Disseminating and embedding ELIXIR knowledge and training is the primary goal of the ELIXIR DaSH fellowship. The University of Manchester (UoM) has established the UoM Office for Open Research (OOR), led by the library, and the OOR supports UoM’s aims to create a more open and responsible research environment. A key goal of both ELIXIR and the OOR is to increase the uptake of good Research Data Management (RDM) and FAIR practices. With the goals of both organisations in mind as both an ELIXIR DaSH and OOR fellow, I set about adapting an existing ELIXIR course on FAIR to be delivered at UoM.
The FAIR Pointers course is a short online course for people working in the life sciences with little or no experience with FAIR. I took this course and adapted it to be an Introduction to FAIR workshop as part of the My Research Essentials (MRE) training programme from the UoM’s library team. MRE is UoM’s researcher development training programme for UoM staff and postgraduate research students – they host the UoM-wide training on Research Data Management.
Specific adaptations
The online FAIR Pointers course is a 3-hour self-paced online training course. Adapting a course of this length to be a 90-minute online Introduction to FAIR workshop required cutting down and simplifying some of the course content and reducing and altering the practical exercises to be Mentimeter interactive quizzes.
I edited the content to be non-specific to the life sciences. As this was the first Introduction to FAIR workshop from the library, it was important to create something accessible to all faculties instead of just one. I also needed to add UoM-specific content, e.g., links to the UoM Figshare repository and further UoM RDM training resources. Once the content had been adjusted and made into slides and Mentimeter questions, the next step was to make sure it was in line with both MRE and ELIXIR branding. Fortunately, OOR colleagues helped with this, providing templates and reviewing the final slides, which made the process smoother.
Working closely with the OOR/MRE team was key to ensuring both sides were happy with the content and eventual delivery of the workshop. As this was a workshop hosted by the MRE programme, OOR staff handled communication/dissemination plans and registration of participants. It provided support for the workshop before, during, and after delivery. The OOR/MRE teams also handled the set-up of the online workshop (via Teams), participant registration & organisation, and comms plan for the workshop.
Delivering the workshop
This was the first time the MRE team had worked with an ‘external’ ELIXIR trainer (external to the library). Because of this, it was important to ensure we were working together and not against each other. My close working relationship with the OOR team meant they could help handle the more political side of discussions and ensure smooth communication between both sides. Again, because this was the first time this had been done, the OOR team invited a couple of colleagues to attend the workshop specifically to feedback on the content and delivery. This workshop was seen as a ‘pilot’: the workshop’s outcome could significantly impact future MRE training plans and collaborations between the library and ELIXIR. Luckily, it went well!
There were 30 sign-ups and 15 attendees to the workshop – an excellent number for a first-time MRE workshop. And the highest number of signups for a MRE workshop for a while. This is due to much wider dissemination than standard MRE workshops – we took advantage of institutional networks related to IT and data to cascade the workshop information to as many people as possible.
All workshop participants were engaged, either through Mentimeter or the Teams chat. Workshop participants also gave overwhelmingly positive feedback. Again, feedback was in higher numbers than usual MRE workshops. Attendees particularly enjoyed the interactive nature of the workshop, the explanations, and signposting to FAIR resources, and they would definitely be interested in more FAIR training.
There were some valuable comments on how to improve future workshops. Most constructive feedback was centered around the speed and breadth of content covered in the workshop – this reflects the difficulties of adapting a longer piece of online training content into a 90-minute workshop. Participants had some very useful suggestions, including more demos and practical exercises, more practical workshops (e.g., hackathon-type workshops where participants can learn practical technical FAIR skills), and the assurance that the workshop is accessible to PhD students.
Lessons learned
The workshop can ultimately be considered a success, and yet it was not always smooth sailing – things can be learnt from this.
There is an appetite for FAIR training at UoM, both university-wide and discipline-specific. This needs to be incorporated into current student and staff educational structures. Due to the success of this workshop, it will become a staple part of MRE. For the academic year 2024/2025, I will deliver the workshop once a semester. There is also interest in developing and delivering further FAIR training, as well as requests from departments in 2 out of 3 faculties around discipline-specific content. We will engage with these departments to create & deliver more specific open research training.
The sustainability of this workshop is an important issue. Training activities such as these are not always recognised in personal teaching contributions, e.g. meaning there are competing aspects of my job which may have to take priority. Or I could catch COVID or break both my wrists again… Having multiple staff available with the knowledge and expertise to deliver the training will be a key priority. Two OOR staff members sat in to support the workshop, which will be continued, and staff rotated to ensure the central team has a basic ability to deliver this content if needed. Wider system change is vital to ensure all open research activities are properly recognised, especially looking forward to the next REF.
As mentioned above, participants had some valuable feedback about the content and future of the workshop. This will be incorporated into future iterations. We will make this into a 2-hour workshop with demos and more practical exercises, and with a more in-depth handout sheet. Extra discussion time will be included to ensure participants come away feeling comfortable and knowledgeable about the FAIR principles. We will continue this process of feedback and revision indefinitely to ensure we are constantly striving to meet the needs of all participants.
Comms for the workshop were done 1 week before the workshop date due to the UoM OOR conference and staff absences/commitments. If the comms had been enacted sooner, we would have had more attendees. For future workshops, dedicated comms will be started 6 weeks prior, and we will continue to cascade the information through as many related channels as possible. This comms strategy will also be taken back to see if it can improve sign-ups for other MRE sessions.
As the MRE/OOR teams handled participants’ registration and communication, I did not contact the participants until the workshop. This is a fantastic way of splitting up the tasks related to delivering training and ensuring sustainability (i.e., there is always someone to respond to email queries). However, ensuring that participants received all ELIXIR registration and feedback forms made it challenging. Participants (and the MRE team) must take extra steps to engage with me pre/post-workshop. However, I still received emails from some very keen participants! The workshop slides will be altered to show when/how participants should contact the MRE team and the workshop trainer.
The MRE programme and ELIXIR have their own established registration and feedback processes – there is inflexibility on both sides. For example, participants register via the MRE booking system, and were then asked to complete the ELIXIR registration form, both of which cannot really be altered. MRE also send out their own feedback forms. We had lowish response rates for both forms. This is inefficient and if I was asked to fill in repeating forms multiple times, I would also not do all of them. There should be an effort to better explore and understand how the two processes could be better streamlined, to reduce the burden on both participants and trainers.
Summary
Overall, this was a very positive, successful process despite some teething issues. The feedback from both workshop attendees and MRE team bodes very well for future UoM/ELIXIR training collaborations. High engagement during the workshop (from participants) and interest in the workshop (from the library and faculties) signifies a high demand at UoM for similar content – the library’s commitment to running this workshop at least once a semester as part of MRE is a great starting point. To some degree, we have achieved the ELIXIR DaSH aim of embedding RDM/FAIR training within the University of Manchester.
Further ingraining FAIR training and an open research culture in a university the size of Manchester will no doubt be challenging and take significant time and resources to establish across all faculties. As I, many UoM and ELIXIR colleagues, the UoM library and OOR teams, and the university are committed to this, it will no doubt happen (eventually!). Watch this space.
