The Heritage & Creativity and Prosperity & Resilience joint Academic Forum will build on ongoing wider debates about “open research“, and explore its place in Arts, Humanities, and non-quantitative Social Sciences, and the specific issues that it raises for research methods in these areas.  We will explore some of the key ethical dilemmas that a commitment to transparency and “open data” can pose for researchers engaged in different research processes – in particular participatory, collaborative, and qualitative research – and discuss with colleagues how they have managed these trade-offs. A panel of UoR academics will reflect on their own experience and open up the following questions for debate:

• What are the benefits and challenges of open research (open process, open materials, data and other outputs)?
• Who owns the process/outputs of participatory and collaborative research and how are rights squared with open research imperatives?
• What are the ethical challenges of openness in qualitative research and how can we address them?

The Forum will last for 2 hours (12:00-14:00), with lunch included.  If you would like to attend, please book a place through Chris Anderson in the Research Deans’ Office by e-mailing c.j.anderson@reading.ac.uk.  For catering purposes, please confirm whether you have any dietary requirements.