Five researchers will be funded at the start of the Berlin University Alliance’s (BUA) Fellowship Program in the priority area Advancing Research Quality and Value. The aim of the program is to support measures and projects on research quality and open science as well as to facilitate research cooperation and knowledge exchange. National and international experts contribute their experience and competence to the work of BUA. Researchers and staff from the science-supporting areas of the Excellence Network can expand their expertise and develop new approaches for the projects of the priority area.

The program consists of two funding lines. Incoming Fellowships offer national and international experts the opportunity to conduct research at BUA's collaborative institutions and to contribute their knowledge in an advisory capacity. Outgoing Fellowships offer outstanding scientists at all career levels within the BUA the opportunity to carry out their work at a German or international university and to familiarize themselves with new theoretical and methodological approaches. The outgoing fellowships are also open to staff from the science-support sector to familiarize themselves with established structures and processes at other institutions that ensure sustainable research quality or implement open science practices (examples of good practice). In this sense, the Outgoing Fellowships aim in particular at "learning from others" and networking with relevant actors. The funding period for outgoing fellowships is one to three months. Interested applicants can submit an application to BUA's Steering Committee Advancing Research Quality and Value.

Under Incoming Fellowships, scholars* with excellent contributions, specific experience, and expertise in research quality and open science are invited to work at one of BUA's partner institutions. During their three- to six-month stay, they support and complement their colleagues in Berlin, work together on research and/or implementation projects, and offer events. The aim of this collaboration - which should last as long as possible beyond the duration of the actual funding - is to expand BUA's network in the field of research quality and open science and to further increase the visibility of the network both nationally and internationally. Potential candidates will be invited by the Steering Committee. Proposals for suitable fellows can be submitted to the Steering Committee Advancing Research Quality and Value.

Current Outgoing Fellowships

Dr. Helen Niemeyer from the Department of Clinical Psychological Intervention at Freie Universität Berlin is going to the University of Chicago. She is working on open science practices and how their promotion contributes to enhancing research quality. In particular, she investigates the relationship between research quality, publishability, chances of reception, and scientific reputation, and develops methods to help avoid publication bias.

Felicitas Heßelmann from the Department of Science Studies at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin is going to the University of Edinburgh. She is researching how ways of knowing and organizing are changing through the creation of digital infrastructures and systems of automated and data-based decision making, and how society, organizations, and individuals are responding to this digital transformation.

Mik Schutte of Humboldt University in Berlin is moving to Delft University of Technology. He will work there on Open Hardware production processes and community-building practices within universities to disseminate Open Science.

Current Incoming Fellowship

Prof. Dr. Frank Miedema, Vice-Rector for Research at Utrecht University, Professor of Open Science and Chair of the Open Science Program, comes to the QUEST Center at the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) in the Charité. Frank Miedema is one of the world leaders in the implementation of Open Science in biomedicine and one of the initiators of "Science in Transition". As a BUA Visiting Fellow, he will be particularly involved in the "Reforming Research Assessment" initiative as well as the OpenX initiative.

Dr. Ugo Moschini from the Data Analysis Office of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) will join the QUEST Center at the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité. He will share with his colleagues on Open Science monitoring practices and techniques using dashboards, as well as research information systems and research data.

For questions and information about the program please contact core@berlin-university-alliance.de