Continuing our series of written interviews with researchers at IGDORE: Dr Stefaniia Ivashchenko trained as a biophysicist in France and is now a journalist promoting Open Science and academic reform. Stefaniia tells us what she likes about the Open Science community and why academia needs independent media.

In academia, if you do not get nice publishable results, you cannot succeed, get funding, a job, a tenure. The discontent about this unfairness was growing in me, I felt the real lack of independence and obligation to follow rules I did not agree with.

1. Tell us a bit about your professional background.

I have a Master’s degree in pharmaceutical chemistry which I got in Odesa, Ukraine. Having always dreamed to go for studies abroad, suddenly I became interested to study in France. I come from the middle class, my parents are retired and were unable to fund my foreign studies. So the question about funding was crucial…

The IGDORE Global Board regrets to announce that we terminated the affiliation of one of our researchers, Dr. Daniel Cebo, on October 1st 2020, for academic misconduct that breached the terms of IGDORE’s scientific Code of Conduct. This post will briefly describe the result of the IGDORE Global Board’s investigation into Dr. Cebo’s research integrity, the actions this led us to take, and how we hope to improve our affiliation process to reduce the likelihood of similar academic misconduct occurring at IGDORE in the future.

Dr. Cebo applied to join IGDORE in January 2020 and was accepted as a member…

Recommencing our series of written interviews with researchers at IGDORE: Dr Dan Cleather, who is the program director for strength and conditioning at St Mary’s University in London, and works remotely from Prague. Daniel tells us about what sparked his interest in the philosophy of science and his current research on new paradigms for exercise during space exploration.

1. Tell us a bit about your professional background.

I currently run an online MSc in strength and conditioning (i.e. the science of physical preparation for sport). Prior to this, I worked as a strength and conditioning coach for the English Institute of Sport, helping Olympic athletes with their training. I have a PhD in bioengineering, and my research is mainly focussed on building computational models that can be used to estimate the muscle and joint contact forces that we experience during movement.

I love that I can show my affiliation to IGDORE alongside my employment at St Mary’s University, and people often ask what it means — giving…

Dr Michelle King-Okoye is leading a team of researchers to examine why people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds in developed countries are severely affected by COVID-19.

“I am saddened by the escalating deaths from COVID-19 among BAME populations and I am dedicated to ensuring that all marginalised communities are included in this research”

In her quest to unearth factors that contribute to the increasing mortality rates among people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds in developed countries, Dr King-Okoye, a researcher at The Institute for Globally Distributed Open Research and Education (IGDORE); an affiliated researcher of…

It is with immense sadness and shock we hereby confirm that our dear colleague Dr. Jonathan P. Tennant (Jon) passed away in a motorcycle accident in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, during the early morning of April 9th, local time. Jon was not yet 32 years old. Our most heartfelt condolences go to his family and we wish them all the strength possible in living through the pain of losing their loved one.

Colleagues who want to express condolences to Jon’s family may do so at this dedicated email address: jon@igdore.org. We will save all emails and make sure they reach the family.

The IGDORE Global Board

One of IGDORE’s researchers, Dr. Jon Tennant, has been banned from OpenCon for violation of its Code of Conduct (CoC). Dr. Tennant has made a public statement of apology and acceptance of the ban.

There has been much speculation on Twitter about the nature of the breach. In addition there have been calls on Twitter for IGDORE to share our viewpoints in the matter.

The IGDORE Global Board consists of four members: Dr. Gavin Taylor, Dr. Enrico Fucci, Mr. Daniel Berntsson, and Dr. Rebecca Willén. Only the latter member is active on Twitter. The Global Board would not have been…

Continuing our series of written interviews with researchers at IGDORE: Dr. Sam Williams, conservation ecologist in South Africa with a PhD from Durham University, United Kingdom. Sam tells us about challenges and benefits of working in South African academia compared with British academia, and how remote work makes it easier to thrive academically while also having a rich family life.

I often found myself trying to convince my boss or colleagues to allow me to make our data and code publicly available, to adopt reproducible research practices, to post preprints, and generally to adopt the principles of open science

Tell us a bit about your professional background.

I loved science at school, but I didn’t really know what I could do with it. I remember finding out while studying undergrad biology that some people make a living studying animals in the wild. That sounded like a dream job to me, so I joined an expedition to study primate conservation ecology in the Indonesian rainforest for my Masters. Coming…

Continuing our new series of written interviews with researchers at IGDORE: Dr. Enrico Fucci, nomadic neuroscientist and member of IGDORE’s Global Board. Originating from Italy, with a PhD from France, mostly residing on Fuerteventura (Spain) but currently spending three months in Senegal. We asked Enrico to describe a typical workday as an academic digital nomad, what he thinks about the current movement for open and replicable science, and what matters of heart he brings into IGDORE’s Global Board.

I am not an office person and I realized that working during office hours was actually detrimental in terms of productivity. I also often asked myself why I had to sit in front of a computer at an office when I could do that at home, or while visiting my girlfriend who was living abroad or, even better, in front of the sea.

1. Tell us a bit about your professional background.

After obtaining a BSc in Psychology in Milan (IT), I attended a two-years long MSc in Brain and Mind Sciences, held between London and Paris. After that, I enrolled in a PhD program in Neuroscience in Lyon…