Can we laugh about failure and still learn something meaningful about science? Absolutely, and that was exactly the spirit of Open Science Week 2025.

On 12 November 2025, the Association of Libraries of Czech Universities hosted a special “FuckUp Night”-style storytelling event titled “Mistakes Welcome, or Openly About Open Science” at the atmospheric FAMU Club in Prague. The evening brought together scientists, PhD candidates, data stewards, and research support professionals to share honest, human, and often humorous stories about failure in research.

Among the featured speakers was Hynek Roubík, Associate Professor at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZU) and a key contributor to the OSIRIS project. A passionate advocate for reproducibility and research transparency, Dr. Roubík presented a talk titled:

“Replicate it! …But the cows are gone.”

In a candid and witty presentation, he shared a cautionary tale from the life sciences. What began as a simple pilot experiment gradually evolved into a publishable study, only for the team to discover that their samples were lost, metadata was disorganized, and the biological material had already been consumed.

“The cows had already ended up on the plate,” Roubík admitted with a smile.

Behind the laughter, however, lay an important message: the hidden costs of poor data hygiene, inadequate sample preservation, and delayed implementation of open science practices. His story resonated strongly with the audience and vividly illustrated how small oversights can undermine even the most promising research.

The talk perfectly reflected the OSIRIS project’s mission: to promote a research culture in which transparency, reproducibility, and openness are not mere formal requirements, but deeply embedded scientific values.

Beyond individual stories, the event fostered a supportive and welcoming community of researchers willing to acknowledge mistakes, learn from one another, and even laugh in the face of broken experiments and bureaucratic challenges. The evening concluded with informal networking, sparking new conversations on how to strengthen open science in practice, not only in policy.

Stay tuned for updates on upcoming OSIRIS activities. Visit our website to explore our blogs and events section, and follow us on social media to discover what’s new and how you can get involved.

OSIRIS: Creating Trust in Open Science and Reproducibility through Accessibility and Transparency