scholarly journals Open Science & PhD Candidates

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torstein Låg ◽  
Erik Lieungh

How can you inform Ph.D. Candidates and early career researchers about Open Science without becoming too political? Is information given about open science in conflict with the expectations for publishing from our universities? Torstein Låg, psychologist and senior academic librarian at the University Library at UiT The Arctic University of Norway, weighs in on this topic. Låg is also one of the editors of the web resource PhDonTrack.net. The aim for Ph.D. on Track is to enable beginning researchers and Ph.D. Candidates to easily access information on searching and reviewing scholarly literature, on academic writing, and on sharing and publishing reports and data. The host of this episode is Erik Lieungh. This episode was first published 29 May 2019.

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luisa T Schneider

In a contradictory fashion, researchers, their departments and universities simultaneously recognize the unpredictability of fieldwork experiences and outcomes and help establish a bureaucratic system of planning every component of their research. Ethnographic unpredictability and its consequences are a fact of fieldwork and it is essential that researchers and institutions are prepared to view these as part of interpretable data, to learn from them and not mask them. This article examines ethnographic unpredictability through the lens of sexual violence which I experienced during my doctoral fieldwork in Sierra Leone. I show how I redirected my research and renegotiated my position as an academic. I discuss the culture of risk and analyse the influence of neoliberalism on the university. I describe how ‘market logic’ conceptualizes unpredictability as competitive disadvantage. I show the impact that the imaginary ‘perfect academic’ has on early career researchers and the complicity of mainstream academic (re-)presentation in nourishing the image of the ‘in-control academic’ through muting personal field experiences and vulnerabilities and silencing unpredictable occurrences in academic writing. I conclude with recommendations on how personal situatedness, vulnerabilities, and transformations can be approached as factors in every research endeavour which must not pose threats to an institution’s competitive advantage.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgit Schmidt

Watch the VIDEO.Over the last two decades several research institutions have created policies which target Open Access to publications and research data, and are now moving on to Open Science from a wider perspective. These policies formulate an ambition with references to reality. This reality might look good on paper however, the challenge is to make this vision work at the individual and research group level.One way to bring these visions forward is to activate and grow a network of institutional Open Science practitioners and enthusiasts – by involving researchers, librarians, research managers/administrators and others, and creating opportunities for exchange and collaboration. In particular early career researchers will have very concrete ideas on what works for them, what is missing and what their challenges are when stepping into Open Science practices. The University of Göttingen is committed to make research results accessible and reusable for academia and the wider society. Its revised OA policy dates from 2016 (the first version dates from 2005) and the research data policy from 2014 [1].These policies serve as a reference point for desired practices as well as existing and emerging service areas. However, often these policies may not play an explicit role in researchers’ day-to-day practices – some elements may already be part of “normal science” while others have not been fully implemented yet.The presentation will focus on the practical vision and establishment of the Göttingen Open Science Meet-ups [2], as well as experiences and lessons learned from nearly two years of operation (at the time of the Munin conference). The initiative was launched in Autumn 2016 by a group of librarians. We will elaborate on how we reach out to and work with early career researchers, and what types of meetings are requested, e.g. informal technology-focused meetings (Hacky Hour Göttingen [3]). Moreover, we will provide some insight into how the sessions facilitate learning together and from each other (both in terms of topics as well as mind sets). From the library perspective there are also opportunities to link Open Science learning to service areas, in particular where new demands emerge, and to make existing services better known.Last, but not least, the Open Science network facilitated by these meet-ups provides opportunities to better link institutional policies with researchers’ practices – in particular, through discussions on opportunities and how to overcome obstacles as well as how to increase benefits and incentives. To this end, although the meet-ups mainly aim at strengthening a bottom-up approach, they also provide opportunities to inspire next steps for Open Science from a leadership perspective and to lift emerging good practices to a higher level. 


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Figenschou ◽  
Erik Lieungh

Why is it important that Senior Scientists engage themselves in Open Science and particularly Open Data? Lars Figenschou, biologist and Academic Librarian at the University Library at UIT - The Arctic University in Norway, explains why. In addition, he gives us some good tips on how to create a program at the University that secures valuable data. The host of this episode is Erik Lieungh. This episode was first published 1 October 2018.


2021 ◽  
Vol 134 (16) ◽  

ABSTRACT First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Journal of Cell Science, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Fanny Jaudon and Martina Albini are co-first authors on ‘ A developmental stage- and Kidins220-dependent switch in astrocyte responsiveness to brain-derived neurotrophic factor’, published in JCS. Fanny is a postdoc at the University of Trieste in the lab of Lorenzo A. Cingolani at Center for Synaptic Neuroscience and Technology, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy, investigating the molecular mechanisms controlling development and function of neuronal circuits and implementing genome-editing approaches for the treatment of neurological disorders. Martina is a PhD student at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in the lab of Fabio Benfenati and Fabrizia Cesca investigating neurotrophin biology and its involvement in neurological diseases.


2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Blanca Rodríguez-Bravo ◽  
David Nicholas

El objetivo es indagar en las actitudes y prácticas de los jóvenes investigadores españoles hacia la ciencia abierta. Se analiza su interés por compartir en abierto publicaciones y datos, por colaborar con otros investigadores y stakeholders, por difundir su investigación y por perseguir el impacto de los resultados científicos. La metodología se fundamenta en entrevistas y encuestas dirigidas a Early Career Researchers (ECRs) españoles. Los resultados muestran el interés de los investigadores noveles por la ciencia abierta, pero también la necesidad de reconocimiento de las acciones implicadas en ella como requisito para su consolidación entre investigadores en situación precaria. La financiación es también un factor crítico a considerar. The aim is to investigate the attitudes and practices of Spanish Early Career Researchers (ECRs) towards open science. Their interest in sharing openly publications and data, in collaborating with other researchers and stakeholders, in disseminating their research and in looking for results’ impact is analyzed. The methodology is based on interviews and surveys directed to Spanish Early Career Researchers (ECRs). The results show the interest of novice researchers in open science, but also the need for recognition of the actions involved in it as a requirement for its consolidation among researchers in a precarious situation. Funding is a critical factor to be considered as well.


2021 ◽  
Vol 134 (24) ◽  

ABSTRACT First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Journal of Cell Science, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Alessandra da Silva Dantas is first author on ‘ Crosstalk between the calcineurin and cell wall integrity pathways prevents chitin overexpression in Candida albicans’, published in JCS. Alessandra is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Prof. Neil Gow at the Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Exeter, UK, and is interested in the mechanisms controlling cell division and death in human fungal pathogens.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher P G Allen ◽  
David Marc Anton Mehler

The movement towards open science is an unavoidable consequence of seemingly pervasive failures to replicate previous research. This transition comes with great benefits but also significant challenges that are likely to afflict those who carry out the research, usually Early Career Researchers (ECRs). Here, we describe key benefits including reputational gains, increased chances of publication and a broader increase in the reliability of research. These are balanced by challenges that we have encountered, and which involve increased costs in terms of flexibility, time and issues with the current incentive structure, all of which seem to affect ECRs acutely. Although there are major obstacles to the early adoption of open science, overall open science practices should benefit both the ECR and improve the quality and plausibility of research. We review three benefits, three challenges and provide suggestions from the perspective of ECRs for moving towards open science practices.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  

ABSTRACT First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Disease Models & Mechanisms, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Andreia Nunes is first author on ‘ Identification of candidate miRNA biomarkers for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy using DUX4-based mouse models’, published in DMM. Andreia is a postdoc in the lab of Peter L. Jones at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, Reno, NV, USA, investigating therapeutics for and disease mechanisms of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. dmm046292

ABSTRACTFirst Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Disease Models & Mechanisms, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Jenny Vermeer and Jonathan lent are co-first authors on ‘A lineage-tracing tool to map the fate of hypoxic tumour cells’, published in DMM. Jenny conducted the research described in this article while a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Ruth Muschel at the University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. She is now a project leader in the lab of Miranda van der Lee at Byondis, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, investigating new targets, particularly in cancer, that will lead to novel treatments. Jonathan is a PhD student in the lab of Marc Vooijs at Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands, investigating new cancer targets and testing possible new interventions with a focus on tumour hypoxia.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. dmm047415

ABSTRACTFirst Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Disease Models & Mechanisms, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Gideon Hughes is first author on ‘Machine learning discriminates a movement disorder in a zebrafish model of Parkinson's disease’, published in DMM. Gideon conducted the research described in this article while a PhD student in Betsy Pownall's lab at the University of York, York, UK. He is now a postdoc in the lab of Henry Roehl at the University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK, using the zebrafish as a model organism to study human disease and tissue regeneration, combining his research with his interest in computer science.


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