Category: Events

What’s happening in Library Research Services: Autumn 2025

Members of the Library Research Services (LRS) team continue to be on hand to support you with any Open Research, Research Data and Open Access training and queries you might have. Get in touch at lrs@ncl.ac.uk.

Coming up in the following months:

September
October
November

Check out the library calendar for further courses and dates in 2025/2026.

Photo by Jeremy Thomas on Unsplash

Open Access Support Sessions in 2025/26

Are you looking for advice and information on open access or managing publications? Come to one of our monthly drop-in sessions and meet members of the Library Research Services team, who will be happy to answer questions on:

Whether you’re a seasoned researcher, student or simply keen to explore the possibilities within open access, this session offers a welcoming space to ask questions, gain insights and delve deeper into the realm of open access.

These are informal sessions, however, registration is required for you to receive the online teams link. 

All are welcome!

Open Research Awards 2025

We’re delighted to announce that the Newcastle University Open Research Awards for 2025 are now open.

The Open Research Awards recognise colleagues and students who have used open practices to make research more accessible, transparent or reproducible, and demonstrate an understanding of the aims of open research.

The awards are open to all students and colleagues working in any research-related role, at any stage, within any area of the University. We encourage applications from researchers in any discipline, including those where open research is not yet the norm, and who may use qualitative, quantitative or creative practice methodologies. 

The winners will be announced at a celebration event and presented with a bespoke award created by the University’s glass blowing workshop, as well as a certificate and letter of commendation to recognise their contribution to building a more open research culture.

Important Dates (2025)

  • Submission closes: Nov 7th (17:00)
  • Panel shortlisting:  Nov 17th
  • Celebration event: Nov 24th (12:00-14:00)
Find out more and apply

Newcastle University holds inaugural open research conference

On Friday 13th June 2025 Newcastle University held its first ever open research conference, bringing together staff and postgraduate students to share successes and challenges in their open research journeys so far and learn what benefits working openly can bring. Attendees came from SAgE, HaSS, FMS and Professional Services indicating a growing multidisciplinary interest in open research practices. A welcoming address was given by Natasha Mauthner, Associate Dean for Good Research Practice and UKRN institutional lead.

The conference was aimed specifically at early career researchers (ECRs) and PGR students who were either practising open research or were keen to learn more about how to go about conducting open research, with the opportunity to share best practice and build upon open research techniques through a series of invited talks and hands-on workshops. Workshops were delivered by open research champions and the library open research team. Topics covered on the day included open, FAIR and sensitive data, trust in research methods and results, transparency and reproducibility, and research tools and software for openness. The day concluded with a hands-on exploration of open research through games and a productive and thought-provoking ‘open forum’ discussion of what open research means for non-quantitative disciplines including challenges, opportunities to expand how openness and transparency is considered over all disciplines within the university, and open research training needs.

Feedback on the day was positive, there was a buzz of discussion and attendees were able to make new connections, learn about new tools and discuss any shared challenges in making their research more open. The conference also acted as an opportunity to promote the work of the UK Reproducibility Network (UKRN) at Newcastle University and the monthly ReproducibiliTea journal club.

Details of the talks from invited speakers and workshops with resources can be found on the conference programme page and below, with links to the slides.

Short Talks

  • Open-Source Software Tools for Research – Ben Wooding, School of Computing, SAgE (download slides)
  • Demystifying Clinical Audit vs Research – Edmund Ong, Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia, FMS (download slides)
  • Applying FAIR Principles to Research Software – Frances Turner, Carol Booth, Research Software Engineering Team (download slides)
  • Open Access DNA-Encoded Library Screening : Accelerating Therapeutic Discovery Through Collaboration – Cameron Taylor, Mike Waring, Dan Gugan, School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, SAgE  (download slides)
  • Introduction to Open Hardware Principles – James Grimshaw, BioImaging Unit, FMS (download slides)
  • Open, FAIR, and Sensitive Data in the context of Electric Vehicle Charging – Shouai Wang, Sanchari Deb, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, SAgE (download slides)
  • Multi100: Estimating the Analytical Robustness of the Social Sciences + Lessons About Open Research – Harry Clelland, Eotvos Lorand University and Northumbria University (download slides)
  • Using Social Media Big Data and ChatGPT for Identifying Counter-urbanisation Hot Spots in China: A Case for Open and Ethical Research – Jian Chen, Centre for Rural Economy, SAgE
  • A Brief History of Research Software Engineering – Mark Turner, Research Software Engineering (download slides)
  • Generating trustworthy evidence: A painful story – Gavin Stewart, School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, SAgE (download slides)

Workshops

  • Workshop 1: A Very Short Introduction to Version Control with Git – Janetta Steyn, Research Software Engineering Team (Intro to Git & GitHub)
  • Workshop 2: Sharing sources and processes: a milestone for trust and research longevity – Bogdan Metes, Library Research Services (access slides)
  • Workshop 3: Making Your Literature Review Easier and More Transparent: Reference Managers and other Tools – Nayara Albrecht, Federal University for Latin American Integration, previously School of Geography, Politics and Sociology (download slides)
  • Workshop 4: DOI Generation and other tools for open publishing – Glyn Nelson, Bioimaging Facility, Faculty of Medical Sciences (download slides)

This guest post was written by Nicola Howe and Clement Lee, local network leads for UKRN Newcastle.

Book Giveaway!

Routledge Critical Food Studies book series will soon publish “Sustainable Food Consumption in China: Changing Foodscapes, Values, and Practices” by Alex Hughes, Shuru Zhong, Mike Crang, Guojun Zeng, Fernando Fastoso, Hector Gonzalez Jimenez and Bob Doherty.

Simply, share or like one of the following posts by 12 June 2025 for a chance to win a print copy!

The book, expected on 18 June 2025, will be published open access as a result of the UKRI open access policy for long-form publications, with open access costs covered by UKRI funding.

Full details of the UKRI open access policy and how we in Library Research Services can support you to publish open access can be found on our UKRI Policy for long-form publications page.

If you have any questions or concerns about the policy, and how this might affect any current or future publications, please contact openaccess@ncl.ac.uk.

What’s happening in Library Research Services: June, July and August 2025

As we move towards the summer months, members of the Library Research Services (LRS) team continue to be on hand to support you with any Open Research, Research Data and Open Access training and queries. Get in touch at lrs@ncl.ac.uk.

There are also a number of interesting events happening:

Check out the library calendar for further courses and dates in 2025.

Philosophical issues in open qualitative research

Monday 9th June, 2025 14:00 – 15:00 (BST). Online.

In this interactive workshop Natasha Mauthner, Professor of Social Science Philosophy and Method at Newcastle University, will critically examine philosophical issues in open qualitative research.

The open research movement—encompassing its practices, policies, concepts, infrastructure, governance, guidance, protocols, and rationale—is rooted in an implicit positivist understanding of research. In contrast, qualitative research is grounded in a rich diversity of philosophical traditions, including positivism, interpretivism, social constructionism, phenomenology, hermeneutics, symbolic interactionism, postmodernism, poststructuralism, and deconstruction.

This workshop invites participants to explore the tensions between the normative, one-size-fits-all model of open research—often shaped by positivist assumptions—and the ontological and epistemological diversity of qualitative inquiry. How can qualitative researchers from various philosophical traditions meaningfully engage with open research practices? Conversely, how might the open research movement evolve to better reflect and support the complexity and pluralism of qualitative research?

Register now

Hosted jointly by Newcastle University and the University of Reading Qualitative Open Research group.

What’s happening in Library Research Services: March and April 2025

This March, you can come and chat with members of the Library Research Services (LRS) team at our in-person event (12.00-14.00) on the 28th in the Henry Daysh Building, HDB.1.04, as part of the Universities for North East England Open Research Week.

Other events coming up:

Check out the library calendar for further courses and dates in 2025.

Universities for North East England Open Research Week – 24 to 28 March 2025

The Universities of Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland and Teesside are pleased to invite you to attend their Open Research Week.

We have organised a series of events, featuring a range of speakers, discussing Open Research practices in our institutions and beyond. The events aim to explore and share good practice, discuss barriers and strategies to enable Open Research.

Who should attend? Anyone with an interest in knowing more about Open Research, including researchers, academics, technicians, research staff support and students.

Registration details and more information about each event are available at the links below (all times are in GMT). The majority of events are hosted online via Teams, and registration is open to all.

Monday 24th March

  • 14:00 – 15:30 – Open Data?! Benefits and strategies for sharing research data
    (Prof Eamonn Bell, Durham University; Dr Alan Bowman, Teesside University; Dr Martin P Eccles, Newcastle University; Prof Sarah Lonbay, University of Sunderland; Dr Sebastian Potthoff, Northumbria University; Dr Louise Rayne, Newcastle University)

Tuesday 25th March

Wednesday 26th March

Thursday 27th March

Friday 28th March

Each institution will advertise an in-person drop-in session open to its own staff and research students. Please check individual institutions for details.

  • 11:00 – 13:00 – Open Research Drop-in (Research Commons Collaboration Space 1)
    (at Northumbria University)
  • 12:00 – 14:00 – Open Research Drop-in
    (at Teesside University)

Friday 4th April

Link to all events

If you have any questions please contact Library Research Services lrs@ncl.ac.uk

What’s happening in Library Research Services: February 2025

The Library Research Services (LRS) team are here to help in 2025.

Coming up in the next month:

Check out the library calendar for further courses and dates in 2025.