Open Research Infrastructure at Cambridge - supporting researchers’ open research practices (part of the Open Research at Cambridge Conference series)

Special

Open research helps to support key features of research and innovation such as transparency, openness, verification and reproducibility and it also helps to foster collaboration within and across disciplines. Institutional support for suitable infrastructures that underpin research plays a key role in enabling open research practices within the research community. In this session we will provide an overview of the open research programme currently being developed, with a particular focus on infrastructure. This will be followed by a series of short talks showcasing a range of systems and services available within the University, and more widely, to support open research areas such as early publication of research findings following FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable) principles, open peer review, amongst others.

Talks:

Open Research Infrastructure – supporting open research practices at Cambridge (Dr Agustina Martínez and Peter Sutton-Long)

Octopus - the new primary research record for science (Dr Alexandra Freeman)

From Digital Library to Digital Humanities: the creation, curation and reuse of collections-based data (Huw Jones and Andy Corrigan)

Number of sessions: 1

Huw Jones Huw Jones is Head of the Digital Library Unit and Digital Humanities Coordinator at Cambridge University Library, working with researchers, curators, and technical staff to make special collections accessible online. Cambridge Digital Library is our main platform for the digital humanities, containing more than 35,000 items, ranging from the papers of Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin, to manuscript and photograph collections representing the global scope of the Cambridge's physical collections.

Dr Alexandra Freeman Dr Alexandra Freeman joined Cambridge University towards the end of 2016 after a career in science documentary-making, and quickly became concerned about the research culture and the way the scientific publishing system was driving incentives for researchers. As a response, she developed the idea for Octopus, a way of splitting the two jobs of disseminating of research findings, and the sharing of all research work (detailed methods, analyses, data etc). Octopus now has the backing of UKRI and, in partnership with JISC and the UK Reproducibility Network, is due to launch fully in spring 2021.

Andy Corrigan Andy has a background in archaeology and specialised in graphics, illustration, historic building survey and the application of photography. Andy began working at Cambridge University Library on both the Darwin Correspondence Project and Cambridge Digital Library in 2011 and has developed his experience in public and academic engagement, complex image preparation, digital asset management, and the workflow of digital content to both digital and print publication. In 2016, he took on his current role as the Cambridge Digital Library Co-ordinator, focusing on engagement with digital content, such as the use of the Library’s digital collections in teaching and research, and its analysis. Andy has a particular interest in the matrix of technology, resources, research and pedagogy, and filling the gaps between them.

Dr Agustina Martínez Dr Agustina Martinez leads the Open Research Systems Team within Cambridge University Library. She is responsible for the development of Cambridge’s Institutional Repository, Apollo, and integrations with other systems and services to support researchers making their research outputs available in ways that enable greater discoverability and re-use. Apollo preserves and provides access to more than 300,000 research outputs from a wide range of disciplines. The Repository provides different levels of access, but its primary focus is on providing open access to the University’s research publications.

Peter Sutton-Long Peter works alongside Agustina Martinez as part of the Open Research Systems team at Cambridge University Library. As the Repository Manager, Peter has responsibility for Apollo, the institutional repository of the University of Cambridge. The Apollo repository is the primary means by which researchers at the University make openly available their research outputs and supporting materials.