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Week 12

tags: OLS-2 coworking call project-leads

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Cohort call

Before this meeting

  • Think about how you might briefly answer the following questions (references):
    • How did you choose your career?
    • What did you study to prepare?
    • What do you actually do at work on a typical day?
    • Have you ever felt discriminated against (e.g. due to gender, race, ethnicity…) and how did you respond?
    • Do you have a life outside your work? a family? hobbies?
    • What advice would you give someone wanting to enter your field?
    • On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the most), how much do you enjoy your current work?
    • Do you want to switch your career or field? Why or why not?

Cohort call

Hosts: Emmy, Malvika, Yo

Syllabus: OLS-2 Week-12

During this week’s cohort call, we will discuss:

the designated and emergent nature of Open leadership. We have invited five individuals with different career paths and leadership skills in:

  • community building - Rachael Ainsworth
  • industry/start-up - Natasha Wood
  • academia - Andrew Stewart
  • research funding - Ekin Bolukbasi
  • social entrepreneurship - David Opoku

👋 Roll call

Name (pronouns - optional) / Project / social handles (twitter - t, GitHub - gh, etc.) / emoji mood

  • Yo Yehudi / OLS 💚 / g: yochannah t: yoyehudi
  • Malvika / OLS / t+gh: malvikasharan
  • Emmy Tsang / TU Delft / t emmy_ft g emmyft
  • Pradeep Eranti (he/him)/ Open platform for Indian Bioinformatics community / t: @pradeeperanti
  • Stephen Klusza (he/him)/Synthetic Biology Chassis for Public Domain Use/ t: @codebiologist/ ⚰️
  • Markus Löning (he/him) / sktime - a unified framework for ML with time series / twitter: @mloning_, GH: @mloning
  • Eva Herbst (she/her) -FEZ - Finite element Zurich / twitter: @EvaCHerbst GH:@evaherbst
  • Kate Simpson (she/her) An open protocol for evaluating retrofit to decarbonise homes t: @DrKateSimpson g: @KateSimpson 🤗 (to try addressing the international hug shortage, a tiny bit!)
  • Karega Pauline (she/her)/The-Hub-Portal/ twitter:@KaregaP/ GH:@karegapauline
  • Rachael Ainsworth (she, her) / Software Sustainability Institute (SSI) / t: @rachaelevelyn, gh: @rainsworth
  • David Beavan (he/him) / The Alan Turing Institute / @DavidBeavan 💥
  • Bailey Harrington / Chronic Learning / @baileythegreen, @ChronicLearning
  • Arielle Bennett (she,her) / Alan Turing Institute / @biotechchat
  • Kendra Oudyk (she/her) / Open Science Office Hours / t: @koudyk_, gh: @koudyk / ⏰⚡
  • Georgia Aitkenhead (she/her) / Alan Turing Institute / GeorgiaHCA / 🤗
  • Sophia Batchelor / The Turing Way Ethics Guide / t: @brainonsilicon
  • Peter van Heusden (he/him) / RSSE.Africa / t: @pvanheus
  • Laura Carter (she/her) / Turing Way - Ethics Guide / @laurac_rter / 🤧
  • Camila Rangel Smith (she/her) / The Alan Turing Institute/ @camilarangels
  • Emma Karoune/ Open Science in Phytolith research/ t: @ekaroune
  • Paul Owoicho / Embedding Accessibility in the Turing Way Open Source Guidance / twitter: @ogbonokopaul github: @paulowoicho
  • Samuel Guay / He/him / Open Science UMontreal / @OSUMontreal
  • Neha Moopen (she, her) / Embedding Accessibility in the Turing Way Open Source Guidance / T: @NehaMoopen, GH: @nehamoopen
  • Joyce Kao/Open innovation in life sciences/Twitter, GH: joyceykao/

🍧 Icebreaker question

How would your 5-year-old self have finished this sentence? “When I grow up, I want to be …”?

  • Name / answer
  • Yo / Ballerina 😆 I never even did ballet, it just… seemed the most logical thing at the time? Kate: 😆 - love that you never even did ballet :)
  • Malvika / A nanotechnologist (i did not know what that meant) - also I used to think that singing was an easy thing!
  • Stephen / a cowboy and an aerospace engineer
  • Arielle / “A joyrider” much to the embarrassment of my parents at the holiday resort where I was asked the question Kate: ahaha :)
  • Markus / a formula 1 driver
  • Rachael / a mermaid, I’m pretty sure.
  • Emmy / i wanted to be a musical composer at some point… was addicted to Phantom of the opera
  • Sophia / negotiator with the UN in their biosecurity division
  • Pauline / a soldier; I loved the uniform and the staff they did, especially the flight stunts on special events, fascinating.
  • Bailey: Palaeontologist and archaeologist
  • Kate: Something like a professional den builder I think I would have said
  • Georgia / an egyptologist or fashion designer
  • Laura / an astronaut! Still kind of true although I’m a lot more afraid of flying now.
  • Peter: age 5 was a bit young but a few years later I decided I wanted to be a nuclear physicist (spot the influence of the nuke industry on my science education :) )
  • David B / a pilot. - I remember the days where if you were lucky enough to fly, you could ask nicely to see the pilots on the flight deck * I made friends with the pilot on a trip to the cockpit once (I went to the same school as his daughter, I think?) and got to sit in the jumpseat for the landing and it was awesome - Laura
  • Kendra / a novelist with a pseudonym
  • Neha / don’t remember at all wow, maybe a doctor?
  • Paul / Superman
  • Emma / A Vet or Indiana Jones!
  • Samuel / A skateboarder!!
  • Joyce K/??? A pony, my IRL 5 yaer old, a dinosaur :)
  • Camila / An astronaut or a paleontologist

🗣️ Welcome!

Malvika: (4 mins) [⏰ 4]

Call recording reminder:

  • Please note that this call will be recorded
  • The video will be available on the YouTube channel in the next few days
  • Turn on your webcam if you don’t mind being in the video (or off if you do!)

Participation reminder:

🖥 Introduction talks (5 mins each)

[Host: Emmy] Community building - Rachael Ainsworth: Slides

[Host: Malvika] Industry/start-up - Natasha Wood: Slides

[Host: Yo] Academia - Andrew Stewart: Slides

[Host: Yo] Research Funding - Ekin Bolukbasi: Slides

[Host: Emmy] Social entrepreneurship - David Opoku: Slides

Notes and resources from the talks:

  • The Center for Scientific Collaboration and Community Engagement (CSCCE) is a research and training center to support and study the emerging field of scientific community engagement. https://www.cscce.org/

Panel discussion: Open Q & A

  • What are the collaboration workshops for? What kind of topics are discussed?
    • Collaborative event for research software engineers, open software/source enthusiasts
    • The main goal of the Collaborations Workshop series is to bring together all members of the research software community (researchers, software developers, funders, policy makers, educators, managers, open enthusiasts) to discuss and collaborate to solve current issues and shape the future of research software.
    • Our themes for 2021 are FAIR Research Software, Diversity and Inclusion, and Software Sustainability
    • It’s an unconference event, so we have interactive sessions such as discussion groups, collaborative ideas, mini-workshops and a hackathon (in addition to keynotes, a panel, and lightning talks)
    • We have calls for participant-led mini-workshops and social activities
    • You can read about some of the topics that were discussed in 2020 here: https://software.ac.uk/tags/cw20-speed-blog-posts
  • Kate: Thanks Rachael! How easy did you find the shift in career and do you still get involved in research as well, or are you happy to leave that behind?
    • Very motivated to shift the astrophysics field culture - still connected to the research community and driving change by working closely with researchers in working groups, etc 🌷
    • I should add that it took me a long time to pluck up the courage to leave research, but once I saw the job advert for the community manager position, I realised that it was exactly what I wanted to do so it was much easier to make the shift once that lightbulb turned on. 💡 (But I still keep one foot in the research world, because one of my goals was to help shift research culture to be more open and inclusive.)
  • Q for Natasha: How do you reconcile the startup world (especially starting from a “patent this” point of view that implies locking down IP) with collaboration & openness? +1, was curious too :)
    • Malvika So sorry folks, I seem to have missed this question :/ I will share this question with her and share the response with you.
    • natasha Good question. This is something we thought about a lot (and still do! :) ) . While some of the underlying algorithms are not open source, the solution itself is accessible to far more people than it would have been if we had remained a research lab. So the opportunity to have this impact, especially with HIV resistance testing, was a big part of the thought process.
  • For Andrew:
    • Do you think hiring practices are starting to recognise the efforts towards open science?
      • A: yes, some universities explicitly ask for open science contributions when hiring - the landscape is changing.
  • For David: how do you identify what you’re good at? * Try! Experiment and it will tell you what you’re not good at - be open to feedback and build relationship with people who will give you honest feedback
  • For David: In a team where we are all the same in title or on paper, and pigeonholed. How can we be individual? * E.g. in the data science team, people will still have their expertise and skills - figure out ways to leverage each other's skills in a diverse team. Identify other hobbies and interest in life outside work, bring those into your work! Watch out for comments like “you’re too organised” or you “laugh in adversity”
  • For David and others maybe too: there’s a lot of encouragement to diversify skillset/build secondary skills - when you have one job you specialise in one skill, when you switch jobs, how do you advertise for those secondary skills?
    • Depends on the job that you want to apply to! If it is a job that has a high level overview - they won’t be looking for someone who specialises, but they will want someone who can show interest in different areas, and tackle different problems - “I might not have used it in my latest job, but I have demonstrated interest”
    • When you do startups, they require threshold/fundamental skills (e.g. understanding of how startups work), but then they may not look for specialists. Some jobs don’t only look for experience w/ a certain tool/skill, but the capacity and versatility to learn - look for these jobs! Also more common in small jobs/startups.
    • Last but not least - offer to volunteer to build portfolios in those skills! It will also allow you to gain more contacts and experience in those areas - it at least demonstrates passion in the areas.
    • Demonstrate passion for the thing that you switch into, e.g. didn’t have the exact experience, but already in the community and have the contacts that the job needed

✍️ Reflection exercise

  • Host: Yo, ⏰ 12 mins

👥 Sustaining

Prompt 1: What brought you to your work and to open leadership (feeling/motivation/work)?

  • YOUR NAME - response
  • Peter - I have often worked alone but always used open source tools and honestly being all alone with a challenge is not fun at all. I much prefer solving a problem cooperatively, even if the cooperation is not with people physically present
  • Laura - a belief that most things are better done together: I like the quote (which I think has been shared here before) from Aboriginal activists: “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”
  • Joyce/ I have an innate need to make something new and bring people together to solve a common problem.
  • Camila / I like the idea of creating together something from scratch (in a great multidisciplinary team) that by default would promote the values that we believe in.
  • David B / I enjoy making a difference, discovering something new, and that we are better collaborating than alone
  • Markus / I wanted to work on something more methodological and re-usable during my PhD instead of some application specific software, so I was excited to join a project to build a toolbox and involve other contributors and users in the development
  • Stephen K/ a desire to be a part of a community of scientists who really believe in science for the greater good and that discoveries and failures alike should be visible to everyone at once for lasting impact and faster scientific progress.
    • Yo +1 <3 love this
  • Georgia A/ frustration with hierarchies and perverse incentives - wanting to collaborate and learn instead of compete
  • Curiosity and drive to problem-solve brought me to my work. People and collaborations keep me sane :) I am motivated to do open leadership and share my workflows because I have benefitted so much from other researchers and engineers sharing methods with me.
  • Neha: the broader aspects of research (like the process of starting a project and seeing through to completion, best/good practices in research), and helping people out to achieve their goals + working in teams and collaborating, also independence and freedom to develop and learn along the way…
  • Emmy / so many people (including all the OLS orgs <3) I admire are open leaders - i want to be like them.

Prompt 2: What would you need to maintain that feeling/motivation/work for another 5 years?

  • YOUR NAME - response
  • Money. :) I feel like I spent a big % of my time trying to chase money for me and the people I have recruited. Beyond that, I’d like to be part of a bigger team (bigger than 1 or 2)
  • Joyce/ Funding… +1
  • A supportive work environment and meaningful projects (personally meaningful)
  • David B / I like seeing things through and at the same time creating something new to fill that gap when it’s over, there is a constant renewal and lifecycle I need to keep going and a role that gives me that opportunity. Lovely colleagues with open minds, oh and cash money
  • Laura - funding! Mentorship. A team. A broader community. Time to think. +1
  • Supportive collaborations, being able to continue learning but also teach others what I learn, being able to complete projects (build my models, learn methods, answer research questions). Definitely agree with stability being important, and trying to deal with publication pressure is not something that makes me motivated
  • Neha: job security first and foremost - I’ve always been on temporary contracts or dealing with visa uncertainties - would be great to just be settled and dedicate myself to the job without fear of losing it, but also a nice collaborative spirit/environment, interesting topics/projects, opportunities to keep learning and developing, a sense of achievement/success from your outputs, feeling appreciated now and then..
  • Georgia A / Stability - having a dependable source of work and income * +1 to this - Laura
  • Stephen K/supportive working environment and future meetings of OLS cohort alumni to keep in touch with everyone

Prompt 3: What would you need to keep doing to maintain that feeling/motivation/work for the rest of your career?

  • YOUR NAME - response
  • It’s really hard to say… honestly I am quite anxious about work at the moment as there is a lot of pressure to be good at everything and the constant financial uncertainty is not fair on my kids… as a not-so-young person working in a research environment its not clear how to improve things for myself & my family though.
  • Flexible working (holidays, mental health days, a trust based environment) * +2 YESSSSSS * Yes I agree!
  • Georgia A / + 1 to flexible working 100%
  • Laura - funding, mentorship, a team (I think what I need for the next 5 years is also what I need for the rest of my career), a community, time and space to think
  • Camila/ Keep working in collaboration with great people.
  • Stephen K/ being able to take more time off with the goal of actually being more productive and being able to trust colleagues and lab partners who are there for the same reasons as I am - to advance science and not be interested in research for ego validation
  • Joyce/ A stable-ish income source….
  • David B / trying new things, if in doubt say yes. +1
  • Neha: the same as my previous answer? Income and security, but also just growing into the job – trying out new things, learning new things, working with different people and interesting projects, perhaps with seniority you can also shape the field with your peers, become a nice mentor in the field, and a nice work-life balance of course!
  • An academia environment where there is less focus on impact factor of journals!
    • +1

Shared notes, comments, reflection

  • YOUR NAME - response
  • I’d be very interested to hear from people who have had mentors, especially mentors that have guided their work path… in my country this is not really a thing

Insights and specific point you would like to share

  • David B / I don’t think I’ve ever been the obvious candidate for any job I’ve got. I think difference and other experiences are what make you stand out. Don’t hide that.

🗣️ Closing

Next calls

Graduation calls:

Feedback

What worked?

  • Really great range of experiences and journeys in open science shared. I found it very encouraging :) - gave me lots to think about and a sense of possibility

What didn’t work?

What would you change?

What surprised you?

Reference: Open leadership Framework, Mozilla Open Leaders 6 & 7, Open Life Science 1 License: CC BY 4.0, Open Life Science (OLS-2), 2020

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