Open Science Fund

Iris Muis

In 2016, Utrecht University developed a participatory research and teaching method called DEDA: Data Ethics Decision Aid. It is method for managing ethical aspects of digital technology. DEDA facilitates value-sensitive design for technology projects. Many researchers and practitioners from other European countries have adopted the DEDA method, leading to a variety of DEDA tools in different languages . This calls for a European DEDA Conference, in which best practices are exchanged and more academics and professionals are welcome to learn about the DEDA method. The main goal of the DEDA Europe conference is to facilitate mutual knowledge transfer between researchers/teachers from all over Europe and professionals in the field of digital technology and ethics. Another pressing objective is to make the field notes from the different DEDA workshops held in the different European countries accessible and share insights. This would allow for an unprecedented comparative analysis of the data practices and data ethical awareness in different European government organizations.

Dr. Ruud Hortensius, Dr. Geert-Jan Will, Dr. Félice van Nunspeet, Dr. Jim Maarseveen

The human brain is best understood when scientist can study it in natural situations outside of the laboratory. This can be achieved with functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), which is a novel mobile neuroimaging technique that allows for studying brain activity when people move freely and have unconstrained interactions with others. In this project, we will develop an open resource for the use of fNIRS in research and teaching at Utrecht University. This resource will  feature explanations and hands-on tools to guide the user through every step of fNIRS. With this resource, anyone can use fNIRS!

IPD meta-analysis & FAIR dataset creation of patient characteristics & clinically adjudicated adverse drug events

Dr. Daniala Weir

Adverse drug events (ADEs) are a leading cause of preventable harm in patient care, however, the incidence of ADEs has not decreased in the last decade because the nature of ADEs is not well understood. To address this challenge, we will develop a protocol for and pilot the conduct of an individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis. The IPD meta-analysis will include collecting data from studies with clinically adjudicated adverse events. Using this data, we will create a FAIR dataset which will enable researchers around the world to access and reuse this data to conduct research aimed at reducing the occurrence of ADEs. 

Dr. Michiel van Meeteren & Dr. Mette Bruinsma

This project will create a platform for sustainably collecting, archiving, digitizing and hosting of geographical publications. The platform will initially be filled by a re-collected archive of Utrecht University geographical (paper) theses from the post-1945 period. By the project’s conclusion, these theses are searchable through a Geographic Information System (GIS) interface, and accessible through the web portals of the Knoninklijk Nederlands Aardrijkskundig Genootschap (KNAG), making these knowledge productions findable, usable and accessible to academics, secondary school pupils, students and citizens. By re-building the lost human geography dissertation archive, the project will showcase the value of ‘small’ student projects to build a historical archive of (local) geographical knowledge.  

Dr. Teuni Ten Brink, Dr. Christoph Strauch, Dr. Dirk Bertens (RU Nijmegen), Dr. Nicolas Masson (UC Leuven, Belgium), Prof. Michael Andres (UC Leuven, Belgium)

Visuospatial neglect is a frequent, disabling disorder after stroke. The core deficit is an ipsilesional attention bias. Objective assessment is crucial for diagnosis to allow timely therapy and to track its progress, but not existent. We developed a pupillometry-based method which closes this gap.1,2 International interest to this method has been expressed by a commercial company, clinicians, and researchers. With the Open Science Fund we will build a platform to distribute this toolbox, allow its further improvement by faster data collection and analyses (leading to insights into neglect), and ensure free availability of this diagnostic procedure.

Dr. Christoph Strauch, Prof. dr. Stefan van der Stigchel

How do we look for our lost wallet? Gaze data allows to study visual search, but expensive data collection leads to biased data: university students are assessed predominantly. We correct this with a public research installation: We improve equipment and data processing pipelines at the NEMO museum to collect the world’s biggest openly available dataset on visual search. Via talks at the museum and open citizen science activities, we will report our results to the public. Our FAIR processing pipelines enable similar installations and data collections, ultimately allowing to overcome the limitation of small and homogenous samples.  

Dr. Lena Thöle, Prof. Peter Bijl

Paleo-environmental reconstructions from the Southern Ocean deliver crucial information on past climate, ocean and ice sheet dynamics, essential to better anticipate today’s climate change and sea level rise. Yet, individual datasets are difficult to compare, and the absence of a common framework limits studies’ impact. To catalyse the interoperability and reuse of data, this project aims to convert existing published data from the Southern Ocean into a linked open data framework, promoting the addition of new data. This data compilation will expedite the integration of new data and allowing for more reproducible and comprehensive analyses.

Dr. Marijn Struiksma, Dr. Iris Mulders, Dorien Huijser, Neha Moopen

In this project, we will create open educational materials for students, lecturers and researchers who want to conduct online experiments using the open source jsPsych toolbox. All the practical steps between formulating the research question and obtaining the results will be documented in an open(-source) textbook. We will use open-source software R, GitHub for version control, and an open source licence.  The modular setup on GitHub will allow people to reuse and tailor it to suit their own needs. We will arrange archiving and DOI assignment via Zenodo and the open(-source) textbook will be shared via Edusources.