Beyond the PI: Extending Open Science training to non-traditional audiences

Abstract

Traditionally, those of us who provide support, training, and outreach in Open Science have focused the greater part of their energy and attention on one particular group of researchers: viz. PIs who have or are trying to get funding. This makes sense because funders are the ones who mandate Open and FAIR practices: they provide the requirement; we provide the tools to meet it. At the University of Edinburgh, however, Research Data Management and other Open Science policies apply to all research projects undertaken across the university. Given this, it is incumbent upon us to look beyond this primary group. Insofar as resources allow, every effort is made to engage with the wider population of researchers, many of whom do not have external funding.

Developments in the world of Open Science are now pointing us towards a wider horizon: those many members of the University who play important, often essential, roles in research, but who are not classed as researchers and therefore are not targeted for training in data management and other Open Science practices.

Among those developments, one of the most significant is the move to provide visibility, recognition, and career development for technicians and professional service staff, particularly as embodied in the Technician Commitment – to which the University of Edinburgh is a signatory – and the development of the CRediT or Contributor Role Taxonomy.  Furthermore, a recent study conducted by members of Edinburgh’s Open Research team indicates growing interest in having more bespoke Open Science training for PhD students. 

We are also seeing an increasing demand for support and training aimed at postgraduate taught students, especially in the social and health sciences. These students undertake projects which, while usually small in scale, often involve complex issues around the collection and storage of sensitive data.

And it’s not just staff and students at the University who need and want support. There is, besides, a whole new world of Participatory Research and Citizen Science, the population of which is likely to be in search of training and support specifically tailored to their non-professional status.

Although Edinburgh’s Open Research team has already begun working with some of these groups –PhD and PGT students, in particular – we still have some way to go. Looking to the future, we must develop more tailored services that meet the needs of specific audiences. Further, those services must be marketed more effectively, targeting those who may not be aware of or think they have access to our support and training activities. Beyond this, many important questions remain, not least around how to measure the success of our training, particularly when working with non-traditional and non-professional members of our research community.