Open Research Working Group (ORWG) at LSE

What is Open Research?

Open research, sometimes known as open science, is the process of transparently sharing research outputs, methods, and materials throughout the research process under terms that enable reuse and redistribution, where possible (this definition is drawn from a primer on open research drafted by the UK Reproducibility Network – UKRN)

Open research will look different in different disciplines, and researchers will be motivated to make their research openly available for different reasons, from reproducibility to increasing accessibility.

What is the Open Research Working Group?

The Open Research Working Group (ORWG) at LSE is an informal group of researchers, academics, and professional services staff from across LSE. The aim of the ORWG is to provide strategic direction for open research support at LSE, and to foster a culture of open, transparent, inclusive, and collaborative research across the School. This includes overseeing relevant policies and training, identifying opportunities and initiatives, and sharing practical guidelines and checklists for open and transparent research in social science.

The ORWG recognises the rich diversity of different social sciences in the School, and of different views and motivations to adopt open research practices in each discipline in the School.

The ORWG acts as the Local Network for the UK Reproducibility Network (UKRN). LSE's local network of the UKRN was founded by some members of the ORWG in 2019 as a grassroots network at LSE to discuss reproducibility issues across the social sciences.

The ORWG discusses how to create, share, and disseminate best practices to advance openness, transparency, integrity, and reproducibility of social sciences research in the School and beyond.

The ORWG also aims to increase awareness of open research and supports a wider community of interested researchers and staff who may contribute to specific events, initiatives, and training opportunities.

Members of the ORWG have the opportunity to share ideas and resources, engage in open discussions about meta-research, and learn from each other in a supportive and stimulating environment. The ORWG meets termly and regularly hosts workshops, seminars, and discussions on various topics related to open research, which are open to all at LSE.

Get involved with the Open Research Working Group at LSE

If you are interested in joining the ORWG or getting involved in our events programme, get in touch with us.

OWRG members

The ORWG will be comprised of researchers and professional services staff with an interest in Open Research and a commitment to enact change across LSE. In order to allow for effective discussion and decision-making the group will be limited to 15 members and will aim to include at least one member from each of the 5 groups of departments/research centres.

The Chair’s responsibilities are to ensure that the group runs according to these Terms of Reference, meets regularly. and is reflective of the range of research conducted at LSE. The Chair also acts as the Local Network Lead of the UKRN and represents the School appropriately in this network. The Deputy Chair is responsible for substituting for the Chair as appropriate and managing practical arrangements for the Group’s meetings and events. Current members of the group are:

Dr Matteo M Galizzi, Associate Professor of Behavioural Science, Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science and LSE Behavioural Lab: Chair ORWG
Rosie Higman, Open Research Services Manager, LSE Library: Deputy Chair ORWG
Hannah Boroudjou, Research Data Librarian, LSE Library
Professor Julia Bottcher, Professor, Department of Mathematics
Dr Sakshi Ghai, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science
Dr Heather Kappes, Associate Professor of Management, Department of Management
Dr Dario Krpan, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science
Lucy Lambe, Open Research Librarian, LSE Library
Dr Peter Mills, PhD Academy Manager
Dr Andrea Pia, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology
Professor Joan Roses, Chair of the Research Degrees Sub Committee, Professor in Economic History, Department of Economic History
Professor Kai Spiekermann, Professor of Political Philosophy, Department of Government
Professor Elizabeth Stokoe, Academic Director of Impact, Professor, Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science
Michael Taster, Managing Editor LSE Impact Blog
Dr Milena Tsvetkova, Associate Professor of Computational Social Science, Department of Methodology

ORWG Terms of Reference

The Open Research Working Group reports to the School’s Research Committee on an ad-hoc basis and when major changes to the School’s approach to Open Research are proposed. ORWG events are funded by the Library in 2024-25. The group will seek funding opportunities from elsewhere in the School and externally to support our activities.

Read the full ORWG Terms of Reference [PDF]

Resources

LSE researchers can get support from the Open Research Services team for:

Research Data Management

Open Access publishing for books

Open Access publishing for journals

Research Visibility

Other resources for researchers are available from the website of the UK Reproducibility Network: UK Reproducibility Network (ukrn.org); Resources | UKRN.

Upcoming events

Publishing Beyond Academia
Tuesday 4 February
12-1pm

Non-academic publishing—through blogs, magazines, fiction, popular science, poetry, and news articles—remains a key method of mobilizing research insights to audiences beyond academia. This panel will share their experience and expertise as senior editors of The Conversation, The Psychologist, and the LSE Impact Blog, working with researchers to communicate their work beyond academia. The panel will consider how open research practices can enable academics to connect with non-academic audiences. Audience members will have the opportunity to ask questions in a Q&A at the end of the event.

Book a place on Publishing Beyond Academia

Past events

The power of editors in changing scholarly communications

This event was a roundtable discussion on the role of editors in encouraging open research practices within journals, research integrity and reproducibility in the age of AI, and improving the quality of published research.

Reproducibility in the age of AI

A panel of researchers discussed the implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for reproducibility in social science research.