Open Science practices are gaining more and more interest among scientific communities. UNESCO has recently set out an international framework for open science to make science more transparent, accessible, equitable and inclusive. Open science approaches strive for the practices of open data, open methods, open analysis and open access to our research materials. The benefits of open working are many: it increases research impact, allows others to inspect our analytical processes, enables collaboration between researchers, and helps to prevent data loss. But are open science practices suited to archaeological research, and should all kinds of data be open? To support the move towards open access, the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) and CARE (Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility and Ethics) principles have been recently developed to improve data sharing within a respectful framework of human and legal rights.

This session aims to initiate discussion among Southeast Asian and Oceania researchers with regards to current practice and the potential impacts of open science on future research. Ethics, intellectual property, planning for data sharing and access, strategies for long-term preservation of data (and metadata) will be addressed by researchers within the various archaeological disciplines. Examples of concrete achievements and practical solutions will be addressed in short presentations by each speaker, before an open discussion. We look forward to hearing about your efforts, views and personal experiences in the Open Science journey to build up an integrative and resourceful session.