Collaborative open research in practice: perspectives from cross-partner work in GRAPHIA
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Panel description This panel addresses the theme “One network, many possibilities: Strengthening the OPERAS community” by examining how open science is practised within a large, multi-partner research initiative. It draws on collaborative work within GRAPHIA, an OPERAS-coordinated project, to reflect on how shared research practices are developed, communicated, and sustained across institutional boundaries. The panel focuses on open science as practice, foregrounding the everyday work of collaboration. Through activities spanning webinars, user-centred research, community engagement, and collaborative dissemination, GRAPHIA partners work across teams to support shared development and ownership. These efforts show how research infrastructures operate as connective spaces linking diverse communities. The panel offers a reflective account of how open practices are negotiated across perspectives within a single research ecosystem, highlighting their transferability across the broader OPERAS network. Programme The panel begins with a brief introduction (5 mins), outlining the GRAPHIA project. This is followed by presentations (4x8 mins), in which panellists speak from their primary area of contribution to the collaborative open research in GRAPHIA. The session concludes with 23 mins of moderated discussion and Q&A, drawing connections across the perspectives presented and exploring how these practices can shape future work across OPERAS. Presentations GRAPHIA Introduction (5 minutes) Crystal Silver, Abertay University Developing Knowledge Graph Question Answering in GRAPHIA: A Technical Perspective on Collaboration (8 minutes) This presentation examines the development of GRAPHIA’s knowledge graph question answering features from a technical perspective, showing how collaboration with user research, communication, and training teams helps shape work that responds to real researcher needs. It highlights how cross-partner engagement supports technically robust, meaningful innovation that responds to the real working practices of researchers, and how active engagement with broader research communities is necessary to enable impactful research. Matteo Romanello, Odoma User Experience and Co-Design as Connective Work in GRAPHIA (8 minutes) This presentation discusses the user research within GRAPHIA, including interviews, surveys and workshops conducted with SSH researchers. It reflects on how these activities surface insights that feed into partner discussions, training activities, and community engagement, supporting shared understanding and user-centred approaches across the project. Crystal Silver, Abertay University Making GRAPHIA Work for SSH Researchers: Communication, Practice, and Impact (8 minutes) This presentation shows how a tailored communication strategy supports SSH researchers by translating GRAPHIA’s results into concrete research practices. By using researcher-centred language, examples, and channels, effective dissemination lowers technical barriers, clarifies relevance for SSH workflows, and enables scholars to discover, interpret, and reuse connected data in ways that directly support their research questions and methods. Highlighting challenges in the projects with so many partners internally and different stakeholders externally. Ursula Rabar, OPERAS Learning GRAPHIA Together: Webinars as a Tool for Training and Alignment (8 minutes) This presentation focuses on the development of training formats within GRAPHIA, including webinars, user-oriented instructions, and manuals, to support diverse stakeholders in understanding the platform’s goals, functionality, and usability. It reflects on webinars as a collaborative and open training format that introduces tools and workflows while creating shared spaces for exchange with research communities. In parallel, the presentation addresses the coordination role of training activities, highlighting how collaboration promotes shared understanding among GRAPHIA partners regarding objectives, technical development and user-centred design. Magda Wnuk, IBL-PAN
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7207870751