase transparency, reliability, and trust in your findings
• Prevent research fraud
• Protect researchers’ intellectual property

Last December, the Open Science Community Maastricht announced a new funding opportunity made possible by through the Impuls grant received by Open Science NL through NWO.

The call was aimed at supporting small, action-focused, and innovative projects that promote Open Science within the Maastricht University faculties.

From a total number of 29 high-quality, interesting applications,  5 were selected for funding, read more…