Five Years of the Open Research Awards at the University of York

This poster was presented at the University of Manchester Open Research Conference, 9-10 June 2025.

This presentation reflects on the University of York Open Research Awards, now in its fifth year.

The awards celebrate good practice in open research across all disciplines at York. Awardees have included undergraduate students through to professors, which affords a distinctive opportunity for intra-University collaboration regardless of position. In doing so, the awards foster community and aim to implement long-term cultural change as part of the University’s wider commitment to open research and serving the public good. Longstanding impacts have been a measure of the awards’ success. For example, the University’s ReproducibiliTea journal club was recognised in the inaugural awards, and has gone on to collaborate with the Library on training and events. Projects have also demonstrated academic reach and public engagement. For instance, a 2024 project on Wikipedia entries for women from every country was featured in the national press. A selection of submissions have also been developed into online case studies, ensuring long?term impact, especially for training and advocacy purposes.

We hope to highlight some projects and open dialogues on the criteria and purpose of the York Open Research Awards. We will consider the sustainability of these awards in light of financial pressure on the UK HE sector.