Events
Information about upcoming events for internal and external researchers, as well as resources from past events.
Upcoming events
Supporting Equitable Publication Models: A Roundtable Discussion
Wednesday 21st May 2025, 15.15-16.30, hybrid event
Academic publishing is shaped by a system of inequalities which significantly impact where and how researchers publish their work. This roundtable discussion will bring together academics, publishers and experts to explore the challenges and opportunities in fostering more equitable publication models, particularly in our respective disciplines and in relation to career progression.
Read more details and book your place
OpenFest 2025
Co-delivered by the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University, OpenFest is our flagship celebration and exploration of open research.
This year’s OpenFest will take place online during 2nd-5th September 2025. The theme for 2025’s event is Open Research + Equity, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (OR+EEDI).
View the call for proposals, which closes on 30th May 2025, here.
Open Research Conversations - Spring 2025
Our lunchtime Open Research Conversations are free, online and open to all. Each focuses on a specific aspect of open research and features talks from 2-3 speakers followed by questions and discussion.
ReproducibiliTea journal club
Our local ReproducibiliTea Journal Club meets monthly to discuss and review papers on improving open research, reproducibility and the Open Research movement.
Find out more about forthcoming sessions
External training and events
Details of external training and events can be found in the Sheffield Research Practice Calendar.
This includes internal and external, online, in-person and hybrid events and it can be added to your own calendar. To have an event added to the calendar, please contact Tom Stafford.
You can also find details of both internal and external training via the Open Research Training Portal.
Resources from previous events
Annual Open Research Lecture 2024
2024’s Annual Open Research Lecture was delivered by Professor Stephen Pinfield, Professor of Information Services Management and Senior Research Fellow at the Research on Research Institute (RoRI).
Titled ‘Achieving Global Open Access: The Need for Scientific, Epistemic and Participatory Openness’ and drawing on work from Professor Pinfield’s recent book, the presentation explored some of the key conditions that are necessary to deliver global Open Access in a way that is effective and equitable.
Open Access Week 2024
21st-25th October 2024 was International Open Access Week, an opportunity to discuss and explore the value and possibilities of open access scholarship. View session recordings
OpenFest 2024 (September 2024)
Co-delivered by the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University, OpenFest is our flagship celebration and exploration of open research, providing an opportunity to explore current issues, share experiences, and consider how open research can be applied in your discipline.
View recordings of this year's event
Changing Research Culture (July 2024)
In anticipation of REF2029’s heightened emphasis on People, Culture and Environment, ‘research culture’ is increasingly coming into scope as a focus of attention for UK institutions. But critical and reflective work is needed to avoid the term becoming, like ‘excellence’ itself, a floating signifier that obscures the genuine conditions, processes and limitations of academic practice.
This one-day workshop addressed this task with a particular focus on practices around openness and transparency. With reference to UKRIO’s component principles of research integrity, speakers examined the degree to which open practices present a necessary condition of a culture of research integrity and inclusion and explored the extent to which embedding and facilitating open practices offers a significant mechanism of culture change.
Keynote speakers:
- Tanita Casci, Director, Research Strategy & Policy Unit, University of Oxford
- Stephen Curry, College Consul and Professor of Natural Science, Imperial College London, and Chair of the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA)
View recordings and slides from the keynote talks
'How to Share...' seminar series
Our How to Share.. series, which took place during the academic year 2023/24, contained a series of short, bitesize seminars that looked at how best to share different research data types to help you make your research outputs more FAIR and open.
OpenFest 2023
Recordings from OpenFest 2023 can be found here.
Recordings from OpenFest 2022 can be found here,
- Previous Open Research Conversations - recorded talks
You can find recordings and slides from previous Open Research Conversations here:
Early career researchers and open research (April 2025) featuring Zuzanna Zagrodska (Biosciences), Elaine Toomey (University of Galway) and Eleanor Hyde (Psychology)
Open research across different epistemic cultures (March 2025) featuring Annayah Prosser (University of Bath) and Bart Penders (Maastricht University)
Spotlight on data journals (February 2025) featuring Vanessa Higgins (University of Manchester), Jacob MacDonald (Urban Studies and Planning) and Tecla Bonci (Mechanical Engineering)
Everyday researchers: Exploring citizen science (January 2025) featuring Andrea Jimenez (iSchool), Rachel Schwarz-Narbonne and Mel Lacey (Sheffield Hallam University) and Jill Edmondson (Biosciences)
Opening up practice research (December 2024) featuring Gregory Sporton (University of Westminster), Scott McGlaughlin (University of Leeds) and Holly Ranger (Head of Open Research, University of Sheffield)
Open (as possible) research: Some things to think about when we can't do it all (November 2024) featuring David Wilby (British Antarctic Survey) and Chris Stride (Senior Lecturer and Applied Statistician, University of Sheffield)
Beyond open access: Democratising knowledge through accessible research outputs (October 2024) featuring Monika Fratczak (Living with Data project), Susan Oman (Information School) and Andy Tattersall (Medicine and Population Health)
Diamond open access: The future of academic publishing? (June 2024) featuring Caroline Mackay (Jisc), Caroline Edwards (Open Library of Humanities) and Samuel Moore (Cambridge University)
Evaluating (Open) Research: Capturing open practices in research evaluation (May 2024) featuring Lizzie Gadd (Loughborough University; CoARA); Robert Darby (University of Reading) and Simon Hettrick (University of Southampton; the Hidden REF)
Too sensitive to share? Opening up sensitive research (March 2024) featuring Matt Franklin (School of Medicine and Population Health) and Claire Cunnington (Department of Sociological Studies)
Sustainability and open data: Balancing environmental concerns (February 2024) featuring Tom Webb (Biosciences) and Chris Ohge (Digital Humanities Climate Coalition)
Editorial mass resignations: Collective Action in the Movement to Open Research (January 2024) featuring Johan Rooryck (cOAlition S), Chris Chambers (Cardiff University) and Judith Green (University of Exeter)
Making research software more visible and reusable: Open Source Software and FAIR4RS (December 2023) featuring Romain Thomas, David Wilby and Sylvia Whittle (Research Software Engineering)
How to Build an Open Research Community (November 2023) featuring Hardy Schwamm (University of Galway), Lutfi Othman and Kim Clugston (University of Cambridge) and Neil Shephard (University of Sheffield)
Scholars are Doing It for Themselves: The Challenges and Opportunities of Open Access Scholar-led Publishing (October 2023) featuring Toby Steiner (Flavours of Open), Meredith Warren (School of English) and Emma Cheatle and Luis Hernan (School of Architecture).
Reproducibility and the Curriculum (June 2023) featuring Aneta Piekut (Sheffield Methods Instititute) and Norm Medeiros (Project TIER)
Reframing Research Data: Open Research Outputs in the Arts and Humanities (May 2023) featuring Caroline Curwen (Department of Music), Charles West (Department of History) and Isabella Magni (Digital Humanities Institute)
Open Access Monographs, White Rose University Press and the Sheffield Thesis Publishing Prize (April 2023) featuring Kate Petherbridge (White Rose University Press), Adele Mason-Bertrand (University of Leeds) and Jost Migenda (KCL)
Opening up Ethnography (March 2023) featuring Jessica Bradley (School of Education) and Jamie Coates (School of East Asian Studies)
You’ve Got to Fight for Your (Copy)right: An Exploration of New Policies on Rights Retention (February 2023)
Exploring Dryad webinar (February 2023) featuring Sarah Lippincott (Dryad), Andrew Beckerman (School of Biosciences) and Bev Jones (University Library)
Open Research Conversation: Opening the (e)Book on Open Educational Resources (January 2023) featuring Tom Howard (Multidisciplinary Engineering Education), Maria Mawson and Helen Moore (University Library
Rethinking Peer Review: An Exploration of Changing Peer Review Processes (November 2022) featuring Stephen Pinfield (Information School and Research on Research Institute)
Open Research Conversation: Participants as Co-investigators: Opening up Research with Co-production (October 2022) featuring Vicky Farnsworth (Speakup Self Advocacy), Dan Goodley (School of Education) and Matt Flinders (Politics and International Relations)
Open Research Conversation: Responsible Metrics (January 2022) featuring James Wilsdon (Information School; Research on Research Institute) and Jon Griffiths (Research, Partnerships and Innovation)
Open Research Conversation: Electronic Lab Notebooks (April 2021) featuring Alice Sereiro (School of Clinical Dentistry) and Endre Kiss-Toth (Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease)
Open Research Conversation: Reproducibility in Practice (January 2021) featuring Tom Stafford (Department of Psychology; University Research Practice Lead) and Anna Krystalli (Research Software Engineer)