Blogs
This page predominantly features blogs from NORF-funded research projects and initiatives, along with workshop summary reports.

Highlights from QSA*Net: May Events
The month of May was a busy one for the QSA*Net NORF-funded project, with three workshops engaging both national and international audiences and aimed at strengthening practices around Qualitative Secondary Analysis (QSA). Workshop at RUN-EU: Building Skills in QSA On...

NORF TROPIC winter school: Advancing open research practices
The NORF TROPIC winter school was a resounding success! Hosted from 27–29 January at Maynooth University by Dr Dermot Lynott, principal investigator of TROPIC and lead researcher Dr Dounia Lakhzoum, this dynamic event united researchers across disciplines and career...

Blog: ‘Standardising Funder Identifiers to ROR’
Read the recent University of Galway Library blog post by Dr Cillian Joy, Head of Open and Digital Research at the University of Galway Library, and member of the PID Task Force who helped prepare Ireland’s National Persistent Identifier (PID) Strategy...

Project update: Pilot Training on Responsible Use of Research Metrics (RURM)
This blog post by Dr Colleen Thomas, Research Culture & Engagement Manager at University College Dublin (UCD), gives an update on the Pilot Training on Responsible Use of Research Metrics (RURM) project which is supported by the NORF Open Research Fund 2023...

‘Reform of Research Assessment: Impact on Doctoral Students’ Workshop summary
Event illustration by artist Beth McComish On Tuesday, 5 November 2024, the Higher Education Authority (HEA), National Research Integrity Forum (NRIF), together with the National Open Research Forum (NORF), the National Framework for Doctoral Education (NFDE) Advisory...

NORF All Projects Workshop 2024 summary
On 25 October 2024, the National Open Research Forum (NORF) hosted a meeting with the nineteen NORF-funded open research projects at the Royal Irish Academy (RIA), Dublin.This event, which was predominantly in person, focused on progressing selected action areas...

QSA*Net co-host event on Open Research Initiatives
On 22 October 2024, during Maynooth University’s Research Week, the NORF-funded project QSA*Net: Promoting Open Research in Qualitative Social Science co-hosted a hybrid event titled 'Current Open Research Initiatives at Maynooth University'. The recording is...

Engaging with Your Community to Effect Change: An Irish Case Study
The below case study is by Alice Meadows, a co-founder of the MoreBrains Cooperative. It was published in the Scholarly Kitchen on 3 October 2024. This case study coincides with ‘Interoperability, Openness, and Impact - Recommendations and Roadmap for an Irish...

Connecting the evidence-for-policy and open research agendas
In this blog Patrice McCormack and Ian Marder of the NORF funded project, Embedding a culture of interdisciplinary open research in Ireland’s criminal justice sector through a national Researcher-Practitioner/Policymaker Partnership, report on the conference, “What next for Irish Public Policy Development?”, at ILAS Auditorium, University of Galway, 28 May 2024.

Department of Justice hosts agenda-setting CORD Partnership workshop
In this blog, Ian Marder of the NORF funded project, Embedding a culture of interdisciplinary open research in Ireland’s criminal justice sector through a national Researcher-Practitioner/Policymaker Partnership, reports on the Criminal justice Open Research Dialogue (CORD) Partnership’s third workshop of 2024, held at the Department of Justice on 11 July 2024.

ABOARD Self-Assessment Survey for Researchers: Summary Report
ABOARD are delighted to present the Summary Report of the ABOARD Self-Assessment Survey for Researchers in Ireland in relation to researchers' openness to and appetite for change in relation to Open Research and Responsible Research Assessment practices. The survey...

PublishOA Landscape Report Launched
On Tuesday, 10 June 2025, the PublishOA Landscape Report was officially launched at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin. The event provided an opportunity for participants to explore the report’s findings, discuss the future of scholarly publishing in Ireland, and...

Data hoarding: A necessity for ECRs?
At the recent Research Evaluation in the Humanities and Social Sciences Conference (RESSH2025) Conference, Dr. Lai Ma presented a thought-provoking paper titled "Data Hoarding: A Necessity for Early-Career Researchers?" The study explores the growing tension between...

Creative Methods in Open Research: Using Zines to Support Collective Intelligence
At a recent ENGAGED workshop supported by the National Open Research Forum, Dr. Autumn Brown introduced the use of zines—small, handmade booklets—as a creative method for capturing insights into open research practices. Zines, often associated with grassroots and...

ROCHE: Exploring Public-Private Partnerships and Open Research
The NORF-funded Review of Open Research in Health Ecosystems (ROCHE) project is currently exploring practices, challenges, and opportunities related to Open Research in the context of commercialisable research in Ireland, with a focus on the evolving area of Connected...