Open Scholarship + Meta-science Workshops

COSSEE Workshop Series

Open scholarship & meta-science, in practice.

A University of Alberta working group on transparent, reproducible, and equitable research.

Workshop 01

Completed May 28, 2026 · University of Alberta, Digital Scholarship Centre

Overview

The inaugural workshop brought academics together to address the evolving landscape of open science, surface systemic barriers at the University of Alberta, and map out future infrastructure needs. The day opened with a welcome and a framing talk from Shinichi Nakagawa, ran seven short talks, and closed with themed discussion to set the working group’s agenda.

23
Participants
7
Short talks
3
Discussion tracks

Schedule & talks

May 28, 2026 at the University of Alberta Digital Scholarship Centre. The seven short talks are sequenced as an arc, moving from the big picture through institutional infrastructure and subject-specific applications to policy and education.

09:00 – 09:10

Dean’s opening

Official welcome.

09:10 – 09:25

Opening keynote: Shinichi Nakagawa

Intro to open scholarship, meta-research, and the goals of the workshop series.

09:25 – 11:10

Short talks 7 talks

Seven 12-minute talks with 3 minutes of Q&A each.

09:25 – 09:40

Mariyam Suleman Big picture

Power, geography, and open scholarship.

09:40 – 09:55

Sonya Betz Institutional infrastructure

Community-led publishing & institutional repositories.

09:55 – 10:10

Lisa Hartling Institutional infrastructure

Knowledge synthesis in health: efforts to increase transparency and efficiency.

10:10 – 10:25

Erin Bayne Subject-specific application

What can we learn when we share all the raw data? Avian ecology at continental scales through data integration and AI.

10:25 – 10:40

Karim Fouad Subject-specific application

Open Data Commons for Spinal Cord Injury: a case study.

10:40 – 10:55

Michael McNally Policy & education

Open scholarship and policy.

10:55 – 11:10

Michelle Brailey Policy & education

Open education and how it applies at UofA.

11:10 – 11:30

Break

Coffee & networking.

11:30 – 12:35

Discussion block 3 stations

Three themed stations running in parallel. See Discussion tracks below.

12:35 – 12:45

Synthesis

Setting the agenda for the next meeting.

Discussion tracks

Three themed stations ran in parallel during the discussion block. Each produced a summary of barriers and opportunities, which the group used to set priorities for the next workshop.

Track A · Technical & databases

Interdisciplinary standards, data workflows & pre-registration

Leads: Erin & Rumaiza

  • Overcoming data silos: “cross-walk” interdisciplinary data standards, and judge which silos exist for valid technical reasons versus those that can be standardized.
  • Pre-registration expansion: weigh the Open Science Framework (OSF) against domain repositories, with adaptive pre-registration in Australian government and industry as possible models.
  • Data-flow bottlenecks: an Omics case study showed data often sits on local drives until publication, for lack of sharing tools and joined-up communication.
  • Key challenge: too little centralized, non-technical documentation for navigating HPC, storage, and equitable data access.
Track B · Policy & infrastructure

Institutional policy, incentives & peer review

Leads: Michael & Sonya

  • Incentive alignment: evaluation and chair metrics still favour impact factors and grant volume, at odds with collaborative, open work.
  • DORA adoption: strong support for signing the Declaration on Research Assessment; UAlberta is not yet a signatory, citing implementation and policy-stagnation concerns.
  • Administrative burden: redundant systems that don’t readily transfer data to repositories such as ERA or Borealis.
  • Peer-review reform: reward review work, and add reviewer training and collaborative peer-review to graduate curricula.
Track C · Equity & education

Equity + education

Leads: Mariyam & Michelle

  • Policy vs. practice: close the gap between the university’s stated values and its structural policies.
  • Tri-Agency advocacy: push for relationship-building grants, embed open-science practice into mandatory graduate professional development, and reward researchers who publish in Diamond OA journals.
Synthesis (12:35): the group used notes from all three tables to identify the top three hurdles to tackle in the next workshop.

Workshop 02

Upcoming Date to be announced
Workshop 02 builds directly on the priorities set at the first session. Date, venue, and speakers will be announced here. The plan below carries forward the action points agreed during the Workshop 01 synthesis.

Planned focus

  • Centralized documentation: draft accessible, non-technical guides to UofA’s data services and infrastructure.
  • Graduate curriculum: partner with GPS on an interdisciplinary open-scholarship module, and map computational courses across faculties for tool consistency.
  • DORA & assessment reform: outline a realistic alternative-metrics framework to present to faculty leadership and the union/association.
  • Repository integration: task a technical subgroup with streamlining data transfers across administrative portals, ERA, and Borealis.

Format updates

  • Attendance certificates: issue certificates or proof of attendance for graduate-student guests to use in progress reports.
  • Preparatory packets: share an introductory “who’s who” before each session.
  • Better pacing: build breaks between talks rather than running them in one uninterrupted block.