Going with or against the tide: The 2026 NL edition of the Open Science Retreat

The 2026 Dutch edition of Open Science Retreat was a four day escape into a world where open science is a given. Almost fifty people gathered in Schoorl to strengthen connections and unlock open science in the Netherlands and beyond.

Brought into the world by Heidi Seibold, the Open Science Retreat merges structured teamwork with free moments and beautiful surroundings for creative progress. Each day includes structured time to work, shared meals, and unstructured time to both professionally and socially connect with one another.

Teams worked on (1) a short film: Turning the tide: Stories of Open Science, (2) creating the ‘awesome rewards’ resource, (3) defining open infrastructure, (4) being open with restricted data, (5) updating the widely used set of open science practices, and (6) how to handle the broken promises of open data in articles. The goal of the retreat is not to start projects that last beyond the retreat, but to make concrete steps. As a result, teams produced a collection outputs that are openly licensed, to keep building on and for everyone to use, using a dedicated ResearchEquals Collection.

The rotating roster of chores, the shared management of the bar (everyone took responsibility at some point), the skill sharing, the creativity and the infamous science karaoke created a sense of togetherness. At a conference, you are taken care of – at the retreat we take care of each other. Each cohort leaves with a trusted network to lean on when going back to their institution, where open science may not be a given.

With hundreds of cumulative kilometers walked and biked by the group, many conversations, experiences, and wisdom is shared between the people at the retreat. Mentors offered their hard-fought experiences on parenting in academia, building a legal entity to spin out a project, unconventional career paths, how to set up awards. Digital sovereignty was put into practice with advice on de-Googling your devices.

There are ideas to use our shared Mattermost platform for ongoing projects or look into funding opportunities that allow us to keep collaborating.

The OSC-NL retreat is powered by the Dutch Research Council, Digital Research Academy, ZonMW, and Imming Impact. Four of the participants also attend the Global Open Science Retreat in Wales a week later, and can be ambassadors of the spirit we embodied during the OSCNL Retreat.

Participants rated the retreat even higher than the first retreat: a solid 5 out of 5 stars. They shared the following thoughts about the Retreat:

‘I liked having the teamwork sessions in the morning, and other activities in the afternoon. It creates a nice separation, especially since in the afternoon there is less pressure to join everything, which fosters the retreat vibe. I also really liked that it was clearly stated that it is possible to not join things, and that the main goal is to relax, disconnect, and recharge batteries (whatever that means for you).’

‘I felt the power of a collective, where people are looking after each other, under a shared vision’

‘There was clear communication from the start about the program framework, with start and end times, slots for team work and a nature walk’

‘I loved the short sessions’ ‘I liked the location and I’d be happy to go there again. The days were well structured – good mix of work and opportunities to relax and talk to others’

‘It was amazing in terms of location, and the accommodation was fine. I loved that there were bikes and that it was in the dunes. The food way exceeded my expectations, very very nice!!

For a recap of the 2024 OSC-NL Open Science Retreat, see this blog