Open Science at the HBI
Collaboration. Information Sharing. Research Progress
HBI and the Tanenbaum Open Science Institute
The University of Calgary’s Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI) is the first to partner with McGill University's Tanenbaum Open Science Institute (TOSI) and The Neuro in a commitment to adopting Open Science approaches across its research and innovation efforts. This major endeavour is supported by a $2M commitment from the Tanenbaum Open Science Institute and the Larry & Judy Tanenbaum Family Foundation.
HBI and TOSI partner on Open Science approach to research
Dr. Richard Frayne, Deputy Director of HBI, explains open science
What is Open Science?
Open Science principles encourage the global scientific community to collaborate and share information, infrastructure and tools towards the goal of greater discovery and cooperation.
Diseases of the brain are among the most complex to understand and difficult to treat. Traditional research practices aren’t always sufficient to produce truly effective and novel treatments for most neurological diseases. An Open Science approach to brain research facilitates wide collaboration and information sharing to accelerate the pace of discovery and bring solutions more quickly to patients with neurological disorders.
The Hotchkiss Brain Institute thanks Larry Tanenbaum and the Larry and Judy Tanenbaum Family Foundation for their support of this important initiative.
Benefits
Open Science allows for diverse discovery, which will lead to more impactful research in brain and mental health.
Five Principles
As part of the agreement to participate in Open Science, HBI adheres to the following five principles. These principles guide all research conducted using HBI resources.
The HBI and its members will release positive and negative research findings, including observations, models used, data sources, reagents, algorithms, software, and other scientific resources. This research data shall be made publicly available no later than the publication date of the first article that relies on these data or resources. The HBI recognizes and prioritizes the responsibility of its members to safeguard the dignity and privacy of research participants and respect the rights and duties owed to them through the informed consent process.
All research data and scientific resources generated through investigator-initiated research partnerships that are supported by the HBI – whether with commercial, philanthropic, or public sector stakeholders – are to be released on the same basis as set out in Principle 1, unless a contractual agreement requires that the release of data from a given project be delayed. In such cases, the project data shall be made public as soon as all contractual obligations (such as review by the partner) are satisfied. Partners shall be informed and agree to the HBI’s Open Science Principles at the outset of joint investigator-initiated research ventures
The HBI leads knowledge creation and innovation through the support of its Brain and Mental Health Teams and NeuroTechnology Platforms. Open Science, as set out in these Principles, will be supported by these HBI Teams and Platforms in so far as their activities are supported by the HBI.
The HBI and its members respect and support the need to translate research discoveries to improving human health. However, the institute will ensure intellectual property and patent concerns do not hinder the HBI Open Science Principles.
The HBI supports the autonomy of its stakeholders - including but not limited to: researchers, staff, trainees and participants - through recognizing their right to decline to participate in research and associated activities under an Open Science framework.
General FAQ
Open Science in the context of brain and mental health, is the open sharing of research data, either as it is conducted or once completed. Open science is access to the raw data as well as conclusions drawn, for other institutes to interpret and use as support for their own research projects. Open Science allows for research collaboration at a data level and speeds up new research. It also has the potential for impact across a much more broad population over a shorter period of time.
Open science means that research discoveries can be correlated more quickly, and data sets can be evaluated by multiple different parties, which adds to the reliability of research conclusions and expedites new research discoveries by allowing researchers to easily build off of research done by other parties.
At the moment, the Tanenbaum Open Science Institute out of McGill University, and the Hotchkiss Brain Institute are the only two neuroscience organizations committed to Open Science
Research FAQ
Open Science provides the opportunity for your research to inform and support further research in similar fields, faster and with impact on a scale that is broader than it might be otherwise. This allows research to have the potential to progress more quickly with less duplication and greater collaboration.
The HBI acknowledges the autonomy of its stakeholders - including but not limited to: researchers, staff, trainees and participants - through recognizing their right to decline to participate in research and associated activities conducted under an Open Science framework. That said, any HBI research Teams or Platforms supported by the HBI will endeavour to support Open Science principles insofar as their activities are supported by HBI. See Principle 5.
To learn more about how TOSI is promoting Open Science across Canadian neuroscience research, visit their webpage here.