October: GW4 open research week 2023 | News and features

The event, which is being co-delivered by the four universities and led by the University of Bristol for this year, will run from the 20 – 24 November 2023, and focus on the theme of the Theory of Change, showcasing a broad range of Open Research practices which make research more accessible, transparent, reproducible and visible.  

Adopting Open Research practices improves research integrity, adds to the quality of research outputs through increased collaboration, and improves the public value of research by making it more easily accessible to all.

The week will consist of a mixture of online, hybrid and in-person events, which will span a diverse range of topics, covering the different stages of the theory of change, and will be open for members of GW4 Alliance universities to attend.

These topics will include:

• Monday 20 November – Basic Environment: Make it Possible
• Tuesday 21 November – Enabling Environment: Make it Easy
• Wednesday 22 November – Communities: Make it Normative
• Thursday 23 November – Incentives: Make it Work
• Friday 24 November – Policy: Make it Required

A number of events will also be open to everyone, including those based at institutions outside of the GW4 Alliance, international audience groups, and members of the public with an interest in reproducibility, transparency and integrity in research.

Please note that, in addition to GW4-wide and open-to-all events, each university will also be running its own series of events which will only be available for members of the host institution to attend.

Full event details, including information on which events will be open to all, are listed on the GW4 Open Research Week events pages. Some sessions will also be recorded and made available to watch back online.

The GW4 Alliance sits at the forefront in research standards, and Open Research Week forms part of the Alliance’s commitment to ensuring that its researchers adopt best practice when undertaking research.

Professor Phil Taylor, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise at the University of Bristol, said: “This year’s Open Research Week, developed with the support of experts from across all four GW4 Alliance institutions, features some brilliant events and activities which will help to bring to life the importance of Open Research, spread knowledge, and shed light on existing pockets of best practice happening across GW4. This is the first time that the GW4 Alliance have come together to collaborate on an Open Research Week of this scale, and we hope that as many people as possible will join us and learn more about Open Research.”

Dr Joanna Jenkinson MBE, GW4 Alliance Director, said: “Collaboration, transparency and innovation lie at the heart of the GW4 Alliance, and we are committed to sharing best practice and enabling our institutions to foster, support and practice open research. Open Research Week 2023 is a fantastic opportunity for us to bring together our academic community, alongside colleagues from institutions outside of the GW4 Alliance, as well as interested members of the public, to showcase examples, techniques and resources for achieving best practice in open research.”

As part of the week, the GW4 Alliance universities will also come together to host the first ever joint GW4 Open Research Prize, open to submissions from all internal researchers (including postgraduate research students) in all disciplines across the four Alliance universities.

Prizes of £250 will be awarded for the best submissions across four categories:

• Improving Quality
• Widening Reach
• Poster Session
• Early Career Researcher (ECR) Monograph Prize

The Open Research Prize applications are shortlisted by a panel of judges from across the universities, and entries judged by their ability to demonstrate open research practices.

You can find out more about the prize, including details of how to enter, online.