By Noelle Quenivet and Sarah-Louise Weller
On 20 May 2026 colleagues from across the College of Business and Law (CBL) came together for a focused and practical training session exploring two foundational pillars of contemporary research practice: research governance and open research. The session was delivered by experts from the University to support researchers in navigating compliance requirements and evolving expectations regarding openness.
The session was delivered in two parts. The first part featured an introduction to research governance by Dr Mateja Celestina, Research Integrity Governance and Ethics Manager. This was followed by an exploration of open research led by Jennifer Crossley (Open Research Services Manager), and an overview of the research and data repositories by Charley Vaughton (Open Research Services Librarian).
Understanding the framework: Research governance in practice
The first part of the session introduced the principles and practicalities of research governance. Research governance was defined as the framework of policies, procedures and codes of practice that underpin the management of research and ensure compliance with relevant standards and legal requirements.
As Dr Celestina pointed out, research governance is integral to excellence, not separate from it. Indeed, it is not an administrative burden but a fundamental aspect of research quality. It ensures that research is conducted ethically, safely and with integrity, and that it complies with institutional and external requirements. It also applies universally: to all forms of research and to everyone involved in the research process.
Dr Celestina stressed that good research governance enhances ethical and scientific quality, boosts the reputation of researchers and the University, safeguards participants and protects researchers with a clear framework, minimises risks, promotes continuous improvement, and, crucially, has legal implications.
A significant emphasis was placed on research integrity. As highlighted in the session, excellence in research is inseparable from integrity. High-quality research processes contribute not only to robust outputs but also to public trust, which is essential for the long-term value and impact of research.
The session then moved to the practical application of governance in research planning. From the earliest stages of a project, researchers must consider whether ethical and governance approvals are required. This includes research involving human participants, personal data or biological material, as well as research involving animals. Beyond ethical approvals, the training highlighted a range of governance considerations that may arise depending on the nature of the research. These include projects involving the NHS or Ministry of Defence, studies requiring Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, and compliance with export controls, the National Security and Investment Act, and foreign influence regulations. Researchers working with international collaborators must also undertake due diligence, while projects involving genetic material may need to comply with the Nagoya Protocol.
A key takeaway from this part of the session was the importance of the Research Governance Record. All projects, whether funded or not, and whether requiring formal ethical approval or not, must be recorded. This ensures institutional oversight and supports compliance across the research lifecycle.
Open research: Principles, practices and challenges
Mrs Jennifer Crossley then invited participants to reconsider how research is shared, accessed and re-used in an increasingly open scholarly landscape. The session began with a question: what does open research mean to you? The participants’ attitudes towards open research ranged from support to uncertainty and confusion about its implications. Open research was introduced as an approach grounded in transparency, openness and reproducibility across the entire research lifecycle.
Whilst open research is about making research and its outputs as accessible as possible, Mrs Crossley stressed that it is not limited to publication; it covers the entire process of knowledge production, from methodology and data to peer review. The aim is to enhance public value, research integrity, and opportunities for re-use and innovation. Mrs Crossley also explained that open research can be understood as a set of principles and practices that seek to make knowledge accessible, inclusive and sustainable. In this sense, it is about equity and participation.
Participants were then introduced to practical aspects of open research. Open access publishing is defined as the free and immediate online availability of research outputs, often governed by licences that allow reuse provided proper attribution is given. Different routes (e.g. “green” and “gold”) to open access were explained. A key message was that open access is increasingly expected rather than optional. It is necessary for compliance with funder requirements and for eligibility in research assessment exercises such as the REF. Researchers were reassured, however, that there are multiple ways to achieve this, including through institutional publisher agreements, rights retention policies, and repository deposits.
The training also addressed common concerns about open access, particularly around predatory publishing. Participants were encouraged to critically evaluate publishers, looking for warning signs and using tools such as the “Think. Check. Submit.” initiative to make informed decisions.
Another important aspect of open research covered in the session was research data management. Researchers are required to complete training and develop data management plans for their projects. While sharing data is encouraged, the session acknowledged that this can be challenging, particularly in disciplines where data is complex or sensitive.
Ms Charley Vaughton then introduced the UWE Research Repository and Data Repository as the key institutional resources that enable researchers to make their outputs discoverable and to deposit a wide range of materials (e.g. journal articles, book chapters, reports, videos and datasets).
Importantly, the session recognised that open research is not a one-size-fits-all model and that practices must be adapted to disciplinary contexts.
Concluding reflections
What emerged from the session is a clear sense that research governance and open research are interconnected. Governance provides the structure and safeguards that ensure research is conducted responsibly, while open research extends the reach and impact of that work by making it accessible and reusable.
For researchers in the College of Business and Law, the session offered clarity and reassurance. While the landscape of research policy and practice may seem complex, the tools, frameworks and support available within the University are designed to enable compliance while also supporting creativity and innovation.
This blog post was written with assistance from Co-Pilot and Grammarly to improve its structure and clarity.