The Global Open Science Hardware (OScH) Roadmap laid out a path to make open science hardware ubiquitous by 2025. In order to learn about, support and grow OScH and the OScH community, engaging with researchers and policy makers is essential.
This call supports meetings, writing workshops or other collaborations to scope research topics, conduct literature reviews and develop further policy advice aimed at defined audiences. The outcomes should advance recommendations made in a) the 2021 Gathering for Open Science Hardware (GOSH) Policy Briefs aimed at funders, academic technology transfer offices and international policy makers; or b) the Global Open Science Hardware Roadmap.
Examples of topics (for illustrative purposes only) might include: policy recommendations on open science hardware for research funders in Africa, best practice guidelines for learned societies publishing journals featuring open hardware papers, a research agenda for studying the impact of open science hardware within a specific discipline.
The deadline for applications is midnight US Eastern Time on 8 May 2022
If you have a question about this programme, please post in this other thread dedicated to questions or email board@openhardware.science.
GOSH Research and Policy Workshop Programme Goals
- To advance research that increases our understanding of Open Science Hardware as a concept and/or its implementation and impact in the world.
- To enable policy discourse leading to recommendations or concrete interventions that could help ensure Open Science Hardware has the greatest positive impact.
- To address gaps in existing research and policy identified and prioritised by the GOSH community in the GOSH Roadmap.
- To further advance recommendation and gaps identified by the 2021 GOSH Policy event series and corresponding reports.
Support Available
A support package is available from GOSH for up to four virtual workshops including:
- Professional facilitation support to design and deliver an online workshop or series of shorter workshops for up to 30 participants (maximum 8 hours in total).
- Note-taking and report drafting (Note: if the proposer would like to write the output rather than work with a GOSH assigned writer, stipends of $1000 USD are available)
- Graphic design and layout for the final product.
- Administrative and communications support (e.g. teleconference software, human support for call administration)
- If specific workshop participants require financial support to be able to attend (i.e. their time is not covered by institutional support), small stipends of $100 USD can be made available.
Except in special circumstances to be discussed with successful applicants, this support will not be in the form of direct funding to the applicant except for the optional stipends mentioned above. Therefore the application does not need to provide a budget.
Wildcards: if you have a great idea that meets the goals of the programme but would not fit with the proposed support package, please contact us as we may be able to make connections to alternative forms of support.
Eligibility criteria
- Both individuals and organisations can apply.
- You do not need a previous relationship/involvement with the Gathering for Open Science Hardware events or community.
- The proposed workshop must be aligned with the programme goals, the GOSH Manifesto, code of conduct, and ethos.
- All outputs must be openly licensed and meet the Definition for Free Cultural Works (e.g. Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 or Attribution-ShareAlike (BY-SA) 4.0)
- The applicant or activity must not be based in a place with which the United States (USA) has a trade embargo due to the funding being administered by a USA-based entity.
How to Apply
Applications are submitted by responding to this thread or emailing board@openhardware.science with the proposal in an editable document format (e.g. an ODT or DOCX file).
10 April 2022 - 8 May 2022 - Submit your application
20 May 2022 - Grant awardees notified; due diligence process begins
30 May 2022 - Successful applications announced to the community
1 July to 30 Sept 2022 - Workshops commence
1 Oct Nov 30 2022 Output production period
23 Dec 2022 - Final report due
Review Process
Proposals will be reviewed by the GOSH Research and Policy Workshop Programme Working Group. An open call for membership will be published on the GOSH forum and subject matter experts will also be invited to apply (e.g. attendees from the 2021 GOSH Policy Workshops). The Working Group will be selected by the GOSH board and Community Council and will contain at least one Community Council representative.
If a member of this Working Group has a conflict of interest with an application, they will recuse themselves from reviewing said application.
Selection Process
Only projects that meet the aforementioned eligibility requirements will be granted full evaluation. Applications will be evaluated on the following review criteria.
- Advancement of recommendations in the GOSH Roadmap or 2021 Policy Reports
The extent to which the proposed workshop and outputs are relevant to recommendations in the GOSH Roadmap or 2021 Policy Reports. You should review these documents and cite the relevant recommendations in your application.
- Likely impact on making OScH ubiquitous by 2025
Applications will be prioritised based on the priority or importance of the proposal to making OScH ubiquitous by 2025 i.e. if a proposal is likely to have limited impact by 2025 and addresses a very niche topic, or substantially overlaps with previous GOSH policy publications, it is likely to be scored lower than a proposal that could have a very direct impact on a fundamental roadblock to the wider adoption of OScH. If the proposal has not yet been covered by previous GOSH publications, it is likely to be scored higher.
- Appropriateness of planned outputs
How appropriate is the proposed output from the workshop and how appropriate is the planned format and proposed impact.
- Communication and dissemination of outputs
Applications will be reviewed on the potential broader impacts of this project on OScH research and policy. How widely will project results be disseminated after project submission? What documentation, takeaways, lessons, publications, deliverables, or other outputs will be generated? What connections and pathways to impact do the proposing team have in place?
- Feasibility
Finally, the feasibility of the project is taken under consideration. For instance can the proposers marshall the skills needed to plan and develop workshops that deliver policy recommendations? Is there sufficient representation of people involved, and/or being consulted? Does the project seem doable considering the declared goals and timeline?
Reviewers
The reviewing panel will give a numerical rating (1-3, with 3 being best) to each of the review criteria along with a written justification. The reviewers will then meet amongst themselves to evaluate the applications, deliberate, and create a final list of recommendations for funding.
The rubric for evaluating the applications is listed below. These review criteria may be subject to further refinement, but we shall note any changes once this is posted.
Final recommendations for funding will be approved by the Reviewers and sent to the GOSH community council. The Community Council will only intervene if it considers that there are exceptional circumstances.
Next the Reviewers will notify the recommended awardees of their selection, but official approval will only come after the grant awarding body (GOSH Inc., a US-based 501c3 nonprofit that is administering a grant from the Alfred P Sloan Foundation to support GOSH Community activities) finishes a final due diligence review of the awardees.
Project Withdrawal
We understand that projects don’t always go as expected or planned. Sometimes this leads to unanticipated success and sometimes it means that project members are unable to complete the work as outlined in their proposal.
In the event members are faced with cancelling or withdrawing their project after the award as been made (for instance due to illness, natural disaster or unforeseen circumstances), we ask that the project team a) communicates to the GOSH Council in writing as soon as possible; b) submits documentation that includes the challenges that prevented them from meeting their objectives and/or responsibilities.
Responsibilities
Responsibilities of selected proposals:
- Attend scheduled check-ins with the GOSH Research and Policy Workshop Programme Working Group or support team.
- Make a post on the GOSH forum about your project at the conception of the grant.
- Post an event report on this forum at the conclusion of the workshop(s).
- Publish the final report or other agreed outcomes to the forum and GOSH website.
- Submit a brief final report to GOSH, Inc. linking to all outputs.
Application Template
We have not included word limits but please try to keep responses concise.
Project Information
- Name of applicant(s)
- Email address (or preferred and reliable way of official contact)
- Project Title
- Project Summary (tell us about your proposed project in one or two sentences)
Goals and outcomes
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What are the goals of your project and how do these match the GOSH Research and Policy Workshop Programme Goals? Please respond for all of the programme goals that are applicable to your proposal. Pay particular attention to how your project advances recommendations in the GOSH Roadmap or 2021 Policy Reports (you should review these documents and cite the relevant recommendations in your application). Also explain the likely impact of your project on making OScH ubiquitous by 2025.
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What will be the outputs of the workshop(s) and how do they support your goals? This could be tangible outcomes such as an event report, whitepaper, review or other written document. We encourage creative approaches to the outcomes and also multimedia or web-based outcomes like videos, maps, databases etc. You should also reference new collaborations, connections or other intangible outcomes.
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How and where will you share the outputs of your project? Include specific defined audiences and routes to reach those audiences. If you have specific outlets and connections in mind please mention them here.
Methodology and format
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Describe your planned workshop format and how this will lead to the described outcomes. Note that we will provide professional support for improving your workshop designs and facilitation so you don’t need to have everything worked out but you should be able to explain how the workshop format and length is appropriate to deliver the planned outputs.
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Will there be work expected from participants prior to or after the workshop? If so, how will you organise this? Please describe any contingency plans in case there is low participation in activities outside of the workshop and the level of time commitment and timelines involved.
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Who will be involved in your workshop? If you have confirmed partners and participants you can name them here, otherwise mention the types of people and organisations you will invite and highlight any factors that will increase their likelihood to participate.
Diversity and Inclusion
- How will your project address GOSH’s values of diversity and inclusion? You should refer to the GOSH Manifesto.
Other
- Are there any conflicts of interest that you wish to declare? (a conflict of interest does not automatically disqualify your application)