Fellowship Program

The Fellowship program is developed for early career researchers - graduate students, post-docs, research scientists, and early career faculty - to provide exposure, support, and training to explore open research practices and tools. Although the term open science is more common, many of the practices associated with open science are relevant to all disciplines. This program is inclusive of all disciplines and research methods.

Not exactly sure what open research means? We use open research as an umbrella term that encompasses many movements to increase the openness and accessibility of research processes, inputs, and outputs. It includes:

  • open access to publications
  • open research data
  • open source software
  • open collaboration
  • open peer review
  • open notebooks
  • open educational resources
  • open monographs
  • citizen science
  • research crowdfunding

Want to learn more? Check out the FOSTER EU taxonomy and the article by Benedikt Fecher & Sascha Friesike One Term, Five Schools of Thought.

About the Program

The program will provide a cohort of Fellows with training and hands-on experience with some of the most popular and useful tools available. In addition to formal training opportunities through The Carpentries and guest speakers, we have designated time to explore tools and strategies that are applicable to your field of research. The program directors will guide you in navigating the wealth of resources and research support available across the IU system.

Some of the topics we will explore include:

  • Study pre-registration & clinical trial registration
  • Mechanisms of open access
  • Data sharing, reuse, licensing for secondary analysis
  • Open peer review
  • Open source tools such as R, Git & Github/Gitlab
  • Open notebooks
  • Reproducibility, replicability, repeatability
  • Open software & software citation

Applications are due on August 3, 2018 by 5:00pm

Why apply?

Beyond the learning opportunities and workshops, the program will provide opportunities to:

  • explore new practices to improve your research processes and workflows
  • connect with colleagues and potential mentors across the IUPUI campus to build your support network
  • tap into the wealth of resources available on the IUPUI campus and across the IU system
  • talk about and share your research with a wide audience
  • compete for 3 prizes to support your research

How to apply?

  • Review the application questions (below) and letter of support template
    • Why are you interested in open research? (150-300 words)
    • What would you most like to learn about open research? (150-300 words)
    • Tell us a little bit about your research. (300-500 words)
    • How might your research benefit from open research practices? (150-300)
    • What are your primary data and analytic tools right now?
    • What new data, tools, or strategies would you like to explore?
  • Think about what you want to get out of the program.
  • Get a letter of support (see template) from your supervisor.
    • Students should request a letter from their faculty mentor, preferably the primary advisor.
    • Faculty should request a letter from their Department Chair or Associate Dean for Research.
  • Complete the application form and upload your letter of support.

Program Schedule

September 2018 - March 2019

We will meet in-person on a monthly basis, with additional working sessions and informal meetups scheduled as needed for support of the Fellows.

Session 1 - The Big Picture

We’ll start by exploring some of the ways that researchers are practicing open research and solving big problems. You will begin to learn some core tools that support open research practices and identify open champions in your field.

Session 2 - Planning to be Open

As we move into planning a research project, you will gain more experience using Git/Github and other tools that help you make your research more open, portable, and efficient.

Session 3 - Collecting & Storing Data

Getting good data is vital for producing findings that are validated, reproducible/replicable, and can be shared in appropriate ways. We will explore how plans for dissemination and sharing shape data collection and management.

Session 4 - Organizing & Describing

The principles of organization and description are essential to managing a research project as well as ensuring reproducibility and replicability. Learn some techniques to document and describe research data and files to help improve overall project management.

Session 5 - Analyzing & Reporting

Revisit tools from workshops held earlier in the program (on Git/Github and R/RStats/RStudio) and learn more about characteristics of analysis tools and reporting methods that contribute to research transparency in your discipline(s).

Session 6 - Sharing & Disseminating

Discover how efforts to incorporate open research practices throughout your research projects pays off in the sharing and dissemination of your research! Explore how can you utilize existing open access and data publishing models to boost the visibility of your research and build your reputation.

Expectations

If accepted into the program, you will be asked to sign a Memorandum of Understanding acknowledging that you will fulfill these expectations to the best of your ability.

  • I will participate fully in the program, attending the monthly meetings and scheduled workshops, to the best of my ability.
  • I will integrate one new tool into my research process during the course of the project.
  • I agree to talk to other researchers at IUPUI about my experiences with open research tools and practices.
  • I agree to write an essay reflecting on my experience in the program.

Contact Us

Heather Coates, Digital Scholarship & Data Management Librarian, University Library Center for Digital Scholarship hcoates@iupui.edu

Erin Foster, Data Services Librarian, Ruth Lilly Medical Library erdfost@iu.edu