The Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) is the coordinating body for the National Open Research Forum (NORF), the driving force behind the open research agenda in Ireland. Since 2022, DRI has supported NORF in administering the NORF Open Research Fund provided by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) to deliver the actions outlined in the National Action Plan for Open Research 2022-2030. Read on for a round-up of some of the recent NORF activities that have been delivered with the support of DRI, as well as the latest open research news.
News
Save the date: National Open Research Festival 2025
Ireland’s annual National Open Research Festival (NORFest) will be held at the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin on 6–7 November 2025. Additional details will be shared in the coming weeks, so be sure to save the dates!
Sign up to the NORF monthly newsletter to stay updated on the latest NORFest news, as well as announcements, events, and other news from NORF and its associated research projects and initiatives.
Take a look back at NORFest 2023.
NORF welcomes revised National Policy Statement on Ensuring Research Integrity in Ireland
The revised National Policy Statement on Ensuring Research Integrity in Ireland, published by the National Research Integrity Forum (NRIF) in December 2024, aligns with national and EU policies, including Ireland’s National Action Plan for Open Research 2022–2030, prepared by NORF under Impact 2030: Ireland’s Research and Innovation Strategy to guide the development of open research policies in Ireland.
The statement highlights key principles from the National Action Plan which underline the importance of good research data management across all stages of the research process and recommend the use of Data Management Plans (DMPs) by researchers and research teams, along with the adoption of the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) data principles in Ireland.
Read more about the Policy Statement on the NORF website.
NORF supports the Health Research Board’s new Open Access Policy
NORF is pleased to see that the Health Research Board (HRB) Open Access policy has moved to ‘full and immediate Open Access’, keeping in line with the international drive to reform the approach to publishing research. It applies to peer-reviewed research articles, conference proceedings and review articles. Read about the new HRB Open Access policy on the HRB website.
NORF-funded project lead Dr Lai Ma awarded prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant
Congratulations to Dr Lai Ma, Associate Professor at School of Information and Communication Studies at University College Dublin (UCD) and project lead of the NORF–funded initiative Cultivating An Open Research Culture In The Humanities And Social Sciences who has been awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant for her project, ‘Sustainable and Collaborative Research Information for Bibliodiverse Ecosystems: A Transnational Study (SCRiBe)’.
The project will critically examine the conceptualisation of ‘open’ in the open access movement, as well as boundaries, limitations, and exceptions in the development of open research infrastructure since the late 1990s. By exploring the development of open research infrastructure from a transnational perspective, this project aims to identify the constraints that hinder the growth of bibliodiversity in three different geographical regions: Europe, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa.
News from NORF-funded projects
The Criminal Justice Open Research Dialogue (CORD) Partnership
In January 2025, the CORD Partnership published An Agenda for the CORD Partnership, 2025-2026. The Agenda outlines several actions that the partnership will lead in the coming years to embed a culture of interdisciplinary open research in criminal justice in Ireland.
Read more and download the Agenda on the NORF website.
In December 2024, the CORD Partnership published two documents outlining the work undertaken by the group to embed a culture of open research in criminal justice in Ireland. First, 58 CORD partners representing 32 organisations published an article ‘Embedding a culture of interdisciplinary open research in criminal justice: A new partnership for Ireland’ in the Irish Probation Journal (Vol. 21).
Second, Dr Ian Marder (Associate Professor in Criminology, Maynooth University and Chair of the CORD Partnership Implementation Group) published a working paper ‘Learning from Crime and Policing Research Partnerships in England and Scotland’ based on recent visits to a number of research centres and partnerships in the UK.
Read more and access the documents on the NORF website.
The CORD partnership received funding from NORF under the 2023 Open Research Fund.
Sonraí Irish Data Stewardship Network launches two pivotal reports
Led by University College Cork (UCC), the Sonraí Irish Data Stewardship Network is a two-year project funded under the NORF 2022 Open Research Fund, focused on developing data stewardship skills and fostering recognition of the role in Ireland’s research landscape. Research data stewardship is the core enabler of engagement with FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) and Open Data, effective data management and reduction in research waste. As the role of data steward grows in importance, the need for professionalisation and tailored learning pathways has become critical.
Over the past two years, Sonraí has engaged in broad consultation across the research community. Their work has culminated in two important reports: Professionalisation of Research Data Stewardship in Ireland and Data Stewardship Training: Current Landscape and Community Insight.
NORF commends the Sonraí project partners for their work on these reports.
MOSS-I project releases ‘Framework for Managing University Open Source Software’
Congratulations to the Managing Open Source Software in Irish Universities (MOSS-I) project on the recent publishing of a ‘Framework for Managing University Open Source Software’. This document serves as a comprehensive guide for universities looking to develop or refine an open source software framework. It provides the foundational knowledge and tools needed to create an environment that supports open source that is aligned with the unique needs and goals of each institution. The project welcomes feedback on the document via the MOSS–I project repository.
The MOSS–I project received funding from NORF under the 2023 Open Research Fund.
Events and opportunities
Call for contributions: Workshop on Open Citations & Open Scholarly Metadata (WOOC), 28–29 May 2025
Researchers, scholarly publishers, funders, policymakers, institutions, and advocates of open citations are invited to attend, participate in, and/or contribute to the Workshop on Open Citations and Open Scholarly Metadata (WOOC) 2025, which will be held at the University of Bologna in Bologna, Italy. This year’s event will focus on the theme ‘Open Access of Research Information.’ The deadline for participation in WOOC is 31 January 2025.
For more information on the selection criteria and submission guidelines, please visit the event website.
Call for submissions for RESSH2025 Conference, 19–21 May 2025
Join the Research Evaluation in Social Sciences and Humanities (RESSH2025) conference organised by the international association ENRESSH (European Network for Research Evaluation in the SSH) in Helsinki, Finland. This event focuses on the evolving landscape of research evaluation in the social sciences, humanities, and arts (SSH).
Abstracts for paper presentations and posters, addressing a wide range of topics, are welcomed until Friday, 31 January 2025. See the submission details and register to attend the event online.
National Open Source Innovation Summit, 7 February 2025
Join the National Open Source Innovation Summit, hosted by Open Ireland Network, which brings together government, business, and academia to explore the power of open source in shaping our nation’s future. The event takes place on Friday, 7 February 2025, 9 a.m.–5.30 p.m at the Alex Hotel, Dublin. View event details and register online
Save the Date for Love Data Week: 10–14 February 2025
Join Love Data Week 2025, hosted by the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). This year’s theme, “Whose Data Is It, Anyway?”, will delve into important topics like data sovereignty, governance, and the ethics of data sharing.
Are you interested in hosting an event or activity? Visit the official Love Data Week homepage to learn how you can get involved.
FAIRfest: Celebrating advancements of FAIR solutions in EOSC, 20–21, February 2025
FAIR-IMPACT and FAIRCORE4EOSC partners invite the broad European research community to FAIRfest in The Hague, The Netherlands. The festival celebrates advancements of FAIR solutions in the European open science research landscape.
View event details and register online
Other news
SCOSS launches its sixth pledging round to support Open Science infrastructures
Having helped raise more than 6.4 million euros for open science infrastructures, the Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (SCOSS) has launched its sixth pledging round.
After a rigorous evaluation process, SCOSS has chosen four new organisations which it will support in raising funds to sustain their future: African Journals Online (AJOL), Episciences, Make Data Count, and SciPost. SCOSS encourage you to consider contributing to one or more of these organisations, as their future depends on community support.
Read more about how to pledge on the SCOSS website.
NORF is funded by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research and Innovation and Science through the Higher Education Authority (HEA). It is coordinated by the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI), which is headquartered under the legal entity of the Royal Irish Academy.
