Join us to do better science in less time, together
This is a professional development and leadership opportunity for European Space Agency (ESA) affiliated researchers and people supporting ESA research to explore open data science practices and make incremental and sustainable change, no matter where you are starting from. The spring 2026 Champions Cohort will run from April 15th to June 10th, 2026, meeting biweekly 14:00 - 15:30 GMT. Please nominate yourself by March 25, 2026.
Jump to how to apply, below.
Openscapes is an approach and a movement that helps researchers find each other and feel empowered to conduct data-intensive science (Lowndes et al. 2019; Robinson and Lowndes 2022). Since 2019, Openscapes has mentored over 600 researchers at universities across the US and at NASA and NOAA, helping to shift institutional culture to develop climate solutions with open science (Lowndes et al. 2024).
ESA EarthCODE is part of the ESA’s vision for Earth Observation (EO) Open Science and Innovation. EarthCODE enables scientists to find and reuse research data, use integrated EO platforms to develop scientific workflows, and publish them by automating the “FAIRification” process - making digital assets more Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. Key EarthCODE stakeholder groups in its first phase include researchers in the Earth System Science Hub, Phi Lab, and ESA Science Clusters.
Program details
Openscapes Champions is a remote-by-design mentorship program for researchers to explore open data science practices. For ESA Openscapes, participants also spend time experimenting and planning FAIR principles for Earth Observation and EarthCODE. Core lessons include open mindset; GitHub for publishing and project management; team culture, data strategies for future us; coding strategies for future us; open communities.
We will meet as a cohort five times over two months, on alternating Wednesdays in April - June, 2026.
Dates: April 15, 29, May 13, 27, June 10.
Times: 14:00 - 15:30 GMT.
Where: remotely, via Zoom.
Who: ESA-affiliated researchers (postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, principal investigators, other academic researchers) and people supporting ESA research. Preference will be given to Science Hub, Phi Lab, and ESA Cluster researchers if we reach capacity.
Cost: Free; this opportunity is supported by the ESA EarthCODE Project through a contract to Openscapes.
Expected time commitment: 6hrs/month for 2 months is an expected time commitment. This accounts for 3 hours/month of synchronous Zoom calls, optional coworking times, and collaborating with your peers to strengthen shared workflows.
For more information about the Openscapes and our Champions Program, see “Openscapes as a mechanism for Crossing the Chasm between idea and adoption in science” (slides) and What to Expect. For stories from over 25 past Openscapes Champions Cohorts from NASA Earthdata, NOAA Fisheries, other government agencies and academic groups, please browse these blog posts.
How to apply
To nominate yourself, please fill out the nomination form by March 25. Open science is collaborative! We encourage you to sign up with a colleague or two – it is more fun to participate together and you have more accountability. You don’t need to be working on the same project, only an interest in improving workflows.
Questions? Contact hello @ openscapes.org.
This opportunity is funded by the European Space Agency EarthCODE.
References
Reuse
Citation
@online{2026,
author = {, Openscapes and and ESA EarthCODE, Openscapes},
title = {ESA {Openscapes} {Champions} {Program} {Spring} 2026},
date = {2026-04-15},
url = {https://www.openscapes.org/events/2026-04-15-esa-champions/},
langid = {en}
}