Fostering transparency and responsibility: the recent Open & Responsible Research Symposium at QUB
Queen's University is dedicated to promoting open research and responsible research assessment across faculties and schools.
To further this mission, an Open and Responsible Research Symposium was held in April, which brought together approximately sixty academic and professional services colleagues from various areas within the university. The purpose of the event was to foster a shared understanding of the current landscape for open research and responsible research assessment in the UK, explore challenges and opportunities, highlight examples of best practices within the university, and contribute to future institutional strategies.
Attendees were welcomed by Wendy McLoone (Director of Research Services), whose opening remarks affirmed the University’s long-term commitment to Open Research. Critical to the realisation of this aspiration is the recent establishment of a dedicated institutional Open Research Group, which oversees an institutional Open Research Roadmap; and the delivery of the institutional Research Culture Action Plan.
Following this welcome there were informative and engaging presentations on Sector Best Practice from three expert speakers:
Exploring Responsible Research Evaluation Approaches
Dr Elizabeth Gadd, Vice Chair, Committee on Advancing Research Assessment, and Chair, INORMS Research Evaluation Group
UK Open Research Landscape
Dr Neil Jacobs, Head of Open Research Programmes, UK Reproducibility Network
Best Practice Case Study at Queen’s – COMET Initiative and Evidence Aid
Professor Mike Clarke, Director of MRC Methodology Hub
The second session of the symposium focused on the current Open Research Landscape at Queen’s and offered an overview of the Research Culture Action Plan: a constantly evolving document which is co-owned and co-delivered by the research community at Queen’s; the University’s Open Research Roadmap, which emerged from a self-assessment undertaken by the Open Research Group in 2022 on QUB's readiness for Open Research, based on the 37 criteria set out in the LERU Open Science Roadmap; and concluded with a case-study from the School of Psychology on what Open Research might mean at a school-level.
Research Culture Action Plan: responsible research assessment and practices
Chris Browne, Senior Research Strategy and Policy Manager, Research and Enterprise Directorate
Open Research Roadmap
Dan Holden, Head of Digital, Content and Research Services, QUB Library
A case study on Open Science Guidelines at school-level
Dr Joost Dessing, Lecturer and Open Science Lead, School of Psychology
The final session of the day was a Panel and Plenary Discussion on Challenges, Opportunities and Next Steps chaired by Joost Dessing with Panelists: Dr Keith Breen, Professor Hans Vandierendonck, Professor Amy Jayne McKnight, and Dr Neil Jacobs.
In a wide-ranging discussion, panelists representing a diverse range of disciplinary perspectives drew attention to areas in which their schools and faculties were already actively engaging in Open Research. The panel agreed that it was essential to realise there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to the implementation of Open Research principles and a nuanced understanding of some of the ethical, legal, and commercial barriers to fully open research needed to be borne in mind.
Scope for improvement the recording and promotion of Open Datasets produced by Queen’s researchers was also touched upon, with Amy Jayne noting that much more of QUB research is made available openly than that which is formally recorded as such.
Harmonisation of Research Quality Control best practice guidelines regarding Open Research was identified as another area of potential improvement by the panel, as was the rationalisation of the approaches of different research funders.
Whereas some disciplines were very comfortable with the idea of Open Research and had established disciplinary repositories for data sets, code, and software artefacts, attention was also draw to the need for guidance, advice and resources for researchers in fields where Open Research was currently less embedded, and also to the need for a realistic approach to understanding the resources needed for Open Research to be fully integrated into the University’s research culture.
There was a consensus that collaboration and knowledge sharing across disciplines and institutions would be helpful – there was no need for each area to start from scratch - and on the importance of crediting and rewarding the work which goes into these kinds of citizenship activities and acknowledging them as both local and national contributions.
In his closing remarks, Ian Purdy (Acting Director of Information Services) thanked all those who had contributed to such a successful and engaging event. He noted that the process of embedding Open Research fully into the research landscape would undoubtedly take time, but as it was inevitable that it was going to happen, there was a compelling case to be made for a wholehearted engagement earlier rather than later. Momentum for Open Research was growing across the institution - as evidenced by today’s event, and building on this momentum would be critical in Queen’s next steps towards fully embracing a culture of Open Research at all levels of the university.