Open Research Forum

Join the Open Research conversation! Members of the University community are invited to join our Open Research Champions for this regular discussion of Open Research topics.

Book your place at the 9th March Open Research Forum using this link.

We have three interesting talks lined up for this Forum. The Forum will take place online.

Programme

Ersilia, a hub of Open Source AI/ML models for infectious and neglected diseases (13.00-13.30)
Gemma Turon, Software Sustainability Institute Fellow/co-founder and CEO, Ersilia Open Source Initiative

Newly-appointed Software Sustainability Institute Fellow Gemma will talk about the Ersilia Open Source Initiative, a non-profit organisation focused on developing and disseminating artificial intelligence/machine learning models to support scientific research in underserved countries and helping them tackle their most pressing health needs. A molecular biologist by training, Gemma is currently building and expanding the Ersilia Model Hub, a platform where models can be deployed in a user-friendly manner so that researchers worldwide can access them.

SSI Fellowhips are prestigious awards made to individuals who want to improve how research software is used. The awards provide £3,000 of funding for 15 months to support activities such as travel to workshops, running training events, developing and supporting communities of practice, and working to improve computational practice or policy. Gemma is being mentored during her Fellowship by Open Research Champion Al Edwards.

One Image: Exploring Open Source Digital Imaging for Research (13.30-13.50)
Eva Kevei, Associate Professor, Biomedical Sciences

Eva will introduce her one-year project ‘One Image: Exploring Open Source Digital Imaging for Research’, funded by RETF in January 2022. A number of collaborators in the Schools of Biological Sciences and Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy will design, build and test imaging equipment for applications including: measuring bacteria growth to tackle antimicrobial resistance (Glyn Barrett, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology); studying microbes relevant to food and health (Al Edwards, Pharmaceutics); tracking worms to study neurodegeneration (Eva Kevei); analysis of human blood platelets (Chris Jones, Biomedical Sciences); recording zebrafish behaviour (Alice Pollitt, Biomedical Sciences); and monitoring chemical oscillations in gel to model biological oscillations (Yoshikatsu Hayashi, Biomedical Engineering). Eva is a member of the University’s open hardware community, and this project has developed out of its discussions.

Annotating for Transparent Inquiry in qualitative research: making archival documents accessible (13.50-14.15)
Joseph O’Mahoney, Lecturer, Politics, Economics and International Relations

Open Research Champion Joseph will talk about his experiences with Annotation for Transparent Inquiry Initiative, a project to develop a tool for qualitative researchers that enables them to create enhanced annotations in articles and link to digital copies of archival sources in trusted repositories. This addresses a critical problem of transparency and reproducibility for archives-based research: hard-copy archival documents are often difficult to access in person and digital surrogates may not have been made available by the archive-holders.

Joseph was involved in the project to pilot this valuable tool and has published a practical guide based on his experience. You can find more information in his Open Research Case Study.

Open Research Champions business (from ~14.15-14.30)
Those not involved in Champions business may wish to leave the meeting at this stage.