The OPENING DOORS consortium, coordinated by Dr Denise McGrath, Assistant Professor at UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, developed open educational resources aimed at helping postgraduate researchers meet the challenges of the future. This 17-month project was funded by the H2020 “Science with and for Society” programme.

Open Science 

The purpose of OPENING DOORS was to co-develop an interdisciplinary, intersectoral, & international educational offering for post-graduate researchers, with the goal of shaping more innovative, socially aware, integrative and employable research graduates, ready to meet the challenges of the future.

The programme involved over 50 stakeholders from industry, academia, public sector and citizen groups to help design a course in open science and open innovation for PhD researchers, using innovative participatory research methods.

Outcomes

The project produced an online course “Opening Your Research to Collaborative Futures”, based on collaborative, challenge-based learning and the “open science” movement. They delivered the course to a group of international PhD students, and learned from their projects, reflections, innovations and career plans.

The programme's findings fed into policy recommendations on how to embrace open science and open innovation as part the PhD journey. 

It also led to the creation of Agape, a collaborative, online community and open science resource created by PhD researchers, for PhD researchers. The resource consists of key information on the practical elements of Open Science that is needed for the PhD journey, with associated learning activities. It was created by a sub-group of innovative PhD researchers who participated in the OPENING DOORS programme.

Find more information on the project website here.

(Pictured right:  Nina Trubanová, a PhD Researcher in the UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science, Open Science ambassador and project manager of the Agape project.)