Diving into the world of Open Science has been eye opening. Not just learning about the wide variety of activities that come under the Open Science umbrella, but also about how they can be implemented into research at all scales and by all levels of researcher. Published a preprint? Open Science. Applied for a collaborative grant? Open science. Edited a scientific Wikipedia page? Open Science. Seeing how researchers at the Babraham are already implementing some of the principles of Open Science is encouraging, and learning about how ORION plans to help improve this process is very exciting.

Attending the ORION AGM in my second week was a fantastic way to catch up on what has been happening in the project so far. Some of my favourite initiatives include:

• ORION podcasts discussing a whole range of topics surrounding Open Science – from Plan S to communicating animal research.
• Citizen science projects Genigma and SMOVE, which are exploring how to involve the public in bioscience, from experimental design through to data analysis and dissemination.
• Collaboration with artist Emilia Tikka who produced the piece “ÆON – Trajectories of Longevity and CRISPR” provoking the question: would you want to live forever?
• A Menu of Co-creation Tools exploring the assortment of ways in which scientists can open up their research by collaborating with a wide variety of people and organisations

It was also interesting to discuss where the project will be going next. We have a whole host of activities lined up for the next year, and I’m excited to be able to share some great opportunities with the students and researchers at the Babraham:

• ORION has recently opened a funding call offering up to 100,000€ for collaborative co-creative research projects that involve a variety of different people in the research process.
• We will be hosting one of four public dialogues on genome editing taking place across Europe. Our researchers will be discussing genome editing techniques, such as CRISPR/Cas9, with the public and finding out about society’s hopes and fears for the future of these technologies.
• In autumn, the ORION training team will be delivering Open Science training events for any Babraham researchers interested in learning more about open science.

In the meantime, if you’re keen to get involved in any form of Open Science feel free to get in touch with me (stephanie.norwood@babraham.ac.uk) or check out the fantastic resources provided by FOSTER and RRI Tools to learn more.