OPEN RESEARCH DEVROOM CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS
============================================
We invite developers and users of open tools and technologies used in a research and investigation context to contribute to the 2027 edition of FOSDEM: scientific research, investigative journalism, data journalism, OSINT, as well as research and investigations undertaken by NGOs, civil society, community and activist groups, etc.
We seek talks about:
- New releases of open source software. Introduce a new tool or infrastructure about knowledge production or management. We appreciate context about the project, at the crossroads of open source software and open science.
- Present and/or ask for feedback on open technology stacks used in a knowledge creation or production project (research, journalistic inquiry, archive creation or publication…) which collects, analyses, treats, documents, visualizes, and/or shares data.
- Discuss tool design and implementation that enhance the understanding and literacy of inquiry outputs: data visualisation techniques and issues, knowledge access and exploration means. E.g., how to hold an algorithm accountable to social scientists; how to foster better reproducibility and interoperability thanks to FLOSS; or how to cope with biases of a chart for a data journalist.
- Contribute to the debate about bridging tech culture with research and investigative environments (data journalism, investigative journalism, activism and academia), including tips and best practices for navigating tensions, as well as the contribution of the open source movement to research and investigations sustainability through organizational hosting, funding for projects, support and maintenance, etc.)
- Share your experience about building open source devices or communities across a variety of research and investigative contexts.
We welcome talks from various research and investigative contexts: research labs, libraries, newsrooms, museums, hackerspaces, maker labs, community and activist groups. We welcome your experience on various topics: open science, open data, commons, research on research, sustainability… Any subjects related to open source technologies in research contexts are welcome even if not in this list.
Our devroom consists of about 8 hours of talks held physically in Brussels.
1. Talks
- Lecture talks will last 20 minutes followed by 10 minutes for questions (and changing speaker)
- Lightning talks will last 10 minutes followed by 5 minutes for questions (and changing speaker)
Talks have to be
in English and will be recorded and later on published under Creative Commons CC-BY license on the FOSDEM video recordings archive
https://video.fosdem.org/.
2. Event format
The FOSDEM will be held physically in Bruxelles. The presenters have to be present in person, but the talks can be seen online via a live stream.
HOW TO SUBMIT
=============
1. Important dates:
- Proposal Deadline: 16 November 2026
- Accepted talk announced: 1 December 2026
- FOSDEM Conference: 30-31 January 2027 at Université libre de Bruxelles, Solbosch campus.
- Submit early if you can!
2. Submissions
Must include:
- Title
- Abstract
- Description
- Talk license: FOSDEM is an open-source software conference, please specify which OSI approved license your proposal uses.
- Speaker name, contact, biography and availability
Can include:
- Submission notes: write if you want to give a Lightning talk or Lecture here. Add any other details as needed (visible only to devrooms managers)
- Session Image: Use this if you want an illustration to go with your proposal. Please do not upload files larger than 10.0 MB.
- Additional speaker: you can add co-authors
- Extra review material: private materials you want to show to reviewers
Please make sure to add links to relevant online materials (such as website, publications, code repository…) to either abstract or extra review material.
3. How to submit your proposal (Pretalx tips)
The submission process is managed in the Pretalx system used by the FOSDEM conference. You must create an account in the system to submit. Once logged in, select “submit a CFP” and select the “Open research” track.
Apply for a talk: https://pretalx.fosdem.org/fosdem-2027/cfp
...Then select the track "Open Research"
If you have any issues with Pretalx, do not despair: contact us at open-research-devroom-manager at
fosdem.org.
Follow us on Mastodon (@FosdemResearch at fosstodon.org) for updates and announcements:
About the Open Research devroom
===============================
The Open Research devroom addresses FLOSS developers in a broad community concerned with research production and curation: scientists, engineers, journalists, archivists, curators, activists. The tools and technologies targeted are typically creating, handling or sharing knowledge artifacts: data, academic papers, books, collections, web contents, algorithms, artworks. This devroom provides a place and time to discuss the issues related to the creation and usage of open research technologies, with the ambition to foster discussions between designers, developers and users, bridging multiple knowledge-based communities together, and with the broader FLOSS community.
The Open Research devroom aims to:
- Allow knowledge-based tool developers to publicize their effort and become aware of other FLOSS projects.
- Facilitate the pooling of coding efforts on (often poorly funded) tools.
- Create a network where otherwise isolated developers, research engineers can share common FLOSS concerns.
- Provide social recognition for people who work in fields where designing and developing tools is less considered than usual outcomes (e.g. not publishing papers in research, not writing investigation in data journalism, etc).
Committee
Your proposal will be assessed by our committee:
- Anne Lee Steele
- Célya Gruson-Daniel
- Deborah Udoh
- Diego Antolinos Basso
- Émilien Schultz
- Jim Madge
- Mathieu Jacomy
- Mikael Umeokoli
- Paul Girard
- Sara Petti
- Violeta Menéndez González
Contact us: open-research-devroom-manager at
fosdem.org
Follow our website for updated information:
https://research-fosdem.github.io/