Episode 3- Open Research- Prof Sabina Leonelli (Professor of Philosophy and History of Science)

Prof. Sabina Leonelli (Professor of Philosophy and History of Science) talks to Dr Chris Tibbs, Research Data Officer at University of Exeter about open research, the use of Artificial Intelligence in research, and the importance of understanding the diversity of research environments when implementing open research practices.

Podcast transcript

Chris Tibbs: Hello and welcome. I'm Dr Chris Tibbs and I'm the University Research Data Officer, part of the open research team based in the library here at the University of Exeter. My role involves providing support for researchers across the university as they work with and manage their research data, and today I have the pleasure to be joined by Professor Sabina Leonelli, a Professor of Philosophy and History of Science at the University of Exeter. So welcome, Sabina. Just to start, would you like to tell us a little bit about the research area that you work in?

Sabina Leonelli: Thank you and hello everyone. So, I'm interested in the dynamics of research and research processes. Why is it that people who work in science use the methods that they use, handle data in particular ways, decide to publish in particular ways? Why do they choose certain research goals, and how does that occur historically but also conceptually? And what are the social implications of those choices?

Chris Tibbs: That's very interesting. So you're really looking at these sort of different approaches and the different methodologies that different researchers are taking and that's very interesting because obviously different research areas will have different approaches and methodologies that they use. Now one thing that I noticed that you're very interested in, based on your web profile, is obviously open science and openness in research, and the European Commission and the United Nations, among others, all use this term of open science and just so that everyone listening is clear, open science is the approach to research based on openness and co-operative working, and it really emphasises the sharing of knowledge, results and the tools as widely as possible. But I just wanted to point out also that obviously these approaches can apply to all research disciplines, not just science. And so, for example, we are the open research team. And so, I tend to regard open research and open science as synonymous. So, I just wanted to get your take on this, Sabina. Do you see these as separate terms, or do you use them interchangeably?

Sabina Leonelli: I also tend to use them interchangeably, but I think it is very unfortunate that it’s the term open science that has gotten so much mileage in the English language because in the English language we are aware of the fact that it does tend to be taken to refer to the natural sciences, more rarely to the social sciences, and never to the humanities and the arts. And this is different for lots of other languages. I mean, most, I guess famously the term wissenschaft in German tends to encompass all of the research domains, including humanities and the arts. I’m very partial to that, partly because I think that we're in a moment where research is so interdisciplinary and the boundaries between domains are so blurred, that actually making strict distinctions between what counts as a humanist approach, and what counts as a natural science approach, or a mathematical approach is becoming more and more difficult. As of course in history it has been very difficult throughout. So yeah, so I'm very partial to the use of the idea of open research in English, but of course we tend to use a lot the term open science too, because this is, as you were saying, very well recognised by policymakers and by funding bodies and a lot of people working in academia more generally.

Chris Tibbs: OK. Well, thank you for explaining that. And again, the reason I just wanted to confirm this is because I want to ensure that everyone listening can be clear that what we mean by the term open science and that they don't feel that this doesn't apply to them, maybe because they don't see themselves as a scientist. So that's what I just wanted to clear up, and so that these practises do apply to all disciplines. Now moving on. Sabina, you hold many different roles and one in particular that I would like to mention is that you are the theme lead for the data governance, openness and ethics strand of the Exeter Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. So, given this particular role, I'd really be interested to hear your thoughts on how you feel artificial intelligence can play a role in the research process, and particularly around openness and the open research.

Sabina Leonelli: Yes, thank you. So, I guess openness lies at the heart of what it means to do research, no matter how you look at it, right. I mean, doing research basically means trying to answer a certain question, trying to solve a problem that you may have encounte