Research Culture is Broken; Open Science can Fix It | Rachael Ainsworth | TEDxMacclesfield

After the increasingly toxic environment of modern research culture forced her to nearly abandon her career, astrophysicist Dr Rachael Ainsworth began to question why the subject she loved had become so inhospitable. Identifying some of the pressures placed on her peers that encouraged aggressive competitiveness, unfair benchmarking and shoddy research practices also helped her identify a compelling potential solution.
Dr Rachael Ainsworth is a Research Associate and Open Science Champion at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. She has a PhD in Astrophysics, a BSc in Physics and was an intern at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She is an expert in the interpretation of radio emissions from protostellar systems in nearby star-forming regions and her research involves observing jets from young stars with next-generation radio telescopes to investigate the physical processes that assemble stars like our Sun.
She is passionate about openness, transparency, reproducibility and inclusion in research, and organises a women-in-data meetup group in Manchester called HER+Data MCR. Originally from Hampton, New Hampshire, USA, Dr Ainsworth is now based in Manchester. Dr Rachael Ainsworth is a Research Associate and Open Science Champion at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. She has a PhD in Astrophysics, a BSc in Physics and was an intern at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She is an expert in the interpretation of radio emission from protostellar systems in nearby star forming regions and her research involves observing jets from young stars with next-generation radio telescopes to investigate the physical processes that assemble stars like our Sun. She is passionate about openness, transparency, reproducibility and inclusion in research and organises a women in data meetup group in Manchester called HER+Data MCR. Originally from Hampton, New Hampshire, USA Rachael now lives in Manchester. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@alyssaoconnor]

Somewhere along the academic path we begin to fear what naturally comes to children the ability to question everything.

[@MrKikiler1]

As a Master student, willing to do a PhD in Plant Physiology in a public university, I have been really moved by this speech. Great talk! I hope that such futur would become reality.

[@anonkasper7937]

Open source software is the best example.Same is needed for bio medical research.All the efficacy values bosted by pharma industry needs to thoroughly subjected to repeated trials.Pharma selectively reports only positive trials and selectively leaves out negative trials.

[@TVWJ]

in principle I agree. However, it is easily tested if software is wrong - it just won't do the job it is supposed to do. So it is easy for anyone - even those without being skilled in software - to determine whether the software can be trusted or not. The problem with scientific data is how to determine whether these can be trusted or not. That is where the reviewers/referees come in in the current system. Just making data available on the internet without further assessment will therefore not be sufficient, as anyone with specific interests can just put out any amount of possibly fake data and make that available to anyone. Without the quality check that today is provided in the reviewing process (which definitely does not provide any certainty either) we end in a scientific wild west. Therefore, open access alone cannot be the answer. Maybe we should rethink our funding systems for research, so as not to reward scientists on the number of "prestigious" publications.which does not provide any certainty either.

[@mehdis.7404]

I would like to point out that lack of support from university for reviewing service, reviewing is part of research

[@moralsaurus]

Great talk!

[@gpurabi]

I agree! Sharing!!

[@billibilliyou]

love her passion

[@dasmensch2317]

Great speech, I really learned something.👍🏾

[@dargonmao1616]

She's withholding tears, as she speaks the words.

[@diegomardones6651]

Totally agree!

[@Tom-sp3gy]

It was a nice talk dear. Persevere. Don’t give up. Science is worth it. Wish you all the best in your career.

[@XyZ-de8be]

good talk, also very emotional at some points

[@ip2489]

Everything is broken my love.

[@habanero5866]

Inclusiveness, diversity, community... of non-whites