GW4 Open Research Week 2025
Co-delivered by all four universities and led by the University of Bath for 2025, this year’s Open Research Week will take place from March 31st to April 4th 2025, with a series of events hosted across throughout the week. The theme, “Open Research: Open Culture,” will highlight a wide range of practices that promote accessibility, transparency, reproducibility, and visibility in research.
Summary
GW4 Open Research Week 2025 was held from 31 March – 4 April, led by the University of Bath.
The theme for that year, ‘Open Research: Open Culture’, explored how open research enhances integrity, collaboration, and impact.
With a week of engaging discussions and interactive sessions, attendees were given valuable insights into best practices in open research.
Most events were open to a global audience, including researchers beyond GW4, international participants, and the wider public. All events were open to members of the GW4 universities – Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter.
Calendar of events
N.b. these details are provided for historical information only - all events have now taken place.
31 March 2025: Creating An Open Culture: A Reflection on GW4’s UKRN Train-the-Trainer Programme
13:15-14:15 (online)
In 2023, GW4 colleagues from Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, and Exeter came together for several UKRN sponsored Train-the-Trainer sessions.
Join some of these participants as they reflect on their experience, motivations, implications for culture change at individual and institutional levels, and what’s next for them and their institutions. Expect a wide-ranging conversation about the successes and challenges of implementing – and sustaining – a cultural change program like UKRN’s Train-the-Trainer.
This online event is part of GW4 Open Research Week and is open to all. It will be led by Dr Alice Motes, Senior Research Data Librarian (University of Bath).
1st April 2025: Finding Balance: Navigating Open Research with Sensitive Data
14:15-15:15 (online)
Various sensitivities can make sharing research data tricky. How do you weigh obligations to participants or commercial interests against transparency, verification, and reuse? What does “as open as possible, as closed as necessary” look like in practice?
Join researchers from a wide variety of backgrounds to hear about how they find the right balance of open and closed.
This online event is part of GW4 Open Research Week as is open to all. It will be led by Zosia Beckles (University of Bristol); Kellie Snow, Research Data Manager (Cardiff University); Kate Ehrig-Page, Research Data Librarian; Alice Motes, Senior Research Data Librarian (University of Bath).
2nd April 2025: GW4 Open Research Prize Awards Event
12:30-15:00 (online)
The Open Research Prize Awards event is designed to celebrate and recognise the excellent work of researchers in making their research more accessible to all, thereby increasing its potential impact.
Join us to celebrate a showcase of the Open Research prize submissions from across GW4 (Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter) in the categories of widening reach and improving quality, the awarding of the prize, as well as a host of engaging speakers.
This online event is part of GW4 Open Research Week and is open to all. This year's ceremony will be led by the University of Bath, with speakers including:
* Professor Julie Barnett (Awards Session Host), Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Bath
* Dr Joanna Jenkinson MBE, GW4 Alliance Director
3rd April 2025: Using Open Access to Meet Global Social Challenges
12:00-12:45pm (online)
This event will introduce the work of Bristol University Press in support of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
At this event we will also be announcing the 2025 winner of the Early Career Publishing Prize which is organised jointly by Bristol University Press and Bristol University Library Services.
This online event is open to all GW4. It will be led by Katie Foxall, Global Engagement Coordinator, Bristol University Press; Victoria Pittman, Editorial Director, Bristol University Press; Suzy Cheeke, Associate Director (Research & Scholarly Communication), Library Services University of Bristol; Zosia Beckles, Research Information Analyst, Library Services, University of Bristol.
3rd April 2025: Opening Up Publications: Reflecting on the Rights Retention Strategy
14:15-15:00 (online)
This blended presentation and panel session will provide an overview of the Rights Retention Strategy (RRS) and the joint GW4 statement on rights retention.
Academics will reflect on their experiences of the RRS and what this means for them moving forward.
This online event is part of GW4 Open Research Week and is open to all. It will be led by Sian Edwards, Reader in Hispanic Studies and Director of International in the School of Modern Languages (Cardiff University); Catherine Borwick, Scholarly Communications Librarian (University of Bath).
Friday 4th April 2025: Exploring the Reproducibility of Research Publications: An Evaluation Pilot
11:00-12:00 (online)
A pilot was conducted at the University of Exeter in 2024 to explore the computational reproducibility of quantitative claims in publications from three departments (one from each faculty).
This session will provide an overview of the pilot, including the results of the evaluation, along with recommendations and practical advice on how to conduct and improve the communication and delivery of such a scheme.
Speakers will include Professor Mark Kelsen, NIHR Exeter Biomedical Research Centre, Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (University of Exeter).
This online event is part of GW4 Open Research Week. It will be led by Chris Tibbs, Interim Open Research Manager (University of Exeter).
A full calendar of events held across the four institutions is available on the GW4 home page: