Hands-on training

We continously develop and implement practice oriented education formats. Here you will find information on our new formats, where course participants gain hands on experience with implementing skills in their own research.

Participant-guided learn by doing meta-research Course

In the participant-guided learn by doing meta-research course, a multidisciplinary team of early career researchers from different departments and universities learn to conduct meta-research by working together to design, conduct and publish a meta-research study (Course information, Sample publication).

ReproducibiliTeach Course

The ReproducibiliTeach course consists of 5 workshops. In each session, participants implement a different technique to improve rigor, reproducibility and transparency in their own research.

Topics include:

• using reporting guidelines
• implementing blinding and randomisation plans
• using RRIDs to specify exactly what materials were used
• depositing protocols
• creating flow charts to report attrition
• preparing to share open data
• identifying and fixing common data visualisation problems
• reporting statistical analyses transparently

Click here for more information and current course dates.

Write My Protocol Workshop

In this course, participants deposit their protocols on protocols.io, an open access protocol repository that allows participants to share and cite protocols describing detailed methods, on a dynamic platform that provides DOIs and allows versioning and forking. Participants with innovative methods may go on to prepare a companion Lab Protocol article to submit to PLOS One. This unique publication format allows scientists to share high quality reproducible protocols in a format that can be updated as the protocol evolves, while getting credit for their methods development work by publishing a peer reviewed article.

Click here for more information and current course dates.

Virtual Brainstorming Events

QUEST members have also pioneered the development of virtual brainstorming events, where experts engage in 2-3 days of virtual discussions on a selected theme. Insights gained from these discussions are shared with the scientific community through papers, recommendations and talks. This unique, inclusive virtual unconference format combines virtual networking with intensive discussions on online message boards and virtual meetings.
Past events have led to recommendations for empowering early career researchers to improve research culture and practice and guidelines suggesting actions that early career researchers and supervisors can take to improve the mental health of early career researchers during the pandemic.

Recommendations from a recent event focusing on how to implement open and reproducible research practices after attending a reproducibility workshop can be found here. Virtual brainstorming events are particularly useful for facilitating in depth, asynchronous discussions among participants in different cities, countries and continents. 

After a further virtual brainstorming event organized in collaboration with the German Reproducibility Network, a paper was published with eleven strategies for making training in Reproducible research and open science practices the norm at research institutions.