Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PHIL_OS (A Philosophy of Open Science for Diverse Research Environments)
Período documentado: 2021-09-01 hasta 2023-02-28
The PHIL_OS project aims to develop an empirically grounded philosophy of Open Science [OS] that emphasises the diversity of research environments around the world and articulates the conditions under which OS can leverage such diversity to promote good research practice. The OS movement is transforming research, with OS policies adopted around the globe and widespread agreement on implementing key OS principles like openness, transparency and reproducibility. However, the philosophy of science underpinning the OS movement has not been clearly articulated. Moreover, there are significant epistemic risks in implementing OS across widely different research settings, such as the marginalisation of contributions from low-resourced environments. This raises questions about the relation between open and good science.
To address these concerns, this project combines a philosophical analysis of the epistemic significance of research environments with empirical research on how researchers working in different environments enact and conceptualise OS. This “philosophy of science in practice” [PSP] approach is ideally suited to investigating the meaning and implications of OS for the conduct of research. This project extends PSP by grounding conceptual analysis of scientific practice on qualitative research as well as collaboration with scientists and policymakers. We aim to develop a conceptualisation of OS that reframes its key principles by outlining how exchanges across environments can boost research excellence.
The empirical focus of the project is on OS practices within the plant sciences broadly conceived including botanical research carried out at field stations, breeding farms and seed collections. The project thus aims to understand how concerns around Open Science can support current and future transnational research on food security and environmental challenges. In addition, the project extended its remit to look at plant research carried out at the International Space Station and COVID-19 research and sharing, as well as citizen science initiatives carried out in ornithology and strongly wed to an "Open Science" mandate.
To address these concerns, this project combines a philosophical analysis of the epistemic significance of research environments with empirical research on how researchers working in different environments enact and conceptualise OS. This “philosophy of science in practice” [PSP] approach is ideally suited to investigating the meaning and implications of OS for the conduct of research. This project extends PSP by grounding conceptual analysis of scientific practice on qualitative research as well as collaboration with scientists and policymakers. We aim to develop a conceptualisation of OS that reframes its key principles by outlining how exchanges across environments can boost research excellence.
The empirical focus of the project is on OS practices within the plant sciences broadly conceived including botanical research carried out at field stations, breeding farms and seed collections. The project thus aims to understand how concerns around Open Science can support current and future transnational research on food security and environmental challenges. In addition, the project extended its remit to look at plant research carried out at the International Space Station and COVID-19 research and sharing, as well as citizen science initiatives carried out in ornithology and strongly wed to an "Open Science" mandate.
Over the first 18 months of the project, the project team was assembled and trained to do empirical research as well as understand the issues and underpinning literature on Open Science. We held weekly project meetings, of which one every month was opened up to members of the public, our Advisory Board and selected guests who visited us online to discuss the project and its intersections with their own work on Open Sciences (WP1-6).
The PI worked intensively with the research fellows and Phd students to define the fieldsites and set up those collaborations in order to pave the way for fieldwork happening in year 3 of the project (WP3). Collaborations well on their way with major institutions in Ghana, Italy, Greece, the US and India.
The PI did extensive research towards framing the conceptual underpinnings of the project (WP4), which took the forms of a monograph called "Philosophy of Open Science", now under review. In addition, she wrote two major papers, one looking at the intersection between Open Science and epistemic diversity (now published in the top journal in the field, Philosophy of Science) and the other investigating the ways in which plant science can be documented and organised to include participation by a variety of expertises (now published in the main Open Access journal in philosophy of biology, PTPBio). At the same time, the PI gave dozens of talks to a vast variety of audiences, including philosophers, historians, scientists, data experts, policy-makers and higher education leaders, to alert them to the project and garner feedback on the ways in which we are proposing to bring concerns with diversity and justice into a philosophical conceptualisation of Open Science (WP5). The PI also worked on a report on Reproducibility for the Belgian Academy of Science, thereby pushing forward that aspect of the project while benefitting from wide-ranging feedback from Academy members and consultation with research and industry leaders. Last but not least, the PI continued research on COVID-19 data sharing, which made its way in three articles (two already published, one under review) considering the conditions under which an open exchange of information can benefit - or harm! - research on effective pandemic responses (WP4).
The PI has worked with the Research Fellows to set up their conceptual contributions, resulting so far in a paper published by Rose Trappes on data integration and modelling in ethological research (WP1), as well as a preliminary draft of a paper co-authored by Paola Castano and the PI on the choice of variables in space experiments (and its implications for curating and re-using those results, when they are made widely accessible; WP2). With both research fellows, we also started to draft the proposals for special collections on research environments (WP1) and epistemic injustice (WP2), as originally planned for the project. A first public expression of such research will take place in Toronto in July 2023, in occasion of three symposia we organised for the biennial meeting of the International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology, where the whole team will attend and present their results so far.
There were delays to the first year of the project, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to logistical challenges related to lockdowns and travel restrictions, the PI and Research Fellows became sick twice, thereby delaying the research and the organisation of our first events and workshops. We are doing our best to recover time lost on the research due to illness and pandemic-related constraints.
The project managed to hold its Methodology Workshop, which took place at the start of the biennial meeting of the Society for the Philosophy of Science in Practice in July 2022, and the PI started to draft chapters for the upcoming book on methods for empirical philosophy of science with Rachel Ankeny (WP6).
The PI worked intensively with the research fellows and Phd students to define the fieldsites and set up those collaborations in order to pave the way for fieldwork happening in year 3 of the project (WP3). Collaborations well on their way with major institutions in Ghana, Italy, Greece, the US and India.
The PI did extensive research towards framing the conceptual underpinnings of the project (WP4), which took the forms of a monograph called "Philosophy of Open Science", now under review. In addition, she wrote two major papers, one looking at the intersection between Open Science and epistemic diversity (now published in the top journal in the field, Philosophy of Science) and the other investigating the ways in which plant science can be documented and organised to include participation by a variety of expertises (now published in the main Open Access journal in philosophy of biology, PTPBio). At the same time, the PI gave dozens of talks to a vast variety of audiences, including philosophers, historians, scientists, data experts, policy-makers and higher education leaders, to alert them to the project and garner feedback on the ways in which we are proposing to bring concerns with diversity and justice into a philosophical conceptualisation of Open Science (WP5). The PI also worked on a report on Reproducibility for the Belgian Academy of Science, thereby pushing forward that aspect of the project while benefitting from wide-ranging feedback from Academy members and consultation with research and industry leaders. Last but not least, the PI continued research on COVID-19 data sharing, which made its way in three articles (two already published, one under review) considering the conditions under which an open exchange of information can benefit - or harm! - research on effective pandemic responses (WP4).
The PI has worked with the Research Fellows to set up their conceptual contributions, resulting so far in a paper published by Rose Trappes on data integration and modelling in ethological research (WP1), as well as a preliminary draft of a paper co-authored by Paola Castano and the PI on the choice of variables in space experiments (and its implications for curating and re-using those results, when they are made widely accessible; WP2). With both research fellows, we also started to draft the proposals for special collections on research environments (WP1) and epistemic injustice (WP2), as originally planned for the project. A first public expression of such research will take place in Toronto in July 2023, in occasion of three symposia we organised for the biennial meeting of the International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology, where the whole team will attend and present their results so far.
There were delays to the first year of the project, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to logistical challenges related to lockdowns and travel restrictions, the PI and Research Fellows became sick twice, thereby delaying the research and the organisation of our first events and workshops. We are doing our best to recover time lost on the research due to illness and pandemic-related constraints.
The project managed to hold its Methodology Workshop, which took place at the start of the biennial meeting of the Society for the Philosophy of Science in Practice in July 2022, and the PI started to draft chapters for the upcoming book on methods for empirical philosophy of science with Rachel Ankeny (WP6).
In addition to the planned fieldwork for the project, which is now fully set up and ready to be carried out, we have added two fieldsites related to the work of the two research fellows: (1) the GenLab of NASA, a prime location to study efforts of Open Science especially now that NASA celebrates its Year of Open Science; and (2) Indian efforts to adapt US-made citizen science strategies to their local ornithological endeavours, which enables us to see how US-based efforts are being reinvented and sometimes critiqued when adopted in a very different research environment.
In response to the many requests we receive for public engagement with the project, we have started to develop a board game to present the project to broad audiences and engage them in the issues we are raising with our research. This is called The Research Game, we have just trialled it at our Exploratory Workshop and we plan to refine it in the coming months so that we can start using it at science fairs and festivals in the academic year 2023-24. If these trials are successful, we hope to be able to develop this game into a version that could be widely produced for use in teaching by the end of the project. To this aim, the staffing of the project has been slightly modified to give more hours to the web developer and graphic designer, to be able to support this new goal.
In response to the many requests we receive for public engagement with the project, we have started to develop a board game to present the project to broad audiences and engage them in the issues we are raising with our research. This is called The Research Game, we have just trialled it at our Exploratory Workshop and we plan to refine it in the coming months so that we can start using it at science fairs and festivals in the academic year 2023-24. If these trials are successful, we hope to be able to develop this game into a version that could be widely produced for use in teaching by the end of the project. To this aim, the staffing of the project has been slightly modified to give more hours to the web developer and graphic designer, to be able to support this new goal.