From Data to Knowledge, from Knowledge to Action
The icy wind from Siberia ensured that the members of the organizing committee for the Forum Carpaticum 2012 stayed close together when they discussed the planning and implementation of the S4C key event scheduled for early summer. Upon invitation of Lubos Halada, Institute of Landscape Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, more than twenty scientists of the Scientific Organizing Committee gathered for two days at Smolenice Castle to sort and discuss submitted abstracts, and to shape and organize the conference.
Of equal importance was the discussion among the S4C Scientific Steering Commitee members about the far less tangible objectives of the Science for the Carpathians initiative, such as stimulating the dialogue with policy, shaping a Carpathian research area or facilitating the access to data and information for the sake of sustainable development. So far, these topics did not get the attention they actually deserve, despite that fact that such linkage between research and real-life problems has been prominently declared in the title of the next Forum Carpaticum: From Data to Knowledge, from Knowledge to Action.



Trespassing disciplinary borders is like a Siberian wind
Indeed, it takes an extra effort to think beyond thematic and disciplinary conference sessions. Disciplinary sessions allowing interaction among peers with a similar mindset are truely cosy places when Siberian winds bang at the shutters of the Smolenice castle. However, to progress in science, we have to fight against two strong human forces: First, our own desire to organize the scientific world in disciplinary categories, and second, the seduction to talk about things we already know. As described in Michael Nielson's book Reinventing Discovery, people in a group tend to reinforce preconceived ideas rather than to systematically complement their knowledge. We need to invent new tools allowing us to pool all the information we gather, for instance, at a conference like the Forum Carpaticum. Such attempt should go far beyond the publication of extended abstracts. Making use of the "collective knowledge" of the Science for the Carpathians initiative remains a key challenge.

Getting equipped for the future
The discussion around the science-practice-policy gap and the manifold obstacles in the field of data sharing, let alone open science, leaves many of us with discomfort, simply because we are no experts in such fuzzy fields. Moreover, it is questionable if such engagement will yield the academic merit scientists are aiming at.
Yet, in the Research Agenda for the Carpathians, the S4C community clearly declares the intent to take responsibility for advocacy at the policy level and to make an effort to enhance data integration, harmonization and access at the pan-Carpathian scale. Further, with the draft of the Memorandum of Understanding between the S4C and the Interim Secretariate of the Carpathian Convention (ISCC-UNEP), to be signed at the Forum Carpaticum 2012, the Carpathian science community testifies the will to put research into service of Carpathian policy. A clear signal of good will that needs to be followed up by concrete actions - from both, science and policy!