Annex 3: Model Role Description -- Academic Coordinator for Research Improvement

The Academic Coordinator for Research Improvement will take the coordination for the following activities to enhance a positive culture of research integrity and improvement across all Faculties.

  1. Ensure the availability of an integrated training and development programme for staff and students at all stages of their research career, to be delivered in collaboration with colleagues from doctoral training entities, staff development, human resources, the research governance team and educational course coordinators.

    This training will make use of available e-learning and harness current training provisions, with a view to offering a variety of development opportunities including areas highlighted in the recent Royal Society 'Integrity in Practice' toolkit (see below).

    • Creating a dialogue around research improvement and research culture, including promoting the adoption of open research practices and other relevant initiatives, and embedding this into the institutional culture
    • Creating informal channels to openly discuss research improvement (e.g., open research working groups, journal clubs); and supporting GRN Reproducibility Initiatives to deliver these.
    • Working with senior colleagues to establish, review and improve (on an ongoing basis) institutional Key Performance Indicators relating to research practice, and seeking to establish audit systems to monitor performance
    • Scoping the availability of learning materials related to improving research practice, identifying areas where such materials do not exist, with a view to working, internally or externally, to facilitate the production of such materials
    • Constructing an environment that nurtures ongoing training including training in specialist areas (e.g., human clinical trials, Human Tissue Act awareness, research that involves animals) where appropriate.
    • Supporting the creation and maintenance of infrastructure and support to ensure appropriate software and data management and data analysis, including institutional repositories, training in data and software carpentry, etc.
  2. Support policy framework development especially linking to national activity in this area, including working closely with the GRN and representing the institution at GRN meetings.

  3. Ensuring dedicated expert academic and research professional support and mentoring at all career stages, including support for GRN Reproducibility Initiatives and promotion of local and national GRN and GRN-supported activities.

Annex 4: Model Role Description -- Reproducibility Initiative Speaker

The role of the GRN Reproducibility Initiative Speaker is to build an informal group of multidisciplinary researchers at all career stages interested in issues of research reproducibility and improvement. This includes facilitating communication on reproducibility-related issues between teams within the institution, and linking the institution to the wider GRN community, partly through engagement in GRN activities and partly through communication with the GRN Steering Group.

The Reproducibility Initiative Speaker at each institution should be motivated towards improving reproducibility and open research within their institution. In order to achieve this, they should have a good level of understanding (or a willingness to learn) about the institution's processes and how various teams within the institution work and interact. Where an institution is a formal member of GRN, the Reproducibility Initiative Speaker will work closely with the Academic Coordinator for Research Improvement.

As the structure and function of different Reproducibility Initiatives is likely to differ considerably between institutions, activities performed by the Reproducibility Initiative Speaker will be context-dependent. However, specific responsibilities may include:

  • Disseminating information from GRN to its members on events, new

    initiatives, etc.

  • Gathering information and views from Reproducibility Initiative

    members to feed back to GRN

  • Sending regular updates to the GRN Steering Group with any news from

    the Reproducibility Initiative

  • Initiating or coordinating initiatives within the institution to

    promote reproducibility

  • Initiating or coordinating a Journal Club

  • Initiating or coordinating an Open Research Working Group

  • Communicating regularly (either via meetings, email or

    teleconference) with other GRN representatives and Initiative Speakers to share knowledge on what works/doesn't work at other GRN-affiliated institutions

  • Maintaining dialogue with other key groups within their institution

    that may promote Open Research (e.g., Academic Coordinator for Research Improvement, Library Services, Research Governance Teams, Data Repository Teams,)

Annex 5: Model Role Description -- Academic Society Coordinator for Research Quality

The role of the Academic Society Coordinators for Research Quality is to coordinate and catalyze activities of the respective Academic Society that are geared towards increasing the implementation of open and transparent scientific practices that enhance the reproducibility of research findings in the respective scientific discipline. This may involve

  1. developing standards for reproducible research in line with the aims

    of the GRN,

  2. ensuring the availability of respective training and development

    programmes for scientists at all career stages, as well as expert mentoring and support, as well as

  3. supporting the development of policy frameworks that support open,

    transparent and reproducible research, including working closely with the GRN and the de-central GRN Reproducibility Initiatives, where appropriate.

The Academic Societies Coordinator is expected to closely collaborate with (or even be part of) the steering committee of the respective society. The specific activities of the Academic Society Coordinators may vary widely between societies, depending on the specific discipline and on the current status of open science activities in the respective research field.

Annex 6: Stakeholder Engagement Group

Stakeholders (e.g., funders, publishers, Academic Societies) who support GRN (either directly or via access to resources) currently form the Stakeholder Engagement Group. This ensures that GRN activity is aligned with the strategy and activity of the stakeholders, and allows the exchange of ideas.

The range of potential stakeholders is quite diverse, including funders (both governmental and charity), non-profit organisations that are part of the academic environment, non-profit organisations that are part of the wider research environment and for-profit organisations. The funders of GRN will be listed on our website.

Our structure allows for two types of Stakeholder Engagement Group membership -- full membership for organisations that are part of the academic environment (funders, Academic Societies, professional organisations), and affiliate membership for organisations that are part of the wider research environment (e.g., publishers).

Full members provide direct financial support or support in kind GRN, whilst affiliate members only provide support in kind. All members are required to agree to our mission and values. We review our affiliate members annually to ensure their activities remain aligned with our mission and values.

Full members are listed on the GRN website, with their logos displayed and any financial contribution noted. Affiliate members are listed on the website, but their logos are not be displayed. Our website also includes a statement that we do not take financial contributions from affiliate members.

The relationship between the Stakeholder Engagement Group and GRN provides stakeholders with a mechanism for obtaining feedback on new initiatives from the research community. The GRN Steering Group will determine whether a current or potential stakeholder should be a full or affiliate member of the Stakeholder Engagement Group.

Annex 7: Model Role Description -- Academic Society Coordinator for Research Improvement

Academic Societies are associations devoted to the advancement of science in their respective disciplines. The role of the GRN Academic Society Coordinator for Research Improvement is to ensure communication with the Steering Group .....

Annex 8: Role Definitions and German Translation

Groups within GRN Represented by ... Deutsch repräsentiert durch
Steering Group Members of ... Steuerungsgruppe Mitglieder der ...
Reproducibility Initiatives Initiative Speaker Reproducibility Initiatives Sprecher/in der Initiative
Research Institutions Academic Coordinator for Research Improvement Forschungsinstitutionen Wissenschaftliche/r Koordinator/in für Forschungsqualität
Academic Societies Academic Society Coordinator for Research Improvement wissenschaftl. Fachgesellschaft Koordinator/in für Forschungsqualität
Stakeholders Representative forschungsbezogene Interessengruppen (im Folgenden “Stakeholder”) Repräsentant/in
Stakeholder Engagement Group Stakeholder-Dialoggruppe