Join us for our first ever Open Research Week as we celebrate and showcase open research in action!

During the week we’ll be celebrating and promoting open research by showcasing examples of open practices across many disciplines.

🔗 Reserve your spot here: research.open.ac.uk/events/open-...

Join the conversation on this important topic by attending the workshop or submitting a paper. The closing date for papers is 18 February, so there is still time to contribute to the workshop!

For more information, see: tinyurl.com/ResponsibleSE

I will draw on examples from the Centre for Protecting Women Online, established at The Open University, to illustrate how transdisciplinary research can be used to develop new approaches to responsible software engineering that can help make online spaces safer for women and girls.

Responsible software engineering can benefit from transdisciplinary approaches that include software practitioners and end-users as integral members to develop a richer understanding of the problem domain. We can make this a more realistic proposition by focussing on specific problem contexts.

Looking forward to delivering my talk at the Workshop on Responsible Software Engineering (co-located with ESEC/FSE 2025) in June - “First, do no harm” – realising the potential of transdisciplinary research for Responsible Software Engineering

sites.google.com/view/respons...

Starting the new year with some reflections on how to "Love work, even if it doesn't love me back ..."

Wishing everyone a wonderful 2025! 🙏🏾

www.academic-marginalia.org/2025/01/love...

Best wishes for the festive season and hope everyone has a wonderful new year! 🎅 ☃️ 🎄

ps. I needed a bit of generative AI help to get started with the lyrics 😅

I take this opportunity to thank all my colleagues and students at The Open University for their contributions and support - helping us to continue delivering high-quality, innovative, open, and inclusive research over the past year.

In the spirit of recognising and accepting “good enough”, I decided to give it a go anyway - so here is my attempt to spread a bit of fun and holiday cheer!

I posted the full version on LinkenIn: www.linkedin.com/posts/akband...

The most rewarding aspect has been to be able to provide (hopefully good enough!) support to colleagues with their research. I am also very proud to be part of the Centre for Protecting Women Online, which formally launched in October this year.

Recognising “good enough” been particularly relevant as I complete my first 12 months as Associate Dean & Director of STEM Research at The Open University, a role that has been stimulating, challenging, and enjoyable in equal measure.

As we come to the end of the year, I have been thinking about what my first post here should be and reflecting on the importance of being able to recognise and accept when something is “good enough” - which is important in many areas of work - not least academia.

Last call for sign-ups to our Virtual Open Day tomorrow. We'll cover the application and assessment process. Here's a bonus video about choosing a college, for many who are mystified how to choose a college (spoiler, you don't actually have to!) youtu.be/cov8JiyhLTg. Sign up at www.ilesla.ox.ac.uk