About

The Open Modeling Foundation (OMF) is an international open science community that works to enable the next generation modeling of human and natural systems. It is an alliance of modeling organizations that coordinates and administers a common, community developed body of standards and best practices among diverse communities of modeling scientists. The OMF also provides informational, data, and technological resources to facilitate the implementation of common standards and best practices among the scientific communities it serves.

The OMF supports the work of all modeling scientists endeavoring to advance the understanding of diverse dimensions of our complexly interacting human and natural world. The OMF promotes cooperation and transparent knowledge exchange among diverse communities of modeling scientists through common standards and best practices. The OMF develops and maintains an open-access, community framework for enabling an ecosystem of reusable, interoperable models to study complex interactions between people and the environment at multiple scales. The OMF allows scientists and planners world-wide to contribute to developing modeling approaches and applying them to help sustainably manage our planet. Because sustainability is a global challenge, it is important to engage the world in developing and deploying the science needed for this endeavor, and democratize advanced modeling to ensure that all members of our global human community have access to the scientific and decision tools they need.

The OMF endeavors to accelerate modeling science by making models more easily discoverable and globally accessible. It develops and administers a suite of common standards and technology for model reusability, reproducibility, and interoperability. The foundation supports training and educational programs that help modeling scientists develop their skills, learn best practices, and share expertise. OMF member organizations promote transparency and ethical practice of crediting the work of modeling scientists in all domains.

In these ways, the Open Modeling Foundation seeks to enable the many scientists across the world who are represented by its member organizations to contribute to nimble, effective modeling of natural systems, human systems, and their integration at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Through fostering innovative modeling science, the Open Modeling Foundation endeavors to help humanity confront rapidly changing and ever more complex and global issues and improve human well-being.

The mission and charter of the Open Modeling Foundation are living documents. Scientists can suggest changes through the OMF GitHub and these suggestions will be reviewed by the OMF Executive Committee and Members Council for potential adoption.