OpenFest 2024 - Call for Proposals

Interested in improving academic research and exploring open research practices?

Off

Open research plays a key role in democratising knowledge and creating a productive, collaborative and responsible research culture. Sheffield’s OpenFest, co-delivered by the universities of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam, provides an opportunity to explore issues around open research, share experiences and consider how open research can be applied in your discipline. You can find details of our 2023 OpenFest here.

This year’s OpenFest will take place in the week beginning 9th September 2024 - our calls for proposals are below.

Calls for Proposals

OpenFest Online Symposium

Towards an Open Research Culture: Establishing, Embedding and Facilitating the Culture/s and Practice/s of Open Research

Wednesday 11 September 2024, online

To what extent, and in what ways, is the future of research culture open? What practices are and will be central in establishing and embedding a culture of research openness? What factors impede efforts to achieve an open research culture, and how best can researchers and other professionals address these? Our online symposium aims to create space for colleagues across the UK and internationally to explore these and related ideas.

Proposals are invited from all researchers and research-related professionals for 20-minute presentations or 5-minute lightning talks. Topics might include, but are not restricted to:

Vision(s) of the future of academic research and/or publishing; what an open, collaborative research culture could and should look like.
The relationship between research evaluation, measurement of open research practices, and the development of an open research culture.
One open research culture, or many? The manifestations of open research in different disciplinary and methodological contexts.
Mapping the relationship between specific open practices and reforms in research culture.
Charting the intersections between (open) research culture and research integrity.
The potential of open practices and culture/s to initiate and inform responses to global challenges.
AI- and ML-informed research methodologies and their implications for open research.
Capitalism and publishing; potential revolutions and reforms; open research, labour and prestige.
Current and potential future relationships between open research and the broader culture of higher education, including approaches to teaching.
Epistemic culture/s of open research.
The Devil’s Advocate - arguments against open research and open research practices

We welcome proposals from PGR and MRes students as well as more experienced researchers. Please use this webform to submit your proposal by 26th May 2024.

Open Research @ Sheffield

Our two Open Research @ Sheffield days (in-person with hybrid capability) will bring together researchers from the universities of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam to explore current practice, share ideas, and build connections.

Day 1

Tuesday 10 September 2024, in-person (University of Sheffield) with hybrid capability

Proposals are invited from University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University researchers and research-related professionals for 20-minute presentations, panel discussions, or 5-minute lightning talks that explore current practice and/or areas of development or potential in open research at the Universities of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam. Topics might include, but are not restricted to:

Experiences and perspectives on specific initiatives in open research, e.g. preregistration, preprints, electronic lab books, open peer review, open access publishing, OA monographs, open educational resources, co-production.
Showcasing a network, collaboration or initiative focusing on or involving opening up research.
Exploration and evaluation of a current or recent project, the open research issues / barriers involved, and the impact of the strategies selected.
Collaborations made possible by the openness of research publications, data or software.
Challenges in the adoption of open research practices and potential ways to address these.

We welcome proposals from PGR and MRes students as well as more experienced researchers and professionals - please use this webform to submit your proposal by 26th May 2024.

Day 2

Thursday 12 September 2024, in-person (Sheffield Hallam University)

Workshops at Sheffield Hallam University

We invite University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University researchers and research-related professionals to submit proposals for an in-person workshop on any area related to the field of open research.

We especially welcome workshops which deal with challenging, emerging areas related to the topic of open research culture, which is the theme of the online symposium. We encourage proposals for highly interactive and collaborative workshops which foster lively discussion, to open up new ideas and gather feedback.

Your proposal should provide brief information on the working title, subject matter, format, and learning outcomes of the session. Workshops will last for 90 minutes, and will take place in a room with space for up to 30 participants. The sessions will not be recorded, but materials will be made available after the event.

Please indicate in your submission form any equipment or resources - such as pens, markers, paper, note blocks - you will need for your session. Drinking water will be available to organisers and participants during the workshop.

The event as a whole will run from 10am-2pm, with a break for lunch. Workshops will be held on the city campus of Sheffield Hallam University.