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Apply by 02 February 2024 to join UCL's new course and to become a Open Research Training Lead.
Beginning March 2024, the UCL Open Research Train the Trainer course will support research staff to become Open Research Training (ORT) Leads.
This course is for researchers who:
- are interested in open research (also referred to at UCL as open science)
- would like to increase their knowledge of open research
- would be interested in helping to accelerate the uptake of open research practices across their discipline.
About
The UCL Open Research Train the Trainer course is a key part of the UKRN Open Research Programme and UCL is one of a consortium of 14 institutional members of the UK Reproducibility Network (UKRN) to receive a proportion of the £4.5million programme funding from the Research England Development Fund.
This course aims to accelerate the uptake of open research practices through high quality training. It will give participants the knowledge and skills required to design, develop and deliver training in open research practices.
By the end of the course, participants will become a UKRN-accredited Open Research Training (ORT) Lead.
The Open Research Train the Trainer course is led by UCL’s Institutional Link with UKRN, Professor David Shanks, supported by the Open Research Co-ordinator and Administrator (ORCA) and is delivered in collaboration with UCL’s Office for Open Science and Scholarship.
Eligibility and selection
This course is open to UCL researchers of all grades - including postgraduate research students - who are interested in open research.
There are a limited number of places available on this course. Expressions of interest will be evaluated on the following criteria:
- evidence of interest and engagement in open research practices
- evidence of how to engage fellow researchers from your department/discipline
- confirmation of approval of participation in the course from your line manager or Principal Investigator.
Course benefits
As an ORT Lead, you will receive these benefits:
- You will have access to training and resources that will improve your knowledge of open research practices and opportunities to enhance your teaching/training skills.
- Participation will count towards your continuing professional development and can boost your CV.
- It will help you to tangibly evidence your contribution to the development and performance of other colleagues when applying for promotions. Where appropriate, a letter of support for promotion will be provided.
- You’ll receive peer support by joining a national open research community of practice and a UCL Network of ORT Leads.
- On completion of the course, you will become an accreditated UKRN trainer.
Course structure
As a participant, you should expect to commit no more than half a day per week to the course, including delivery of training. Your time commitment can be allocated flexibly.
- ORT Lead training
Once you are confirmed as a course participant, you should identify open research priority topics in your department through available data/consulting with colleagues.
Topics may include:
- open and FAIR data archiving
- reproducibility
- lab notebooks
- pre-registration of studies.
Once open research training priority topics have been identified for your department/discipline, you will participate in relevant training, guided by the UKRN Institutional Lead and ORCA, that will enrich your knowledge of the relevant open research topics. This training could be online or face-to-face and may be existing UCL training or external training, sourced via the UKRN Open Research Programme. It's expected you'll attend at least two training sessions.
- Post-training expectations
Once your own training has been completed, you will be expected to deliver open research training to colleagues in your department/discipline. You'll be expected to:
- identify, create and/or adapt materials, and structure sessions to enhance their relevance for delivery to colleagues from across your discipline.
- work with a fellow ORT Lead from a different discipline, supported by key professional service colleagues e.g. from Library Services.
- disseminate relevant training to a minimum of 15 researcher colleagues across your department/discipline.
- invite external experts to contribute to training sessions, where relevant.
- act as a ‘key contact’ for specified open research topics to support the use of open research practices.
- actively participate in the national UKRN open research community of practice and the UCL ORT Leads Network.
You will also be expected to evaluate your participation in the course and seek feedback from those you train within your department/discipline.
- Support available
In addition to training on relevant open research topics, ORT Leads will receive comprehensive support including:
- full onboarding, incorporating an Open Research Foundation Session
- drop-in workshops led by colleagues from teams such as Library Services to support the process of creating discipline-specific open research materials
- guidance on all aspects of training provided by the UKRN Open Research Institutional Lead, Professor David Shanks
- access to a dedicated MS Teams site
- full operational support from UCL’s UKRN Open Research Co-ordinator and Administrator (ORCA) including all practical arrangements for the training sessions you will deliver to colleagues
- peer support from fellow ORT Leads, including working in pairs to identify/adapt/create materials plan and within the UCL ORT Leads Network
- access to equivalent Training Leads from other UKRN Open Research Programme member institutions.
Timelines
The UCL Open Research Train the Trainer course will then begin in March 2024. You will be expected to:
- attend one onboarding session to be delivered in March 2024
- identify your priority open research topics for training before the end of May 2024
- complete your training and adapt materials for your department/discipline by September 2024
- deliver training to colleagues in your department/discipline from October 2024 to March 2025 (you will be able to begin delivery earlier if appropriate, but this is not expected)
- complete all training for colleagues in your department/discipline by the end of March 2025.
Apply
Applications are now open. Complete the expression of interest form to apply by Friday 02 February 2024. You will be contacted by Friday 23 February 2024 with confirmation of whether your expression of interest has been successful.