Open in analysing and sharing data
“As open as possible, as closed as necessary”
Data sharing is a fundamental aspect of open research, promoting transparency, reproducibility, and collaboration across academic disciplines. By making research data publicly available, the academic community and society benefit greatly. This can include enhanced opportunities for innovation, improved research quality and accelerate discovery.
At the University of Leeds, we are committed to supporting researchers in embracing open data practices, ensuring that data is managed, shared, and reused responsibly and effectively.
What is FAIR data?
Putting it into practice
Explore these internal and external resources to learn how sharing data, software, and code in an accessible way can benefit both you and external stakeholders. The goal of this section is to empower you with the confidence to engage in at least one new open research practice.
FAIR Principles
Open software and code
Data repositories
Sharing qualitative data
Citizen science
Data visualisation
Training and development opportunities
Below is a curated list of resources to develop your learning in open research practices and considerations at the analysing and data sharing stage of a project.
Open to everyone
- The UK Data Service upcoming events offer a range of training events mostly aimed at social science researchers, including coding, data anonymisation techniques, and informed consent in ethical data collection, sharing and reuse. It has produced an excellent introductory guide to managing and sharing data.
- This 20-minute video primer on research data sharing, produced by the UK Reproducibility Network, offers guidance on how to share and advertise data effectively while recognising that methods may vary depending on the data's attributes.
- PaPOR Trail is a a self-paced free introductory course, which includes a module on research data management.
- The Turing Way is an open science, open collaboration, and community-driven project. This is a comprehensive, self-paced resource is dedicated to supporting researchers make their collaborative, reusable and transparent. The resource was originally designed for data scientists, however the guiding principles and learning can be applied to any discipline.
University of Leeds specific
- Advanced Research Computing offer a range of training courses, including version control with Git and GitHub, introductory programming and Introduction to reproducible workflows in Python.
- Staff and PGR workshops: Sign up for our range of workshops or access recordings from previous events hosted by the Library, including topics such as data management essentials and safeguarding confidential, sensitive and restricted data.
- Contact email for more information and support: [email protected]
Examples of good practice
The Zooniverse citizen science projects
The Zooniverse citizen science projects, including Galaxy Zoo, have engaged over 856,000 members of the public from 100 countries in research areas like astronomy, nature, health, and the humanities. This participation has boosted public awareness of scientific methods and fostered positive attitudes towards research. By allowing volunteers to classify galaxies and analyze large datasets, Zooniverse has facilitated groundbreaking discoveries in astrophysics, highlighting the role of public contributions can make in advancing research. The platform enriches educational experiences through interactive projects that benefit both research and community engagement.
FAIR case studies collection
The University of Sheffield have collated a collection of short video case studies, with researchers from across different disciplines sharing their experiences of making their research data and software FAIR, and the benefits that resulted. Includes examples from Materials Science and Engineering, Architecture and Geography.
Open Research for Climate Action
Open Lunch webinar with three speakers sharing their insights on open research practices in climate spaces.
Dr. Desy Ayu Pirmasari highlighted the role of participatory action research (PAR) in engaging marginalized communities in Indonesia and Uganda to share their experiences with climate change. She emphasized using creative methods, like comics and poetry, to empower these communities and ensure climate actions address their needs.
Dr. Chris Smith discussed the importance of open access to research data and code, emphasizing the FAIR principles for transparency in climate science. He shared his use of Zenodo for effective data management, allowing researchers to ensure their work is findable and reusable.
Dr. Bianca van Bavel stressed the need for public engagement in climate decision-making and making research accessible to all audiences. She introduced the COBENEFITS tool for evaluating climate actions and her initiative, The Climate Press, which aims to improve communication about climate change.
Read the blog and access the webinar recording here.
Further resources and tools
There are numerous resources available to support your open research practice and the following tools have been curated to help you take them to the next level.
Resources
- The UK Reproducibility Network (UKRN) primer series, provides an overview, reasons for the practice, and practical guidance for a range of topics, including Data Sharing, Open Code and Software, and Community Engagement in Research.
- The FAIR Cookbook: An online, open and live resource for the Life Sciences with recipes that help you to make and keep data FAIR.
- Responsible Sharing of Qualitative Research Data insights paper, provides guidelines and tools for data de-identification, depositing, and sharing.
- Open Scholarship in the Humanities open access book explores the rise of open scholarship, its impact on knowledge sharing and future directions of openness in the humanities.
- UNESCO summary of the importance of open data sharing, including recommendations for priority areas of action and a range of publications.
Tools
- The Qualitative Data Repository (QDR) archives, shares, and preserves qualitative and multi-method research data, focusing on the social sciences. It offers guidance for managing and sharing sensitive or complex data.
- University of Leeds repositories: Research Data Leeds and the Restricted Access Data Repository
- UK Data Service is part of the UK Data Archive, it is the UK’s largest collection of social, economic and population data resources.