Open Research at 91直播
Values, impact, and a growing community of practice
Open Research is increasingly central to how we think about research culture at the University of Manchester 鈥� not just as a set of technical practices, but as a reflection of our values as a public institution and our commitment to maximising the impact of research.
This message was reinforced this week in a new , where President and Vice-Chancellor Duncan Ivison spoke about why Open Research matters. As he put it, making our research, ideas, and results openly available is 鈥渞eally powerful鈥� 鈥� both in terms of public value and in helping to speed up the journey from discovery to real-world impact.
That institutional commitment provides important context for the work happening across the University through the , now entering its third cohort. Supported through Research England鈥檚 Enhancing Research Culture funding, the Fellowship Programme provides colleagues with dedicated time to focus on projects that embed openness, transparency, and responsibility into everyday research practice.
Crucially, the programme recognises that Open Research often relies on work that sits alongside, or on top of, already demanding roles. By buying out time, the Fellowships aim to make this work visible, valued, and sustainable, while fostering a community of practice that spans disciplines and professional roles.
Welcoming the 2026 Open Research Fellows
This year鈥檚 cohort reflects the breadth of what Open Research looks like in practice at the University of Manchester: from improving trust in clinical evidence and advancing FAIR data skills, to recognising new forms of scholarly contribution and strengthening research technical careers.
Ashma Krishan: Supporting reproducible and transparent research workflows
Ashma鈥檚 project focuses on strengthening pre-registration practices in research, particularly within clinical trials. By developing clear guidance and accessible training materials, the project aims to improve understanding of what pre-registration is, what it should include, and how it can be implemented effectively in practice. This work supports greater transparency, rigour, and reproducibility across the research lifecycle.
Danna Gifford: Turning open microbial data into open skills
Danna is addressing a critical skills gap in microbial genomics. While open resources such as offer unprecedented access to genomic data, many researchers lack the computational skills needed to use them reproducibly. Her project will develop an open training course and pilot a summer school for early-career researchers, ensuring that open data is matched by open, reusable skills.
Guilherme Fians: Recognising wiki contributions as co-produced research outputs
Guilherme鈥檚 project challenges traditional notions of academic authorship and research output by focusing on collaborative knowledge production in wiki spaces such as Wikipedia. While wiki content can reach vastly larger audiences than conventional academic publications, it is rarely recognised within existing research assessment and authorship models.
Drawing on his background in digital anthropology, Guilherme will develop a toolkit to support the recognition of wiki-based contributions as legitimate, co-produced research outputs. The project explores how institutions can better value open, collaborative scholarship that emerges beyond traditional academic venues, particularly where knowledge is produced alongside non-academic contributors.
Phil Reed: Advancing digital research technical professional (dRTP) career development
Phil鈥檚 Fellowship focuses on strengthening recognition, career pathways, and skills frameworks for digital research technical professionals, such as research software engineers and data stewards. Working with national and international partners, the project will produce guidance, frameworks, and training resources that support professionalisation and capacity-building at 91直播 and beyond.
Ramiro Bravo: Enhancing collaboration in research projects and data management
Ramiro鈥檚 project aims to improve how research is documented and shared across the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health. By piloting collaborative models that bring together researchers and Core Facility staff, and by using platforms such as OSF and protocols.io, the project seeks to embed sustainable, transparent documentation practices throughout the research lifecycle.
Zewen Lu: Improving trust in clinical evidence at the point of publication
Zewen鈥檚 project focuses on strengthening transparency and research integrity in clinical trials by developing INSPECT-JR, a structured tool for journal editors and peer reviewers. Building on the INSPECT-SR framework, the project aims to embed responsible, transparent checks earlier in the publication process, helping prevent problematic trials from influencing clinical evidence and decision-making.
Zuzanna Zagrodzka: Research Technical Professionals as catalysts for open research
Zuzanna鈥檚 Fellowship centres on the role of Research Technical Professionals (RTPs) in enabling open and reproducible research. Through surveys and interviews, the project explores how RTPs engage with open research practices, the challenges they face, and the support they need. The work aims to raise the visibility of RTPs and position them as leaders and advocates for open, collaborative research culture.
Next steps
As the 2026 cohort begins work, these projects collectively reflect a shift towards practical, embedded openness: supporting researchers not just to value open research, but to do it more confidently and sustainably. Updates from the Fellows will be shared throughout the year via the Open Research Digest and Office for Open Research events.
Find out more
- Read more about our via our website.
- Find out about our via our knowledge base.
- Hear from one of our recent Fellows, Prof Ellen Poliakoff, reflecting on the outcomes of her Fellowship so far.
- Find out more about the University's commitment to enhancing research culture via the .
John Hynes, Open Research Librarian, Office for Open Research.