Northumbria joins UK Reproducibility Network

Northumbria has joined the UK Reproducibility Network (UKRN), a national peer-led consortium that aims to ensure the UK is at the forefront of world-leading research.

The UKRN develops approaches and coordinates initiatives to promote research reproducibility and replicability and investigates the factors that hinder this. It provides and promotes training and forums for sharing and disseminating best practice.

UKRN works collaboratively with various external stakeholders such as research funders, learned societies and academic publishers to ensure efforts are coordinated across the sector. The network is coordinated by a steering group and supported by an advisory board, with representation across the UK through researcher-led local networks at institutions across the country.

The main criterion for membership is that the University creates a senior academic role with responsibility for research improvement and integrity and to advance the adoption of open research practices and other relevant initiatives across the University.

Professor Thomas Pollet from Northumbria's Department of Psychology has taken on this role as Institution Lead for the network. He said: “I am thrilled that Northumbria University has joined UKRN. Previously, I acted as Local Network Lead and I am very happy to be able to continue my work with UKRN and Northumbria University as Institution lead. Given that reproducibility and replicability are core challenges across all disciplines, joining UKRN is an important step forward for us.”

Joining UKRN and other initiatives such as the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) represent Northumbria’s commitment to upholding and developing robust open research principles and supporting a culture of research excellence. Further information, advice and guidance on the University’s Open Access policy can be found on the Library’s Open Access webpages.

Find out more about UKRN at www.ukrn.org.