Radboud Open Science Inspirator: Lindsay Janssen

Lindsay Janssen makes clear throughout the conversation that Open Science is not an abstract concept for her, but something that comes back in the concrete choices she makes every day. One example is her involvement in comparative research on literature education in secondary schools, in collaboration with Stichting Lezen. This collaboration not only allowed for faster publication, but also made the outcomes directly available to society — exactly the synergy Open Science strives for.

Another project close to her heart is the research into the famine in Ireland, made accessible through the Heritages of Hunger Repository. This database contains a large amount of primary materials that can be used for education about European famines, and is a product of 'Heritages of Hunger' (principal investigator: Marguérite Corporaal), a research project in which researchers and a data scientist from RU, Wageningen University & Research and the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies collaborated.

In collaboration with the Wetenschapsknooppunt (which has unfortunately been discontinued due to budget cuts) and the Northern Irish Nerve Centre, educational materials were developed, accessible to a broad audience. A fine example of open education: not keeping knowledge behind closed doors, but giving it back to the society of which you, as a researcher, are a part. 'Giving something back to society' is therefore a driving force that resonates throughout the entire conversation, and one that the Open Science Programme wholeheartedly wishes to encourage.

"Not keeping knowledge behind closed doors, but giving it back to the society of which you as a researcher are a part"

Yet the path towards openness is not without obstacles. Lindsay points to the challenges surrounding private, digitised newspaper and journal databases, where researchers — particularly when dealing with English-language sources — regularly run into paywalls. Researchers generally do not have access to the enormous budgets needed to pay for that access. Lindsay guides her PhD candidates through this: how do you navigate, as a researcher, a landscape in which knowledge exists but is not always reachable? It is, as she describes it, also an ethical question: to what extent do you want, as a university, to channel large sums of money to commercial parties for access to sources that should really be available to everyone? A question without a simple answer, but one that deserves to be asked more loudly.

The conversation with Lindsay makes clear that for her, Open Science does not begin with policy or formats, but with a deep sense of responsibility: towards students, towards PhD candidates, and towards society as a whole.

Colleagues who wish to discuss (open) research culture and exchange experiences are warmly welcome at the bimonthly OSCN drinks. The next one is on Thursday 26 March at 16:30 in the CultuurCafé.

References:
Delhey, Y., Dera, J., Janssen, L., Jentges, S., Koffeman, M. & Mekenkamp, M. (2025). Tekstselectie in het Nederlandse literatuuronderwijs: Een enquêtestudie onder docenten Duits, Engels, Frans, Nederlands en Spaans. Amsterdam: Stichting Lezen.