Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland-funded software research centre at the University of Limerick (UL), has been awarded a European prize for its commitment to open science principles.
The centre was recognised at the Young European Research Universities (YERUN) Open Science Awards after launching its Open Science Charter and an Open Source and Open Science Programme Office last October.
This is the second year of the awards which recognise Open Science initiatives, ie initiatives that focus on spreading knowledge as soon as it is available using digital and collaborative technology, across the YERUN network.
“We are very happy to be acknowledged by the Young European Research Universities Network (YERUN) for our work in this area," said Prof Brian Fitzgerald, director of Lero and Professor at UL.
"Lero is committed to Ireland’s goal of ensuring that all scholarly publications resulting from publicly-funded research are openly available. In creating an Open Science Charter and developing an Open Source and Open Science Programme Office (OSPO), Lero is demonstrating our commitment to the principles of Open Science.
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"The Lero OSPO is an important strategic division of Lero with the goal of building an Open Source roadmap for Lero and helping our members and partners understand how Lero deals with Open Source in its day-to-day activities. It is also an important step in executing Lero’s Open Science policy."
Lero’s Open Science Charter promotes making research openly available to all. It said the charter would lead to increased visibility for researchers, greater opportunities for collaboration, and greater transparency in the research process.
Speaking after the announcement, Lero’s international funding manager, Dr Martina Prendergast, said: “Lero’s Open Science Charter was the first to be published by an SFI research centre, and is openly shared on the Lero website for anyone to use and adapt to the needs of their own organisation.
"The charter is formulated in line with the EU's Open Science policy and identifies several ambitions for the centre’s research community. We would love to see other organisations using it as a blueprint to develop their own open science practices.”
Since its establishment in 2005, Lero has partnered with Atlantic Technological University, Dublin City University, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Maynooth University, Munster Technological University, South East Technological University, Technological University Shannon: Midlands Midwest, Trinity College Dublin, University College Cork, University College Dublin, University of Galway.
The centre brings together software teams from these universities to coordinate research with a strong industry focus in areas including software engineering, information systems and human-computer interaction in areas such as driverless cars, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, fintech, govtech, smart communities, agtech and healthtech.
LEro announced last month that it would invest €2.9m to create 16 postdoctoral fellowships to develop world-class software expertise and to facilitate responsible innovation focusing on privacy, trust, inclusion and fairness.
Photo: (l-r) Dr Orla Flynn, president of GMIT, and Prof Brian Fitzgerald. (Pic: Aengus McMahon Photography
