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 the Open Research Skills Framework and Open Research in Practice Case Studies.

Submissions

The call for submissions is open from Tuesday 2 April 2024. All entries must be submitted using the form provided by the deadline of 12 noon on Friday 26 April 2024. 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 and 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 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. 

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.

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 also be clearly acknowledged on the submission form.

The awards planning team reserves the right to reject any entries which do not meet these basic criteria for submission.  

Judging process and criteria

Following the submissions deadline, eligible entries 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 a range of 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?

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’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 within two weeks of the submissions deadline, 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 2024 awards are as follows: 

• Panel coordinator: Ben Catt (Open Research Librarian)

• Dr Nathalie Noret (Lecturer, Department of Education)

• Kirralise Hansford (Open Research Graduate Engagement Lead for the Sciences)

• Melissa Kays (Open Research Graduate Engagement Lead for the Arts and Humanities)

Prizes

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 (ECRs and early career staff in research-related roles such as technical staff)

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

Possible further prizes for established/mid-career/senior researchers and non-research staff may be awarded at the discretion of the judging panel and where funds allow.

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. 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. Information on funding calls for small research culture projects can be found on the Research Culture web pages.

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 an informal lunchtime event with members of the Open Research Strategy Group on Tuesday 14 May (12:30-13:45) at Heslington Hall.

Use of submissions as case studies

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 (such as the Open Research Skills Framework), 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.

Rights and personal information

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.

Contact

Any further questions can be emailed to the Open Research team: lib-open-research@york.ac.uk