Building national capacity for open research

Posted on: 20 November 2023

Three Trinity projects have received funding under the National Open Research Forum (NORF) as part of a drive to build national capacity and infrastructure for open research. 

The projects are among 13 research consortia-based projects designed to advance the implementation of the National Action Plan for Open Research 2022-2030. They were announced at the National Open Research Festival 2023 at the Royal Irish Academy earlier this month.

NORF is funded by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science through the Higher Education Authority. NORF’s Open Research Fund is administered by the Digital Repository of Ireland, the coordinating organisation for NORF, which is headquartered at the Royal Irish Academy.

Prof. Eoin O’Dell (School of Law) and Frances Madden (TU Dublin) will lead a Trinity-hosted project which will assess and present options to make it easier for researchers to retain their rights for the works they publish and make their work open access. Entitled ‘SCOIR: Secondary rights, Copyright, Open access, Institutional policies, and Rights retention’ the project will adopt a two-pronged approach to policy and legislative change by exploring the potential of developing a secondary publishing right in Irish legislation and by adopting institutional rights retention policies.

Dr Sally Smith will lead a project with Dr David O’Connell (UCC) entitled ‘Roadmap to Embedding Open Research Practices in Ireland (ABOARD)’. The UCC-hosted project will bring together a strong consortium of research performing organisations, research funding organisations and key researcher groups to engage in deep, iterative dialogue with key stakeholders across the Irish research landscape.

The Trinity-hosted project, entitled ‘ENGAGED: Co-Creating Ireland’s Public Engagement and Open Research Road Map’ involves sectoral stakeholders from higher education institutions, funding agencies, relevant government departments and community organisations to understand perceptions of, benefits, risks and needs around public engagement and the open research reformation. The project will be led by Jo-Hanna Ivers, Associate Professor in Addictions & Associate Dean of Civic Engagement & Social Innovation at Trinity College Dublin.

Dean of Research at Trinity College Dublin, Professor Sinead Ryan said:

“Open Research can be a powerful tool to democratise knowledge and to enable us to engage profoundly with our publics and broaden our local and global impact. Via these projects, Trinity contributes to the important work of realising the full potential of Open Research.”

Trinity Head of Research, Dr Sally Smith added:

"We are delighted that Trinity colleagues are taking a lead in a range of NORF-funded projects. As a University, we believe that Open Research is critical to building a research environment and research culture that benefits society, advances the growth of knowledge and contributes positively to research careers. We're looking forward to contributing to national progress on these initiatives".

Further information about the Open Research Fund 2023 is available here.

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