UK: Final report on Open Data Dialogue

Undertaken on the behalf of the Research Councils UK in partnership with JISC, the Royal Society and Sciencewise-ERC1, this public dialogue explored views on open data, data reuse and data management policies within research. 

Key Findings are:

1. The principal arguments for open data – around catalysing innovation and building trust – were contested. 

2. Open data was an abstract issue for participants to engage with.

3. Main concerns around open data relate to promoting the public interest and protecting personal data.

4. Current practices around open data seen as mixed and contingent on the interests of researchers.

5. The public identified 8 key principles that could be used to promote more effective open data policies. Defining the public interest was key in this context.

6. There was a series of social and ethical issues associated with rights and responsibilities of different stakeholders around open data. These were sometimes in conflict.

7. Different governance structures emerged around open data, which are contingent on how public interest is defined and protected.

8. There were two broad views on what constitutes the public interest around data reuse that emerged from the dialogue, which have distinct and potentially conflicting implications for data governance.

9. Opening data in the public interest can involve direct trade offs for the public – in terms of individual rights around consent and confidentiality and the greater good.

10. There are a number of implications emerging from the dialogue about who gets to define public interest.

11. There is an opportunity to directly build public principles around openness directly into the policies of research funders.

12. Different open data governance structures could be considered by the research councils.

13. Open data, though not unimportant, is unlikely to be a highly significant public issue around the governance of research.