Open Research Awards
Recognising staff and students who have helped to make research more open.
About the awards
The Newcastle University Open Research Awards recognise staff and students who have used open practices to make research more accessible, transparent or reproducible, and demonstrate an understanding of the aims of open research.
The awards are open to all students and colleagues working in any research-related role, at any stage, within any area of the University. Prizes will be awarded as vouchers to the winner of the Open Research Award (£500), second place (£250) and third place (£100). Additional prizes may be awarded at the discretion of the panel. This year we are also encouraging nominations for prizes of £50 each to recognise those who have helped to make research more open, but do not wish to submit a full case study.
These awards were made possible thanks to Newcastle University’s Enhancing Research Culture Project Fund in support of our Research Culture Action Plan.
Apply for an award
Applications for an open research award must be submitted as a brief case study (no more than 750 words) describing how open practices were used in a research context.
Case studies should be structured as follows:
- Title;
- Introduction, providing a brief description of the case study;
- Description of the research context in which the open practices were employed;
- What open practices were used and why;
- What barriers or challenges were encountered, and how these were handled;
- What benefits were realised, and for whom, as a result of using the open practices;
- What lessons have been learnt from the experience;
- Conclusion, summarising the main take-away message.
Examples of open practices that we would expect case studies to describe include:
- sharing research outputs under an open licence, including publications (articles, monographs), creative outputs, data, code and software;
- disseminating research findings as preprints, either independently or as part of a journal’s open peer review process;
- using alternative models of publication and review to make the dissemination and certification of research faster and more transparent;
- providing open peer review services for papers submitted under a formal review process managed by a publisher;
- creating a public pre-registration of a study design or publishing a study as a registered report;
- publishing a data paper or software paper under an open licence;
- incorporating open and participatory methods into research, e.g. open notebooks or ‘citizen science’ approaches;
- introducing open research principles and practices into teaching and learning;
- supporting data collection, management and preparation of data for sharing;
- using digital tools and approaches to make scientific research more transparent and reproducible;
- combining or repurposing datasets and other research outputs from different locations or disciplines;
- undertaking activities to help shape a culture of Open Research, within the university or wider community.
Applicants may also wish to refer to the winning case studies from the 2022 awards.
Entries must be submitted by 17:00 on May 31st 2023.
Submitted case studies will be reviewed by a panel of researchers and professional services staff with representation from across the faculties and career stages. Entries shortlisted for an award will be invited to present their case studies at a celebration event on June 21st 2023, where the award winners will be announced.
Prizes will be awarded as vouchers to the winner of the Open Research Award (£500), second place (£250) and third place (£100). Additional prizes may be awarded at the discretion of the panel.
Nominate someone for a prize
We are also accepting nominations for open research prizes (£50 each) for colleagues who you feel deserve recognition for helping to make research more open. For example, by providing excellent technical or administrative support for research processes that increase openness, for effective use of a single open practice that is uncommon in their discipline or for consistently encouraging students or colleagues to be more open.
To nominate someone click the link below and tell us in ~200 words why you feel they should receive an open research prize. Nominations will be reviewed by the panel and those selected for a prize will recieve a £50 voucher.
Nominations must be submitted by 17:00 on May 31st 2023.
Celebration Event
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The Open Research Awards 2023 celebration event will take place on Wednesday 21st June from 12.00-14.00 in the Boiler House.
We would like to invite you to join us for this event to hear presentations from students and colleagues who were shortlisted for an award, find out who the award winners are and enjoy a celebratory lunch.
If you plan to attend the event we’d be grateful if you could complete the booking form to allow us to cater for the appropriate number of people and for any special dietary requirements:
Credits: With thanks to the University of Reading for making the guidance for their Open Research awards available under a CC BY licence so that we could reuse it and for helping to inspire these awards.