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Top 10 datasets by altmetric score all metrics, data relay over the andes by henry lee.

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Data visualization by cory m grenier.

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Idaho national library.

The Truth is in There by Jer Thorp

The data.bris Research Data Repository

The University of Bristol’s mission is to pursue and share knowledge and understanding, both for their own sake and to help individuals and society fulfil their potential. The University is research-intensive, supporting both individual scholarship and interdisciplinary or thematic research of the highest quality. The Research Data Repository offers a means for Bristol’s researchers to share research data openly, with the world.

The Repository is managed by the University of Bristol Research Data Service and builds on the £2 million investment made in the Research Data Storage Facility, managed by the Advanced Computing Research Centre .

If you have a question relating to the reuse of a deposited dataset please contact the Research Data Service team .

The Faculty of Arts is internationally renowned for its research activity. The unique combination...

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Research Data Service

University of Bristol

Research Data Management and Open Data Policy

Approved by: Senate, at its meeting on 19th October 2015. For a PDF version of this document please visit Research Data Management and Open Data Policy .

1. The University of Bristol recognises research data [1] as a valuable institutional asset to be managed in line with RCUK Common Principles on Data Policy [2] . Good research data management enables research data to be securely stored, shared where appropriate, allows the verification of findings and supports digital preservation. In addition, the University acknowledges the role that good research data management can play in underpinning and realising its vision to be recognised globally for the quality of its research.

2. The purpose of this Policy is to provide guidance and support on the responsibilities of the University and its staff in managing and preserving current or future research data. Consideration will also be given to legacy outputs that have value to the University.

Ownership of Data

3. In general the following principles apply:

Where research is carried out under a grant or contract, the terms of the agreement will determine ownership and rights to exploit the data;

Where no external contract exists, the University normally has ownership of primary data generated in the course of research undertaken by researchers in its employment;

The University does not automatically own student Intellectual Property (IP), although in some circumstances students may be required to assign IP to the University. For example, where research is carried out under third-party contract or funding or where the data is produced under third party contract or funding and /or with the significant involvement of University employees. [ more info ]

Policy Scope and Definitions

4. This policy applies to all research conducted by University staff and postgraduate research students (PGRs) regardless of whether or not the research is externally funded. The policy does not currently apply to taught postgraduate students or undergraduates (apart from in exceptional circumstances).

5. Research data is defined as “Data, or units of information which are created in the course of funded or unfunded research, and often arranged or formatted in such a way as to make them suitable for communication, interpretation, and processing.” Examples of research data may include a spreadsheet of statistics, a sound recording of an interview, a descriptive record of a rock specimen or a collection of digital images. [ more info ]

6. A Data Steward is an employee of the University of Bristol who has responsibility for ensuring the proper administration, oversight and security of a dataset generated in the course of their research. The Data Steward may often also be the Principal Investigator (PI) for the research but in some projects data management responsibility may be passed on to another member of the team. If the Data Steward leaves the University they must ensure that they have passed on stewardship for the research data before they leave the organisation (this might involve moving the ownership and responsibility to another institution). Please see paragraph 18 for more information. [ more info ]

Researcher Responsibilities

7. The Principal Investigator (PI)/ Data Steward of a project has ultimate responsibility for research data management and should ensure that a Data Management Plan is written before the research commences. Data Management Plan guidance for specific funders is available from the University’s Research Data Service website [3] . In practice the day-to-day management of research data may be shared with other researchers involved in a project. [ more info ]

8. Researchers should take into account any likely costs for storing and managing their research data during the lifetime of the project. The time and cost for storage and management should be explicitly written into research applications, including instances where data will need to be made publicly available or curated for many years beyond the project lifetime. [ more info ]

9. Researchers should ensure that research data is stored with appropriate security. [ more info ]

10. Researchers must ensure that they abide by licences or terms of use when using or sharing third party data. [ more info ]

11. The interests of the research participants must be considered at all times, in line with the University’s information security policies [4] and Ethics of Research Policy and Procedure [5] . [ more info ]

12. Researchers are encouraged to publish data in an appropriate digital format (i.e. non-proprietary) wherever possible, in order to facilitate data re-use. [ more info ]

13. Researchers should record significant primary research datasets through the University’s research information system (Pure). [ more info ]

14. Upon completion of a significant phase of research activity, research data that a Data Steward feels underpins a published research output or will be of wider use to the research community should be deposited in the University's Research Data Repository (or other repository) in a form suitable for long-term retention and, where possible, wider publication. [ more info ]

15. Researchers should ensure that published research outputs include a statement on how to access any supporting data. [ more info ]

16. Except where this is a condition of a grant or contract, exclusive rights to research data must not assigned, licenced or otherwise transferred to external parties.

17. Where research is conducted in collaboration with external research partners, the researcher should work with the Contracts team in RED [6] to ensure that suitable agreements for the ownership and use of research data are established and agreed in writing by the parties concerned before the project starts. [ more info ]

18. If the PI leaves the University either during the course of the Research or after its completion, they must pass on the stewardship of any research data created during their employment before their departure, which may include transfer to their next institution where agreed by all parties. In the absence of an agreed successor for the data the stewardship will devolve upwards to the Heads of School or Faculty Dean. [ more info ]

Postgraduate Research Student and Supervisor Responsibilities

19. It is the responsibility of postgraduate research (PGR) students and their supervisors to ensure that data management is planned and documented at the outset of the research project. A generic Data Management Planning template for PGR students is available to help guide this process. [ more info ]

20. It is the responsibility of both the student and their supervisor to ensure that any third party funded research data is passed on to their supervisor before the student leaves the University. [ more info ]

The University’s Responsibilities

21. The University provides a secure Research Data Storage Facility that researchers are strongly encouraged to use. A limited amount of free storage is available to Data Stewards, although a charge may be incurred for larger deposits. [ more info ]

22. The University will preserve and provide access to research data, beyond the duration of a research activity and in accordance with specific retention requirements. [ more info ]

23. The University provides a research data repository to allow researchers to openly publish their data. [ more info ]

24. The University Research Data Repository also provides methods and procedures for controlled access to restricted data for approved external researchers. [ more info ]

25. The University provides advice and support to researchers involved with data management planning. [ more info ]

26. The University offers training and guidance to researchers actively involved with the creation and management of research data. [ more info ]

27. The University offers support to researchers in the process of depositing research data in the University's Research Data Repository or appropriate external data service. [ more info ]

Relationship with Existing Policies

28. This policy should be read in conjunction with the University’s other policies and guidelines, such as:

• Research Governance and Integrity Policy
• University Ethics Policy and Procedure
• Data Protection Guidance
• Freedom of Information Guidance
• Information Security Policy
• UOB Open Access Policy
• Policy for the use of the Research Data Facility
• Intellectual Property Policy for Students

[1] For definition of this and other terms please visit http://www.dcc.ac.uk/digital-curation/glossary [2] UKRI Common Principles on Data Policy https://www.ukri.org/funding/information-for-award-holders/data-policy/common-principles-on-data-policy/ [3] http://www.bristol.ac.uk/staff/researchers/data/writing-a-data-management-plan/ [4] http://www.bristol.ac.uk/infosec/policies/ [5] http://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/red/documents/research-governance/Ethics_Policy_v8_03-07-19.pdf [6] http://www.bristol.ac.uk/red/contracts/

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Open Research at Bristol

Blog of the University of Bristol Library Research Support Team and the Bristol Reproducibility Network

Using Synthetic Datasets to Promote Research Reproducibility and Transparency

By Dan Major-Smith

Scientific best practice is moving towards increased openness, reproducibility and transparency, with data and analysis code increasingly being publicly available alongside published research. In conjunction with other changes to the traditional academic system – including pre-registration/Registered Reports, better research methods and statistics training, and altering the current academic incentive structures – these shifts are intended to improve trust, reproducibility and rigour in science .

Making data and code openly available can improve trust and transparency in research by allowing others to replicate and interrogate published results. This means that the published results can be independently verified, and can even help spot potential errors in analyses such as in this and this high-profile examples. In these cases, because data and code were open, errors could be spotted and the scientific record corrected. It is impossible to know how many papers without associated publicly available data and/or code suffer from similar issues. Because of this, journals are increasingly mandating both the data and code sharing, with the BMJ being a recent example . As another bonus, if data and code are available, readers can test out potentially new analysis methods, improving statistical literacy.

Despite these benefits and the continued push towards data sharing, many researchers still do not openly share their data. While this varies by discipline, with predominantly experimental fields such as Psychology having higher rates of data sharing, there is plenty of room for improvement. In the Medical and Health Sciences, for instance, a recent meta-analysis estimated that only 8% of research was declared as ‘publicly available’, with only 2% actually being publicly available. The rate of code sharing was even more dire, with less than 0.5% of papers publicly sharing analysis scripts.

Although data sharing should be encouraged wherever possible, there are some circumstances where the raw data simply cannot be made publicly available (although usually the analysis code can). For instance, many studies – and in particular longitudinal population-based studies which collect large amounts of data on large numbers of people for long periods of time – prohibit data sharing for reasons of preserving participant anonymity and confidentiality, data sensitivity, and to ensure that only legitimate researchers are able to access the data.

ALSPAC (the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children; https://www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac/ ), a longitudinal Bristol-based birth cohort housed within the University of Bristol, is one such example. As ALSPAC has data on approximately 15,000 mothers, their partners and their offspring, with over 100,000 variables in total (excluding genomics and other ‘-omics’ data), it has a policy of not allowing data to be released alongside published articles.

These are valid reasons for restricting data sharing, but nonetheless are difficult to square with open science best practices of data sharing. So, if we want to share these kinds of data, what can we do?

One potential solution, which we have recently embedded within ALSPAC, is to release synthetic data, rather than the actual raw data. Synthetic data are modelled on the observed data which maintain both the original distributions of the data (e.g., means, standard deviations, cell counts) and the relationships between variables (e.g., correlations between variables). Importantly, while maintaining the key features of the original data, the data are generated from statistical models, meaning that observations do not correspond to real-life individuals, hence preserving participant anonymity.

These synthetic datasets can then be made publicly available alongside the published paper in lieu of the original data, allowing researchers to:

• Explore the raw (synthetic) data
• Understand the analyses better
• Reproduce analyses themselves

A description of the way in which we generated synthetic data for our work is included in the ‘In depth’  section at the end of this blog post.

While the synthetic data will not be exactly the same as the observed data, making synthetic data openly available does add a further level of openness, accountability and transparency where previously no data would have been available. Further, synthetic datasets can provide a reasonable compromise between the competing demands of promoting data sharing and open-science practices while maintaining control over access to potentially sensitive data.

Given these features, working with the ALSPAC team, we developed a checklist for generating synthetic ALSPAC data . We hope that users of ALSPAC data – and researchers using other datasets which currently prohibit data sharing – make use of this synthetic data approach to help improve research reproducibility and transparency.

So, in short: Share your data! (but if you can’t, share synthetic data).  

Major-Smith et al. (2024). Releasing synthetic data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC): Guidelines and applied examples. Wellcome Open Research, 9, 57. DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.20530.1 – Further details (including references therein) on this approach, specifically applied to releasing synthetic ALSPAC data.

Other resources:

The University Library Services’ guide to data sharing .

The ALSPAC guide to publishing research data , including the ALSPAC synthetic data checklist .

The FAIR data principles – there is a wider trend in funder, publisher and institutional policies towards FAIR data, which may or may not be fully open but which are nevertheless accessible even where circumstances may prevent fully open publication.

Dan Major-Smith is a somewhat-lapsed Evolutionary Anthropologist who now spends most of his time working as an Epidemiologist. He is currently a Senior Research Associate in Population Health Sciences at the University of Bristol, and works on various topics, including selection bias, life course epidemiology and relations between religion, health and behaviour. He is also interested in meta-science/open scholarship more broadly, including the use of pre-registration/Registered Reports, synthetic data and ethical publishing. Outside of academia, he fosters cats and potters around his garden pleading with his vegetables to grow.

In our recent paper , we demonstrate how synthetic data generation methods can be applied using the excellent ‘synthpop’ package in the R programming language. Our example is based on an openly available subset of the ALSPAC data , so that researchers can fully replicate these analyses (with scripts available on a GitHub page ).

There are four main steps when synthesising data, which we demonstrate below, along with example R code (for full details see the paper and associated scripts):

1. After preparing the dataset, create a synthetic dataset, using a seed so that results are reproducible (here we are just using the default ‘classification and regression tree’ method; see the ‘synthpop’ package and documentation for more information)  

2. To minimise the potential disclosure risk, when synthesising ALSPAC data we recommend removing individuals who are uniquely-identified in both the observed and synthetic datasets (in this example, only 4 of the 3,727 observations were removed [0.11%])  

3. Compare the variable distributions between the observed and synthetic data to ensure these are similar (see image below)  

4. Compare the relationships between variables in the observed and synthetic data to check similarity, here using a multivariable logistic regression model to explore whether maternal postnatal depressive symptoms are associated with offspring depression in adolescence (see image below)  

As can be seen, although there are some minor differences between the observed and synthetic data, overall the correspondence is quite high.

GW4 Open Research Prize 2023: Theory of Change (from Research Culture blog)

Read the new blog post by Christopher Warren, Assistant Research Support Librarian, about the GW4 Open Research Prize 2023 on The Research Culture Blog .

A Scholarly Works Policy for the University of Bristol

A new Scholarly Works Policy was approved at the April meeting of Senate. Here we set out the reasons for the policy, what it does, and how it will work.  

Why are we introducing this policy?  

The University is committed to improving research culture and – as part of this – supporting and enabling open research practices. The ability to publish our research Open access, ensuring free and unrestricted access to research outputs, is an essential part of this. Open Access has also become an expectation of research assessment exercises such as the REF, as well as a requirement of many funders (including UKRI and Wellcome).   

Gold Open Access (paying publishers to publish the “version of record” Open Access via Article Processing Charges (APCs) and “transformative agreements”) is well established in many disciplines, but now green Open Access (self-archiving the author manuscript in an institutional repository) is becoming increasingly common.    

The development of a robust green route to Open Access publishing promotes an inclusive research culture by making Open Access publishing available to all, regardless of academic position and current funding, and mitigates the risks of choosing to publish Open Access for individual researchers when navigating a complex publishing landscape.   With most Russell Group Institutions implementing similar policies, it also strengthens our collective hand when negotiating with publishers for Open Access services.   

The University’s new Scholarly Works policy uses the concept of “rights retention” to support authors in choosing to self-archive. With Rights Retention, authors can disseminate their work as widely as possible while also meeting funder and any future REF requirements.  

What is rights retention?  

Traditionally, publishers require that authors sign a Copyright Transfer Agreement. The only way to access the article after publication is to pay for it. Rights Retention is based on the simple principle that authors and institutions should retain some rights to their publications.  

The policy provides a route for researchers to deposit their author accepted manuscript in our institutional repository, and, using a rights retention statement, both retain the rights within their work, and grant the University a licence to make the author accepted manuscript of their scholarly article publicly available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence.   

What does this mean for researchers?  

This policy should not involve a major increase in administrative burden for researchers. There will be very little change to researcher workflows – in fact, as part of the review of workflows Library Services is undertaking, there will be a reduction in the number of steps required for Pure submissions in many cases.   

Library Services will be updating their webpages , guidance, training and instructional videos so that researchers can feel confident about using this policy. If you have questions, comments or feedback, please get in touch because it could be helpful in shaping this guidance. You can contact us by emailing [email protected]

The Uncertain Space: a virtual museum for the University of Bristol

The Uncertain Space is the new virtual museum for the University of Bristol. It is the result of a joint project between Library Research Support and Cultural Collections, funded by the AHRC through the Capability for Collections Impact Funding, which also helped fund the first exhibition.

The project originated in a desire to widen the audience to some of the University’s collections, but in a sustainable way which would persist beyond the end of the project. Consequently, The Uncertain Space is a permanent museum space with a rolling programme of exhibitions and a governance structure, just like a physical museum.

The project had two main outcomes: the first was the virtual museum space and the second was the first exhibition to be hosted in the museum. The exhibition, Secret Gardens , was co-curated with a group of young Bristolians, aged 11-18 and explores connections between the University’s public artworks and some of the objects held in our rich collections.

The group of young people attended a series of in-person and online workshops to discover their shared interests and develop the exhibition. The themes of identity, activism and environmental awareness came through strongly and these helped to inform their choice of items for the exhibition.

Objects, images and audiovisual clips, to link with each of the public artworks, were selected from the Theatre Collection, Special Collections, the Botanic Gardens and from collections held in the Anatomy, Archaeology and Earth Sciences departments. For some of the choices, digital copies already existed, but most of the items had to be digitised by photography or by scanning, using a handheld structured light scanner. The nine public artworks were captured by 360 degree photography. In addition, the reactions of the young people were recorded as they visited each of the public artworks and these are also included in the exhibition.

As the virtual museum was designed to mimic a real-world exhibition, the University of Bristol team and the young people worked with a real-world exhibition designer, and it was found that designing a virtual exhibition was a similar process to designing a real-world exhibition. Some aspects of the process, however, were unique to creating a virtual exhibition, such as the challenges of making digital versions of some objects. The virtual museum also provides possibilities that the real-world version cannot, for example the opportunity to pick up and handle objects and to be transported to different locations.

Towards the end of the project, a second group of young people, who were studying a digital music course at Creative Youth Network, visited the virtual museum in its test phase and created their own pieces of music in response. Some of these are included in a video about the making of the museum.

The museum and first exhibition can be visited on a laptop, PC or mobile device via The Uncertain Space webpage , by downloading the spatial.io app onto a phone or VR headset, or by booking a visit to the Theatre Collection  or Special Collections , where VR headsets are available for anyone to view the exhibition.

We are looking forward to a programme of different exhibitions to be hosted in The Uncertain Space and are interested in hearing from anyone who would like to put on a show.

You can read more about the making of The Uncertain Space and its first exhibition from our colleagues in Special Collections and Theatre Collection: Our collections go virtual! Digitising for the new virtual museum: The Uncertain Space

Case Study: Library Research Metrics Service

This is the first of a series of qualitative case studies exploring the work and impact of Library Research Support activities and services. This case study focuses on the Library Research Metrics Service.

The Library Research Metrics Service provides support to individuals with research metrics queries, via training on a range of research metrics platforms, and education and outreach to ensure the university’s commitments to responsible use of research metrics are upheld. This is designed to complement support offered by the Department of Research, Enterprise and Innovation’s Research Information and Evaluation team which has a wider remit covering strategic research intelligence and support for large grant bids.

As well as an email enquiry service and web guidance , the Library Research Metrics Service provides training via online workshops, open to all academics and postgraduate researchers. These serve as an introduction to the concept of citation metrics and alternative metrics, what they can and cannot be used for, the principles of responsible metrics, and the importance of data accuracy – including how this may be improved through the use of ORCID researcher identifiers . Sessions also include live demonstrations on the tool, platform, or process of attendees’ choice: for example, how to create bespoke reports in SciVal, how to find alternative metrics in Scopus or Altmetric Explorer, or how to clean up author profiles in Scopus and other bibliographic databases.

Outreach activities are a key part of the support service; currently the ORCID promotion campaign is the main focus for outreach activities. This campaign seeks to increase ORCID signup rates among research staff and PGRs, which with support from Faculty Research Directors will be achieved in a variety of ways:

• Direct communication with the small subset of researchers that have an ORCID but have not fully synchronised it to their Pure profile
• Talks at School assemblies and other relevant gatherings
• PGR-led promotion activities
• Passive communication via posters and banners in key locations
• Active encouragement via a prize draw for new ORCID signups

Enquiry types

The email enquiry service receives a range of enquiry types: primarily these relate to 1) use of specific metrics platforms, 2) requests for metric support for grant for promotion bids, 3) queries about the use of metrics to support decisions on journal choice. Often a large part of the response to these enquiries is educational rather than direct provision of the resources requested. For example, both DORA and the University’s own statement on Responsible Research Evaluation state that research outputs must be considered on their own merits rather than the reputation or ranking of the journal or publisher. Therefore, a significant part of enquiry work is responding sensitively to researchers with these types of queries, to explain why metrics may not necessarily be helpful in making these decisions and to signpost to alternative tools and methods for journal selection. There are some instances where specific metrics can be useful: for example, establishing proportions of article types published in a given journal to identify titles most likely to be receptive to submission of similar manuscripts. In these instances, the Library Research Metrics Service will demonstrate how these metrics can be obtained or provide bespoke reports.

Another common query category comes from researchers who are finding unexpected results when seeking metrics data on their own publications: typically, missing publications or missing citations. Support in these instances usually takes two formats: 1) an investigation into and explanation of any data inaccuracies and suggestions for how these may be addressed, and 2) education on the limitations of metrics platforms – which is particularly relevant for researchers working in disciplines that are not covered well by the main bibliometrics platforms (arts, humanities, and those working in languages other than English, to name a few).

Outcomes and next steps

Responses to these education and outreach activities have largely been positive, with researchers praising the service for providing “really helpful” information. Certain departments or units are frequent flyers to the service – for example ALSPAC – but generally users tend to have a single query only. It remains to be seen whether the raised profile of the Library Metrics Service provided by the ORCID promotion campaign will result in larger volume of enquiries. In future, workshops will be run in person as well, and online workshops will be provided asynchronously to enable wider uptake.

Shiny shells and steamships: an experiment in phototexturing a 3D model.

In the Library Research Support team we have quite a bit of experience of 3D scanning and of photogrammetry, but have never tried combining digital photographs with scan data to make a ‘photorealistic’ 3D model. When we were asked to scan a large, engraved shell belonging to the Brunel Institute , we decided it was time to give it a go, using our Artec Space Spider structured light scanner and the ‘phototexturing’ function in Artec Studio 16.  This phototexturing option allows photographs of the object to be combined with the digital model to improve the model’s textures and produce a more photorealistic result.

The shell in question has a shiny surface and is engraved with text and images, including depictions of the SS Great Britain and Omar Pasha, an Ottoman Field Marshall and governor. Shiny surfaces can be problematic when scanning, but we dialled up the sensitivity of the scanner a bit and encountered no difficulties. We were also concerned that the very low relief engravings would not be discernible in the final model, which did indeed prove to be the case.

We were careful to capture both scans and photographs under the same conditions, scanning one side of the shell and then, without moving it, taking photographs from every angle before turning it over to scan and photograph the underside.

When processing the scan data, the main difficulty was fixing a large hole in the mesh which occurred in the cavity of the shell where the scanner had not been able to capture data. Because of the complex geometry, Artec Studio’s hole-filling options simply covered the hole with a large blob. Therefore, we used the bridge function to link opposite edges of the large hole and subdivide it into smaller ones, which could be filled with a less blobby result. We then used the defeature brush and the smoothing tool to reduce flaws. The result is not an accurate representation of the inside of the shell, but gives a reasonable impression of it and, without any holes in the mesh, the model can be printed in 3D.

Adding texture from the photographs was simply a matter of importing them in two groups (photos of the top and photos of the underside) and matching them to the fusion. A handful of photographs couldn’t be matched but there was enough overlap between the other photographs to complete the texture. The phototextured model does show some shadows as we were not using dedicated lights, but there is significant improvement in the resolution and in the visibility of the engravings.

When we came to experiment with printing the model, we found there was not enough 3d geometry to reproduce the engravings, though we had avoided simplifying the mesh during processing. As the faint engravings on the shell are mostly visible through discolouration, we think that 3D printing in colour would be a good solution and the Brunel Institute are also considering other possibilities, such as engraving directly onto a 3D print. We look forward to seeing the result of their chosen solution.

Engraved shell by bris-dhsupport on Sketchfab

More on finding open access research

The library has subscribed to two services that will help you to find open access articles, as well as those subscribed to by the library.

LibKey Nomad is a browser extension that will connect you to full-text articles that are either available via a University of Bristol Library subscription or open access. Read more on the Library webpages.

LibKey.io allows you to access journal articles which are available either by library subscription or open access,  by using either a digital object identifier (DOI) or a PubMed identifier (PMID). More information is on the Library webpages .

See also our previous post on finding open access articles.

Finding Open Access Research

It has become common practice for researchers to make a copy of their research articles available for free online. Many of these ‘Open Access’ papers are held in institutional or subject repositories – which can make them challenging to find. However, there are several useful tools designed to make this a lot easier.

Useful Open Access Resources

CORE  aggregates the Open Access full text content of many Open Access repositories, including PubMed Central, so that you can search and read it all in one place.

Searching here will help you find many articles that you can open and read for free. CORE also contains electronic PhD theses and other works that are hard to find elsewhere.

EndNote Click

EndNote Click  is an extension for your internet browser that quickly tells you if you have access to a version of a journal article that you are looking at. It detects when you are looking at an article’s page and if you have access, either through your library’s subscriptions or through an Open Access version, it will provide a link to the document.

This is generally the most convenient way to find Open Access work if you’re used to searching academic journals and databases. The extension will work in Google Chrome.

Unpaywall  is another useful browser extension. It adds an icon to the right-hand side of any page where it detects an academic article. The icon indicates whether there is an Open Access version available and clicking it will take you to the appropriate document.

Unpaywall draws on slightly different sources to Kopernio, but does not check if you have access through your university. It may be helpful to install both. The extension will work in Google Chrome and Firefox.

Open Access DOIs

If you’re familiar with DOI numbers, then you know that you can use them to link to articles. (e.g.  http://doi.org/10.1038/ng.3260  ) However, this will usually only link you to the publisher’s version, which might try to charge you for access. If you use the Open Access DOI format instead – ( http://oadoi.org/10.1038/ng.3260 ) – you can create a link to an Open Access version of the article, if one is available.

This is a good way to find out if there is an Open Access version. It’s also a good way to share an Open Access paper with someone else who might not have access to the publisher’s version.

DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals)

DOAJ  curates a list of Open Access journals across a range of subjects. If you want to find Open Access journals within your discipline, this is a good place to look. You can also use their search function to find resources from across their database of journals.

They provide criteria for good practice in Open Access journals and can be a useful place to check the quality of a new Open Access journal that you weren’t previously aware of. Inclusion in DOAJ implies that the journal follows their principles and is therefore likely to be a reputable source.

DOAB (Directory of Open Access Books)

DOAB  is a collection of Open Access books from a range of subjects and publishers. It is a good place to search if you are looking for more in depth Open Access materials and is a useful companion to a DOAJ or CORE search.

The Electronic Theses Online project run by the British Library collects electronic theses from UK university and makes them available through  Ethos . You can search Ethos to find results from a large collection of PhD theses. The search may also return works that are currently under an embargo, but you can limit your search to Open Access resources if necessary.

Pandemic Publication Panic – what to do when you need to publish your data from home

Tl;dr – If you don’t have time to read the full post, here are three things you can do now which will speed up the process. This shouldn’t take you more than 30 minutes to set up, and will probably take a lot less. (If you’re a PI and don’t already have an RDSF account, you’ll need to do that first .)

• If you’re a Data Steward of a project with multiple users, nominate Deputy Data Stewards so you can delegate some of the duties (creating a record, associating data, tidying up files). You can have two deputies, and ACRC can do this for you . 
• Install and set up the University’s VPN so you can access the network securely via Single Sign-On.
• Map your project as a drive on your computer, so you can see all of your folders and files. Here’s how to do it on a Windows machine .

That’s it. If you want to know why you need to do this, read on!

As with so much else this year, COVID-19 has brought a huge change in working practices. From March 2020, the majority of research has been carried out at home . Research and professional services staff are all working from home where possible, and only on-campus when necessary.

For researchers, it affects the way you work with and store data, which in turn affects your workflow for publishing and sharing data.

To publish data in the repository, data first needs to be in the Research Data Storage Facility (RDSF), so we can copy it across. But how do you get it in there if you are working remotely?

Hang on – RDSF v data.bris repository – what’s the difference?

The RDSF is a secure, private, University storage facility, designed specifically for research data. It’s so secure and private, users can only access it through the University’s network. You can store sensitive data there, but it needs to be encrypted first.  Advanced Computing Research Centre manage the RDSF. data.bris , AKA the Research Data Repository, is a public gateway to research data, with citeable, Google-indexed Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) for datasets. Data are shared to data.bris staff and we check and publish the dataset with a  publicly accessible  dataset record –  data are either available on demand as Open Data or after an agreement has been signed if there are access restrictions . The  Research Data Service  (that’s us) manages  data.bris .

So, once you’ve decided what you want to share, you put it in a designated folder in your RDSF project (it has ‘Data-Bris’ on it) and you share it with us. But to do that, you need to get into your RDSF folders.

Accessing the University of Bristol network

On-campus, University computers link to the RDSF through the network – either through hardwired desktop machines or via the VPN software or hub cables on NWOW laptops. At home, you will need to establish a secure connection to access the RDSF.

There are three ways of doing this , but for ease and speed, we recommend using the VPN:

Virtual Private Network

The VPN puts your computer on the University network and allows access to a number of services including the RDSF. University-managed Windows computers have the VPN software already installed. The VPN is often needed to access files on Filestore when using a managed University laptop. Details are available on how to install VPN on your Windows, Mac and Linux machines and on iOS and Android devices.

If you’re using a personal device, please follow instructions on the IT website .

Setting up the VPN is a simple 2-stage process for Windows  or  Mac :

i. download the BIG-IP Edge Client app, to install on your machine (you only need to do this once) ii. start the app and log in to open the VPN and access the network

Publishing data

Once on a secure connection, you can access the RDSF, and deposit data for publication in data.bris. We’ve got a short video you can use which shows the publication process:

We’ve also got a webpage with more detailed instructions on the publication process .

In particular we’d highlight our short Data preparation rules , and what you to include in your essential Readme.txt file to help anyone encountering your data for the first time to ‘unpick’ your data, access your file formats, check  your data sources and understsand your file naming choices – basically make understanding your data as simple and supported as you can!

And that’s it. As soon as you have ‘requested publication’ we can look at the dataset.

How much is our open access research downloaded?

In October 2017 Our link to the IRUS stats portal was broken. Thanks to some recent changes (including the new look for Explore Bristol Research ) this link has been restored. This means we can start analysing how much use our Open Access Research gets.

A lot of work has gone on in that time and more people are using our resources than ever before. I’ve picked out a few interesting points below.

Downloads now compared to 2017

In May 2017, there were 16,619 downloads from visitors to Explore Bristol Research.

In May 2020 there were 69,186!

It’s not because of the lockdown, either. January was actually higher with 75,541! Open access has clearly taken off in the last three years and more people are using our work than ever before.  

Top countries people are downloading our work from in 2020:

• United Kingdom,
• United States
• Netherlands

Most Downloaded Records so far in 2020:

“The Consumer Rights Act 2015 – a bastion of European consumer rights?” an article by Paula Giliker: 4299 downloads

“Vicarious liability in the UK Supreme Court” a book section by Paula Giliker: 3932 downloads

“(Trans)forming single gender services and communal accommodations” an article by Peter Dunne: 2557 downloads

“A long, hard road to go by : a study of the support work carried out in women’s aid refuges” a thesis by Hillary Anne Abrahams: 2473 downloads

“Psychometric properties and diagnostic usefulness of the Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination-Revised in a Chilean elderly sample” an article by Carlos Muñoz-Neira: 2447 downloads

“Borderline personality disorder: an update for neurologists” an article by Paul Moran: 2275 downloads

“The Politics of Industrial Policy: The Case of Malaysia’s National Automotive Policy” a thesis by Firdaus Suffian: 1947 downloads

“Deviant Security: The Technical Computer Security Practices of Cyber Criminals.” a thesis by Erik Van De Sandt: 1602 downloads

“The changing face of English freemasonry, 1640-1740” a thesis by Peter Kebbell: 1480 downloads

“Poverty, gender and violence in the narratives of former narcos: accounting for drug trafficking violence in Mexico” a thesis by Karina Garcia: 1330 downloads

I hope this goes some way to demonstrate how far our Open Access research travels and how many people benefit from it.  For more information on how to make your work open access visit: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/staff/researchers/open-access/

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Welcome to the UWE Bristol Research Data Repository

All UWE Bristol researchers, who have produced research data associated with an existing or forthcoming publication, should enter a description of their research data (metadata), and, where appropriate, the associated datasets, to this UWE Bristol Research Data Repository.

If you wish to deposit a research output please visit the Research Repository .

UWE Bristol Research Data Repository supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of https://researchdata.uwe.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

data.bris Research Data Repository

• Institutions
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• https://www.bristol.ac.uk/staff/researchers/data/contacts/
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• RRID:SCR_011331
• RRID:nlx_23596
• ROR:01rv9gx86
• https://www.jisc.ac.uk/contact
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• https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/contact-us
• ROR:00thqng93
• https://okfn.org/contact/
• RRID:SCR_011613
• RRID:nlx_14701
• ROR:0524sp257

Policies (1)

Database access, data access (1), data licenses (2), data upload (1).

• registration

Data upload license (1)

Metadata standards (1).

Cite this re3data.org record:

• Legal notice / Impressum
• Terms of Use & Privacy Policy
• Current projects
• EOSC FAIR-IMPACT
• re3data COREF

• Cite this service: re3data.org - Registry of Research Data Repositories. https://doi.org/10.17616/R3D last accessed: 2024-05-20

You are here

Assigning digital object identifiers to research data at the university of bristol.

Browse the guide below or download the PDF .

** This publication is available in print and can be ordered from our online store **

There are seven sections after the Introduction, as follows :

• Background and context

What has been developed? How can it be used?

Practical examples.

• Issues Adressed

Examples of other users of DataCite and DOIs

Alternative identifier systems and services to choose from, introduction.

The University of Bristol runs a dedicated research data repository as part of their Research Data Service. They are using the DataCite service at the British Library to assign digital object identifiers (DOIs) to research datasets in order to provide unique and perpetual identifiers for data, to allow easy citation and discoverability. The repository hosts data that underpins research outputs and provides a home for data with immediate and straightforward access. The Bristol Research Data Service provides guidance on how to use the identifiers to cite data and is developing appropriate policies to monitor usage.

Background and Context

The data.bris repository is run by the Research Data Service at the University of Bristol. The current service is a Library-led collaboration working closely with IT Services, Research and Enterprise Development and other Professional Services across the University.

Assigning identifiers to research data is part of the wider research data management strategy at the University of Bristol. Identifiers for digital objects serve several purposes, including helping to identify the object uniquely so that a reference to the object can be unambiguous. Some digital identifiers also provide mechanisms to locate the object to facilitate access. The identifier can be used in citations.

DataCite is an international organisation that specialises in services for assigning DOIs to research data and the British Library (BL) is the representative of DataCite in the UK. The BL team works with repositories and archives to assign DOIs to datasets to help make the data discoverable, accessible and citable.

The University of Bristol established its data.bris repository to curate datasets created by their researchers and through working together with DataCite, has put in place a system which automatically obtains a DOI for any dataset published by the research data repository.

As part of the data deposit process, the data.bris repository obtains a DOI for the deposited dataset from the DataCite service. Details of the workflow at Bristol are described in the next section. Each dataset is made available with a set of essential metadata (DataCite Mandatory Properties). Currently, depositors are also encouraged to include rich, subject-specific metadata within the deposit itself, for example, as spreadsheets, user guides or simple text files. The DataCite service is open to research institutions that wish to assign identifiers to the data they manage, but there are some set criteria that need to be met by organisations wishing to use it:

• the organisation must have the authority to assign DOIs to data
• a landing page, mandatory metadata and a URL that links to the data need to be provided
• mandatory and additional metadata must be made freely available for discovery
• a clear and public indication to make the data available over the long-term should be stated.

Implementing the DOI assignment process at the University of Bristol involved working at both a strategic level to acquire institutional policy and support, and at a practical level to establish process and workflow.

In joining the DataCite scheme, the University of Bristol was required to make a long-term commitment to support published datasets, therefore approval at the highest level was required. The decision was put before and approved by the Data Service steering group, chaired by Professor Guy Orpen (Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research). The University of Bristol team communicated regularly with the helpful BL staff via email, telephone, and in person at research data management events held at the BL itself. The cost of the University's DataCite licence is currently funded by the University until July 2015

The platform used by Bristol for searching and previewing datasets is CKAN (from the Open Knowledge Foundation); which provides both human and machine (i.e. API) access to deposits. The following workflow runs from research project start to assignation of a DataCite DOI:

• Each new research activity is allocated a unique project identifier via the University's Finance System. The information collected at this point includes the names of staff and faculties involved.
• Early in the project a Data Steward (typically the PI) is nominated, who takes responsibility for the project data. The Data Steward registers online, agrees to the Data Storage Policy and is allocated 5TB of free storage space within the University’s Research Data Storage Facility (RDSF) which also contains an empty, pre-made folder called  ‘data-bris’.
• Allocated RDSF storage space is then used for storing ‘live’ data throughout the project. At this stage access is limited to the research team.
• When the data is ready to be published (usually towards the end of the project) it is copied by a member of the research team to the ‘data-bris’  folder.
• The Data Steward then logs into an online depositing system, agrees to a Depositing License and completes a Deposit Form for each dataset. Any data copied into the ‘data-bris’ folder can be associated with one or more completed Deposit  Forms. Much of the information required at this stage is automatically harvested from the the University’s Finance System and also Pure, the University’s Research Information System (RIS).
• When this process is complete, Research Data Service staff are made aware and validate each deposit before requesting a DOI from DataCite. Once a DOI is assigned, the dataset is published and the Data Steward notified.

All DOIs issued to Bristol are acquired via the depositing process outlined here. The DOI minting service provided by DataCite is only used in connection with the publication of University of Bristol data and not any other type of material or research output. The Research Data Storage Facility (RDSF) and Research Information System (RIS) provide some of the metadata describing published datasets. Specifically, the RDSF provides a starting point for the creators of the data, and (of course) the data itself. The RIS can be used to augment the list of creators and contributors, as well as related publications.

Several different policies must be adhered to if a dataset is to be assigned a DOI and ultimately be published. The University’s Data Storage Policy applies up to the point of publication and includes stipulations on data protection, encryption and sensitive data. At the point of publication the Repository’s Depositing Licence applies and agreement is mandatory. The License is in place to ensure that deposited data is suitable for open publication as the repository does not currently offer controlled access. While the Deposit Licence does not permit publication of data where publication would be either illegal, a breach of contract or against ethical guidelines, no other ‘rules’ exist as to what type of data can be published. This choice is instead left entirely up to the Data Steward. For example, the deposit of raw data, creative works, records relating to physical objects and single file datasets are all accepted.

Issues addressed

Granularity

Granularity is dealt with by the depositor - deposits of a single file or deposits consisting of many thousands of files are acceptable, however, depositors are encouraged, via guidance documents, to carefully consider the logical structure of data before it is deposited. An important factor for depositors to remember is that a DOI relates to a completed Deposit Form. This is a one-to-one relationship. However, each Deposit Form may be associated with none or many digital files. Depositors are particularly encouraged to answer two questions:

• What is the smallest unit of data which you are likely to cite? (e.g. for a historian this may be an individually transcribed manuscript, while a social scientist may want to cite the raw data from an entire longitudinal study).
• What do you expect the needs of secondary data users to be and how can you best structure the data to support those needs? The file/folder structure at the time of deposit is preserved and made visible to secondary data users and is therefore a powerful organisational tool

The metadata schema supports the notion of one dataset ‘superseding’ another - the original dataset is not ‘replaced’. Instead, users are made aware that a deposit is no longer current. A depositing Data Steward who wishes to ‘version’ a dataset does so by asking a member of Research Data Service staff to carry out this process, though this step is under review.

Choice of identifier scheme

“First and foremost the DataCite service enables the minting of persistent identifiers (DOIs) for datasets. Bristol considered that it was worth buying into the DataCite infrastructure as over the longer term it was felt to be a useful source of advice and support and that the community was beginning to grow. The team also felt that when talking to researchers and academics about publishing their data, the ability to refer to a DOI, DataCite, and the British Library would help in the ‘conversation’ given that these are well known, authoritative reference points.”

The data.bris project also considered registering directly with the Handle System as a source of persistent identifiers.

Acquiring metadata

From the earliest stages of setting up the University of Bristol repository and the Research Data Service, a joined-up and logical approach to the technical challenges involved was a priority. The aim was to minimise the effort required on the part of the depositing researcher. Therefore, if information exists elsewhere within the University a researcher is not required to re-enter it. In theory, only two pieces of information are required at the time of data deposit: agreement to the Depositing Licence and a date on which to publish the dataset (this allows an embargo period to be specified). All other fields are pre-populated using information harvested form other University systems, although researchers are free to overwrite any pre-populated information.

Much of the deposit and publication process is bespoke and a good part of the 18 month Jisc-funded project was dedicated to developing the deposit interface. From a technical point of view this process is complete, but development continues from a user experience perspective.Once published, a check is made on each URL to confirm it is resolving correctly.

• The University of Nottingham, via the ADMIRE project, stated their intention to assign DOIs on request [ 1 ]
• In April 2013, the University of Oxford reached an agreement to use DataCite as part of the strategy for their emergent Research Data Management Infrastructure (described in [ 2 ]).
• Oxford has committed to using the DataCite metadata set as a minimum in its catalogue for research data.
• The Australian National Data Service (ANDS) offers a national service [ 3 ] to publically funded Australian research organisations for minting DOIs through its membership of DataCite. The use of this service by Griffith University is described in [ 4 ].

Besides DOIs through DataCite, there are some alternative identifier and resolution systems and services available that can be used for data.

• The Handle System includes an open set of protocols, a namespace, and a reference implementation of the protocols. The protocols enable a distributed computer system to store identifiers, known as handles, of arbitrary resources and resolve those handles into the information necessary to locate, access, contact, authenticate, or otherwise make use of the resources. It is the underlying system used to resolve DOIs.
• Persistent URLS (PURLs) are URLs that offer a simple indirection service, with the main advantage of being very simple to use. A free service to support the registration and resolution of PURLs is offered by OCLC.
• Archival Resource Key (ARK)s are actionable identifiers that can connect to three things: the object itself, a metadata record, and a commitment statement. They are championed by the California Digital Library and there are no fees for assigning or using ARKs.
• EZID is a service that allows you to choose from a variety of persistent identifiers, including ARKs and DataCite DOIs, to create identifiers and store citation metadata and update URL locations. A demo is available as well as a programming interface.

References 

[ 1 ] Alex Ball. “Making Citation Work: A British Library DataCite Workshop”. July 2013, Ariadne Issue 71 ariadne.ac.uk/issue71/datacite-2013-rpt

[ 2 ] Sally Rumsey, Neil Jefferies. “DataFinder: A Research Data Catalogue for Oxford”. July 2013, Ariadne Issue 71 ariadne.ac.uk/issue71/rumsey-jefferies

[ 3 ] ANDS DOI Service ands.org.au/online-services/doi-service

[ 4 ] Natasha Simons. “Implementing DOIs for ResearchData” D-Lib Magazine, Vol 18, No 5/6, May/June 2012. Available at: dlib.org/dlib/may12/simons/05simons.html

Acknowledgements

The input of the datsets team at the British Library is gratefully acknowledged.

BSc Physics with Astrophysics (F3F5)

2025 entry | view 2024 entry.

Physics with Astrophysics (F3F5)

Course summary

Join a University ranked in the UK top five for Physics research (THE analysis of REF 2021) with an excellent reputation for teaching and learning.

Our course provides a thorough grounding in physics, with astrophysics as a key component. This course is led by an internationally renowned astrophysics research group and covers a broad range of contemporary astrophysics topics alongside the same core physics subjects as our BSc Physics degree .

In years one and two, you will be introduced to key concepts in astrophysics and cosmology alongside the same core of physics as our Physics degrees. In your third year, you will progress to more advanced topics such as galaxies and high-energy astrophysics.

In your third year, you will undertake a major project or dissertation with a member of the astrophysics research group. Our research specialisms currently include:

• galaxy cluster astrophysics
• galaxy evolution
• black holes and active galaxies
• the formation and atmospheres of extrasolar planets.

In addition to developing the broad skills expected of a physicist (including problem-solving, teamwork and communication skills), you will also gain the skills needed for astronomical observations and theoretical modelling. These may be used to analyse data from international ground- and space-based observatories.

Join our friendly department with a very active, award-winning student society. Our physics graduates have an excellent record of employment post-study. This is a testament to the value that employers place on the skills you will develop on this course.

Think Big bursaries of £3,000 are available to support first-year international undergraduate students in this subject area.

Accreditations

Our Physics with Astrophysics BSc is approved by major professional bodies in the UK (IOP) so as a a graduate you can gain exemptions from a number of their examinations or credits for prior learning.

Course structure

Entry requirements.

We accept a wide variety of qualifications and welcome applications from students of all backgrounds. Below is a guide to the typical offers for this course.

A-level standard offer

A-level contextual offer, international baccalaureate diploma, international baccalaureate diploma contextual offer, european baccalaureate, scottish qualifications authority, access to he diploma, welsh baccalaureate, cambridge pre-u, international qualifications, selection process.

• Regulations and codes of conduct we abide by to create a positive environment for learning and achievement are found in the University admissions policies and procedures.
• If applying with extenuating circumstances please see our policy.
• Full information about our selection processes for Physics with Astrophysics can be found in the Admissions Statement: Admissions statement
• The admissions statement above relates to 2024 entry. The statement for 2025 entry will be available in summer 2024.

Related courses

Msci physics with astrophysics, visit us on an open day, find out how to apply, download a prospectus, make an enquiry.

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Commercial Research (Pre-Contract) Operations Coordinator 2024

At the University of Bristol, we need and seek a dynamic and highly organised Operations Coordinator to join our newly established Commercial Research (Pre-Contract) team. You’ll play a pivotal role in the smooth functioning of our small team, ensuring we work effectively across a diverse portfolio of research projects, providing a high quality, streamlined and consistent service to our internal and external customers.

The team helps to ensure our groundbreaking commercial research projects deliver valuable benefits for the University, its staff and students, our partners, and the wider world. We focus on the first phases of good contracting practice, “Pre-Contract Negotiation”, and are responsible for laying the foundations for a smooth and efficient contract journey. Working with academic research teams, financial and legal experts, and others, we drive forward each proposed project from outline plan to proposal, and negotiate an “agreed” position to be captured in a formal contract by our legal team.

We have a wide and varied portfolio of projects, supporting research:

• funded by industrial partners (from large global corporates to local spin out companies), as well as commissioned research offered via government procurement platforms subject to competitive tendering.
• across the whole University (our latest collaborations span sectors including energy, pharmaceuticals, finance, space, veterinary technologies, and education).

Why join us?

• An opportunity to work in a dynamic and intellectually stimulating environment at a top UK university.
• A chance to make a real difference by supporting groundbreaking research.
• A competitive salary, a generous pension scheme, at least 38 days’ holiday (including bank holidays and fixed closure days) and discounted membership for on-site gym facilities. We’re committed to helping you achieve a healthy work-life balance through flexible working. Professional development opportunities and career advancement prospects.

What will you be doing?

Reporting to the Head of Team, you will be responsible for managing process improvement, administration, and operational procedures, and will contribute to the strategic and operational development of the team. Acting as the main point of contact for team operational aspects, you will also manage and organise team communications, training, and knowledge management activity and represent the team at events.

You will work across different internal areas, often with competing priorities, helping colleagues to work together transparently, as “One Team” to achieve the best “overall” outcomes for UoB and our partners.

You should apply if

• Experience of collating, analysing and interpreting data and using this information to prepare reports for different audiences.
• A Proven Track Record of identifying and successfully implementing process improvements by being innovative, resilient and solution focused.
• Advanced Organisational Skills to deal with competing priorities in a face paced environment, whilst maintaining attention to detail.
• Excellent Administration and Knowledge Management Skills and are passionate about supporting research and identifying new opportunities.
• Outstanding interpersonal skills with the ability to build relationships with key stakeholders and offer exceptional customer service.

These are our ideal requirements, but we know some people are less likely to apply for the role unless they are 100% qualified. The University promotes a supportive and empowering culture, please apply if you meet the majority of these competencies.

Our strategy and mission

We recently launched our strategy to 2030 tying together our mission, vision and values.

The University of Bristol aims to be a place where everyone feels able to be themselves and do their best in an inclusive working environment where all colleagues can thrive and reach their full potential. We want to attract, develop, and retain individuals with different experiences, backgrounds and perspectives – particularly people of colour, LGBT+ and disabled people - because diversity of people and ideas remains integral to our excellence as a global civic institution.

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