The purpose of the York Open Research Awards is to celebrate innovation, advocacy and good practice, whilst addressing and reflecting upon some of the issues and barriers faced by researchers who engage in open research. The scheme also continues to bring about long-term cultural change at the University by showcasing the work of our community and encouraging students and staff to engage in and discuss open research practice as it applies to their discipline. 

The core values and principles of open research are outlined in the University Open Research Statement:

Examples of how open research practices can be applied at various stages in the research lifecycle are provided in our https://uoy.atlassian.net/wiki/x/5Q0MAQ which describe projects that were previously recognised by these awards. The Open Research Toolkit also provides an overview of practices and signposts support available at the University.

The call for submissions is open from Monday 2 February 2026. All entries must be submitted using the form provided by the deadline of 12 noon on Monday 27 April 2026. Submissions received after the deadline will not be considered.  

Entries can be submitted by individuals or on behalf of a research group or lab. The individual who submits the entry (the main entrant) must be a York-affiliated student or member of staff. The submission must be based on work which has taken place primarily at York (i.e. the project lead/PI should be York-affiliated), although projects may include contributions from external collaborators. The main entrant must have a leading role in the work described and should identify their contributions, as well as those of any other contributors, in their submission. The main entrant is responsible for ensuring that they have permission from all rights holders and interested parties (for example, other members of their research group, supervisors and external funders) before submitting their entry. 

Submissions must be based on an original research project or initiative (ongoing or completed) and must acknowledge any inspiration or work taken from existing projects or initiatives. The submission must be based on recent or ongoing work and must not have previously been awarded or highly commended as part of this scheme. New entrants are encouraged, but awardees from previous years are also welcome to submit new work for consideration. Projects which acknowledge contributions from members of the judging panel will not be considered for the awards (projects with contributions from members of the Strategy and Operations groups and Advocates network will still be considered).

If the research project or initiative has been funded (either internally or externally), then this should be clearly acknowledged in the submission form.

The awards planning team reserves the right to reject any entries which do not meet these basic eligibility requirements.  

The submission form asks for a brief summary (between 250-500 words) reflecting upon how open research practices and principles are embedded in your work, and any benefits or challenges encountered or dealt with along the way. While the research context is important to set the scene, the focus of the summary should be on the experiences of the researcher(s) and what lessons were learnt through engagement with open research practice.

Following the deadline, eligible submissions will be anonymised and sent to the judging panel for consideration.

The criteria for judging will be as follows:

• In accordance with the University Open research statement, does the submission explore and engage with one or more open research practices, seeking to make the research process transparent and to create new opportunities for outputs and methods to be reused, reproduced and credited?

• Does the submission offer any wider benefits for the research community at York, for example influencing other researchers to engage in or discuss open research practice?

• Does the submission reflect on potential issues or barriers to open research practice, and does it encourage further dialogue or solutions on how these can be addressed?

These criteria will be interpreted as appropriate for each prize category. Attention will also be given to work which encourages dialogue and broader thinking about open research, including interdisciplinary approaches and commitments to the public good. The panel may also give preference to submissions which they feel could be well-suited for adaptation into an https://uoy.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/YorkOpenResearch/pages/17567205 for training and advocacy purposes. This includes submissions which provide new perspectives or describe areas of work that are not already represented in the case studies series.

The panel’s decision is final, and they reserve the right not to comment on individual submissions in cases where there may be a conflict of interest.  

The panel will aim to notify and congratulate all awardees during the week of Monday 18 May 2026 and will also notify unsuccessful entrants around the same time. A summary of awardees and their work will be announced more widely through the University website, social media and other internal/external communication channels.

The judging panel for the 2026 awards are as follows: 

• Prof Emma Rand (Department of Biology)

• Dr Emma James (Department of Psychology)

• Luqman Muraina (Department of Politics and International Relations; Open Research Graduate Engagement Lead, Social Sciences)

• Katie Vernon (Centre for Medieval Studies; Open Research Graduate Engagement Lead, Arts and Humanities)

• Panel coordinator: Ben Catt (Open Research Librarian)

This year, the awards scheme is offering nine prizes, made possible thanks to Research England Enhancing Research Culture funding:

• Three £400 prizes (one per faculty) for submissions from undergraduate/taught postgraduate students

• Three £400 prizes (one per faculty) for submissions from postgraduate researchers

• Three £400 prizes (one per faculty) for submissions from early career research staff, postdoctoral staff and staff in technical roles 

• Three £400 prizes (one per faculty) for submissions from mid-career and senior research staff 

The submission form will ask the main entrant to identify which (if any) of these prizes they would like to be considered for.

Prize allocation is at the discretion of the judging panel based on the submissions received. Not all prizes may be awarded, and funds may be reallocated where possible to award more than one prize per category. Further prizes or commendation for submissions which do not fall into these categories (e.g. Teaching and Scholarship or Professional Services staff) may also be considered, depending on the availability of funds and the nature of each submission.

Prize money will be paid to the main entrant, and can only be paid to York-affiliated students or employed staff. Prize money is intended for personal use only and should not be used to fund further work (i.e. it should not be treated as internal research funding), as this may be beyond the original scope of activity for which the Research England Enhancing Research Culture funding was allocated. 

Salaried staff will receive their prize money in their monthly payslip as a ‘taxable incentive’, which will be subject to the usual deductions. Students and postgraduate researchers will receive their prize money via bank transfer through Accounts Payable (non-taxable), except in cases where they also have a paid role at York, which directly relates to the work described in their submission.

Awardees will also receive a goody bag of York Open Research-branded merchandise (subject to availability) and will be invited to attend an informal celebratory event with members of the Open Research at York community at a later date.

The Open Research team would like to adapt any eligible submissions for inclusion in our Open Research in Practice case studies series, where it can be used by others for training and advocacy purposes. This includes (but is not limited to) use on University web pages and resources, social media, internal communication channels, workshops and events.

The team will send entrants a draft case study to review and approve before publication. Researchers will retain copyright ownership of their work in this format, and case studies will be made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) licence unless opted out. Entrants may also wish to write their own case study for publication, or provide an overview of their work in another format, such as a video presentation or poster.

Researchers will retain ownership and intellectual property rights to their work, and the Open Research team reserves the right to share the name(s), titles and summaries of eligible submissions on the University website, social media and internal communication channels for promotional purposes as part of the awards campaign. A public record of awardees and information about their projects and initiatives will be maintained on the Open Research at York wiki space. 

The main entrant is responsible for ensuring that they have obtained permission from all rights holders and interested parties (for example, other members of their research group, supervisors and external funders) before submitting their entry. 

Submission form responses, including personal information such as name(s) and email address(es), will be stored securely in a Google Sheet, accessible only to members of the judging panel and Open Research Strategy and Operations groups. This data will only be retained for the purposes of shortlisting and judging, and it will be deleted once the awards process has been completed. 

Submissions are entered at the individual’s own risk. The University is not responsible for any loss or damage (however caused) during the submission or awards process.

This proposal was prepared in consultation with the Open Research Strategy Group and members of the Open Research Advocates network (January 2026)