Open science is the movement to make scientific research, data and dissemination accessible to any one anywhere in the world. It is a cause I care about deeply, and have made it my life’s work. As such I practice in the open making all my code and manuscripts openly and freely available. I have also written and have been a guest on a podcast discussing the importance of open science. I am also on Canadian Science Publishing Open Science Working Group. You can read more about my open science projects and watch some of the public talks I have given below:
Open Climate Campaign
Launched in 2022, the goal of Open Climate Campaign is to promote open access to research to accelerate progress towards solving the climate crisis and preserving global biodiversity. If we are going to solve these global challenges, the knowledge (research, data, educational resources, software) about them must be open. The four-year project works to connect researchers with resources to make their research open, develop open access polices, is an international campaign and is opening foundational research. I have led the Campaign as the Open Climate Campaign Manager since April 2022.
Canadian Open Data Society
In 2020, I was selected for the Board of Directors of the Canadian Open Data Society, a non-profit organization whose mission is to broaden the open data discourse to the private sector, civil society and public. As a Director, I organized webinars on the effect of data on marginalized communities and worked on the organizations communications. This work has contributed to making data more accessible to Canadians and empowering them with the knowledge of the effect data has on their lives. I retired from the board in 2022.
Frictionless Data Reproducible Research Fellows Programme
The Frictionless Data Reproducible Research Fellows programme, supported by the Sloan Foundation, aims to train graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and early career researchers how to become champions for open, reproducible research using Frictionless Data tools and approaches in their field. I completed the programme in 2019 and now serve as a mentor.
PREreview
PREreview was born as a platform to facilitate the collaborative writing of preprint reviews produced from discussions at journal clubs. We wanted to make it easier for scientists around the world to run preprint JCs, develop their skills as reviewers, and share the insights of their discussions openly. Journal clubs are a staple in academia: they facilitate scientists’ collective engagement with others’ discoveries, and provide early career researchers with a forum to learn how to critically evaluate research. PREreview is has now grown into a platform, resource center and convener. Since 2017 I have served on the Leadership Team of PREreview.
Working in the open
I wasn’t aware of open science until I attended a National Center for Ecological Synthesis and Analysis Open Science for Synthesis workshop. Recognizing that many scientists are still unaware of open science I have developed workshops for the Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science and R Ladies London, and presented lectures on how to get started in open.
Mozilla Open Leaders
The Mozilla Open Leaders program is a 14-week mentorship experience that help you take your open project from idea to a minimum viable product. During the training you are paired with a mentor for one-on-one meetings and larger co-hort meetings where you learn the ropes on topics such as GitHub and community engagement. I have been involved with the program since 2016 first at a open leader then and mentor and now as an expert with Open Life Science.
