It’s Springtime for the Grassroots.
As my term as Chair of the Grassroots Initiatives Committee at the Tanenbaum Open Science Institute (TOSI) has come to an end, it is my pleasure to provide a short, informal report about our group’s workings and accomplishments so far.
Since early 2019, the Grassroots mission has been to encourage and accompany open-science initiatives from The Neuro [Montreal Neurological Institute & Hospital] research community. Our Committee aimed to identify and enable practical solutions and resources as accelerators for open-science research and related educational and training outcomes.
I have been particularly fortunate to work with talented and enthusiastic colleagues over these past two years, representing a growing diversity of expertise and career stages in our institution: Drs. Birgit Frauscher, Adrien Peyrache, Peter McPherson (until October 2020), Ed Ruthazer, Madeleine Sharp, Christine Tardif and Stuart Trenholm. We have been particularly thrilled to welcome Lynne Krohn (awardee of the 2020 TOSI Prize to a graduate trainee) and Dr. Jo Anne Stratton as new Grassroots members, who joined the Committee by the end of 2020.
We identified top priorities and issued specific recommendations to TOSI’s Leaders Council and executives in May 2019, structured along three main action pillars: “Logistics”, “Education & Knowledge Transfer”, and “Career & Incentives” (see details in slide deck).
One of our key recommendations concerned training and education around Data Management. TOSI therefore mandated Ted Strauss, current Manager, Data Resources at the McConnell Brain Imaging Centre to contribute to this enterprise across The Neuro, on a part-time basis. We also emphasized the growing opportunities across campus around these questions. For instance, we encouraged Ted to reach out to McGill Libraries to leverage their savoir-faire. We are glad to see this now coming to fruition, with a first set of how-to workshops scheduled April 1 and April 29 on the elaboration of Data Management Plans for researchers; a timely topic as Tri-Agency have just issued their new Data Management Policies.
Inaugural composition of the Tanenbaum Open-Science Institute Grassroots Initiatives Committee (2019).
In October 2020, our Committee was provided more resources in the person of Dylan Roskams-Edris and a part-time administrative assistant, in addition of a $110,000 budget from TOSI to enable projects aligned with our recommendations. This good news came with a tight timeline for expense encumbrances that did not permit a broad call for proposals. Nevertheless, we did our very best to serve the community of The Neuro staff, trainees and patients, issuing specific funding recommendations for projects and action items that are now ongoing.
A similar allocation has been provided in the present TOSI fiscal year: calls for proposals will be issued by The Grassroots Committee over the next few months – they will represent opportunities for The Neuro community to manifest interest and engagement towards the betterment of neuroscience research via open-science practices.
I also wish to highlight our Committee’s involvement in the steering of the award procedures for the Open Science in Action Prize of the 2019 and 2020 editions of the TOSI Open-Science Symposium.
I am proud of these fledging developments and I anticipate with excitement to see more Grassroots projects grow and flourish. I am also happy to see that all members of the Committee were keen to renew their respective terms for another two-year mandate: their continued commitment is a token of a meaningful sense of purpose for the Grassroots. I also rejoice to see Dr. Jo Anne Stratton and Annabel Seyller step up as co-Chairs of the Committee, for a strong alignment between the aspirations of the Neuro community and TOSI’s executive mandate. New members are also slated to join their efforts over the next few weeks.
I regret I have to leave the Grassroots, due to other commitments, but I believe I leave it on its walking legs, in able hands and equipped with beautiful brains.
With best wishes,
Sylvain.
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Sylvain Baillet, PhD
Professor, Montreal Neurological Institute & Hospital
Associate Dean (Research), Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences
McGill University