Cardiff joins GW4 Open Research Week
23 October 2023
Cardiff University is to showcase how it makes research more accessible, transparent, reproducible and visible to the public.
The University is joining its GW4 Alliance partners to launch the inaugural GW4 Open Research Week 2023.
The event will highlight the best open research practices of the four Alliance partners - Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter – the UK’s most research-intensive and innovative universities.
Led by the University of Bristol, this year’s event runs from 20 to 24 November 2023, with a focus on the theme of the Theory of Change.
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.
Professor Roger Whitaker, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Enterprise at Cardiff University, said: “Research integrity, ethics and Open Research are a critical part of Cardiff University’s vision, and the University is committed to ensuring that Cardiff is a leader in these areas. Participating in Open Research Week, alongside our colleagues from the GW4 Alliance, allows us to continue in our mission to ensure that our staff and students can undertake rigorous and credible research to the highest standard. It is great to be able to be able to use this week as an opportunity to showcase the benefits of Open Research to audiences across, and outside of, academia.”
The week consists of online, hybrid and in-person events, spanning a diverse range of topics and open for members of GW4 Alliance universities to attend. Topics will include:
- Monday 20th November - Basic Environment: Make it Possible
- Tuesday 21st November - Enabling Environment: Make it Easy
- Wednesday 22nd November - Communities: Make it Normative
- Thursday 23rd November - Incentives: Make it Work
- Friday 24th 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.
Full event details, including information on events open to all, are listed on the GW4 Open Research Week events pages. Sessions may 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.”
During the week, the universities will also come together to host the first ever joint GW4 Open Research Prize 2023, open to submissions from all internal researchers (including postgraduate research students) in all disciplines across the four Alliance universities.
Prizes 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.
To find out more about the prize, including details of how to enter, click here.
