Helmholtz Open Science Webinars as a promoting and networking tool

An internal workshop of the Helmholtz Association on research data management and information infrastructures in 2012 provided a starting point for a series of web seminars on research data projects, open science, and re-use of research data and research software. The Helmholtz Open Science Webinars (https://os.helmholtz.de/bewusstsein-schaerfen/workshops/webinare/) are directed at scientists, data practitioners, and research software engineers who use the webinars to participate in expert talks via the internet and discuss questions in a live chat. The webinars proved a valuable tool for networking between scientists and staff from Helmholtz Centres and beyond and for sharing best practices when working with research data and research software. To date, around 50 Helmholtz Open Science Webinars have been organised by the Helmholtz Open Science Coordination Office on topics like, for instance, research data publishing, open science tools, and software citation. The webinar series will be continued.