Tag: conference

Newcastle University Open Research Conference 2026

On Tuesday 16th June 2026 Newcastle University held its second open research conference, which built upon the success of the inaugural conference in 2025. In response to feedback from the last conference this year we provided more in-depth workshops and training sessions. The conference aimed to deliver an introduction to open research skills and practical tools, as well as demonstrations of best practice. Discussions included open research in the context of generative Artificial intelligence and replication in social science.

The conference was deliberately cross-disciplinary and staff and postgraduate attendees came from engineering, humanities and social sciences, medical sciences and professional services indicating a growing interest in open research practices across university disciplines. We saw both new and familiar faces and welcomed our first external workshop lead. A welcoming address was given by Candy Rowe, Dean of Research Culture and Strategy.

For the second year running, the conference organisers (Newcastle University’s UKRN Local Network Leads) wish to extend their gratitude towards open research champions and colleagues from library research services who delivered workshops and helped with promotion and organisation.

The most popular session of the day was ‘Play Your Way: Games for Open Research,’ where participants took part in interactive activities designed to introduce key open research concepts in a fun and engaging way. The games feature a board game navigating Open Research across an academic’s career, and a Lego activity to explore the principles of data reproducibility, both of which were developed at Newcastle University.

Feedback from attendees has been positive and has also provided valuable suggestions for future events. We hope that attendees were able to make new connections, learn about new tools to help them be more open and discuss any shared challenges. 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 sessions and workshops are given below and slides can be accessed here.

Workshops

To learn more about open research at Newcastle University (including training provision), the UKRN Local Network, or the ReproducibiliTea journal club, visit www.ncl.ac.uk/openresearch.

Posted on behalf of Clement Lee and Nicola Howe (UKRN Local Network Leads)

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.