A fresh take on conferences: Attending Barcamp Open Science 2026 in Berlin
June was a busy month because in addition to the World Biodiversity Forum in Davos, I also attended the Barcamp Open Science in Berlin and the two events could not have been more different in terms of their format. Barcamps are a type of ‘un-conference’, which means that the agenda is not set in advance and participants are encouraged to propose and lead sessions on topics they are interested in. This creates a more participatory and collaborative environment, where attendees can really engage in discussions that are most relevant to them.
I came with a few ideas for sessions in my head but the one that I proposed, and ended up moderating (thankfully others thought it was interesting enough to vote for), was about effective carrot and stick approaches to incentivising Open Science within different institutional contexts. This is something that I have been interested in since my time as a PhD student where attending conferences and being part of committees was recognised (through ECTS credits) towards your degree but OPen Science activities such as publishing your data and research software were not.
The session was well attended, with participants from a range of disciplines and career stages, and we had a lively discussion about the challenges and opportunities for promoting Open Science in different contexts. A summary of the discussion will be provided as part of an overall wrap-up blog post from the organisers and I will link to that here once it is available.
The event itself was fantastic and I found the barcamp format to be a breath of fresh air compared to the traditional academic conference format (Mediocre plenary talks, I’m thinking of you!). If your work is in anyway related to Open Science or if you are just interested in learning more, I would highly recommend attending the next barcamp if you have the opportunity.
- All photos from Barcamp Open Science 2026, attribution: Ralf Rebmann 2026.