2025 UKRN Local Network Leads Retreat – London School of Economics

Jun 10, 2025 | Blog, UKRN Community

This year’s UKRN Local Network Leads (LNL) retreat brought together 34 LNLs from 28 institutions across the UK for two days at the London School of Economics. The LNL community continues to expand not just in size, but in diversity, with representation from a wider range of disciplines, institutions, and professional roles. This is a testament to the growing momentum behind grassroots efforts to improve research culture, which now sits at over 90 LNLs at 74 universities and research institutes. 

One of the highlights from Monday’s sessions was hearing updates from LNLs and the UKRN team, which provided a valuable snapshot of the diverse, fun, and impactful work happening across the network. The series of short talks are listed below. We also had updates about the exciting and newly established special interest groups, which focused on specific areas or methods to support adoption of open research practices, which include Meta-research, Computational Reproducibility, Qualitative Research, Arts Research, Sharing Methods & Protocols, Games-based Approaches. 

Seeing these new voices contributing fresh perspectives and championing creative, discipline-specific approaches to change was energizing. This wasn’t just a showcase – it was a reflective space to talk honestly about what worked, what didn’t, and how we might move forward together. It was refreshing to be part of a culture that celebrates experimentation and sees setbacks as useful feedback, not failure. The positivity in the room was matched by a spirit of collaboration, offering support, sharing templates, and cheering each other on.

It was also great to hear about the fantastic work being done at LSE by Institutional Lead Niamh Tumelty and LNL Matteo Galizzi. Their efforts to build sustainable open research infrastructure and practices are now gaining serious traction. After years of supporting UKRN activities and laying the groundwork for cultural change at LSE, it’s encouraging to see that this investment is now translating into real institutional impact through the Open Research Working Group.

One of the most heartening aspects of this year’s retreat was seeing the many new and sustained initiatives emerging from the LNL community, particularly from new LNLs. One of the great strengths of the UKRN LNL model is that it welcomes a continuous stream of fresh ideas and enthusiasm. Each new LNL brings unique insights and a willingness to try new things, often shaped by the context of their own institutions. And crucially, they’re never alone – they join a thriving community of fellow LNLs who are all too happy to lend a hand, share materials, or offer reassurance from having tried something similar before.

The Tuesday morning parallel sessions were a perfect example of this vibrancy in action. Topics ranged from infrastructure, authorship, research integrity, and funding (again, details listed at the bottom). If you missed one of these sessions, please do reach out to the session leads – each is keen to continue the conversation and welcome collaboration on their project. 

As ever, though, it was the informal moments that brought the retreat to life: the chats over coffee (and beer), the shared frustrations and breakthroughs over lunch, and the spontaneous brainstorming that emerged in the quieter gaps. 

The retreat ended with postcard action plans, which we all look forward to reading in 6-months to see how well we are doing in achieving the goals we set ourselves. What the postcard will also remind me of though is that the LNL network isn’t about perfection. It’s about persistence, creativity, and community. This year’s retreat more than ever proved that when those ingredients come together, positive change doesn’t just feel possible – it feels certain. 

I shall very much enjoy opening my postcard to get that bolt of collective energy from the retreat!

Hope to see you all next year!

Samuel Westwood, PhD

Short Talks

Please contact those listed if you would like to hear more about their activities and initiatives

  • The Institute for Replication event – Josefina Weinerova (local-nottingham@ukrn.org)
  • A UKRI meta-science funding application – Kait Clark (local-uwe@ukrn.org)
  • Writing retreats and funding sandpits – Joe Corneli (local-brookes@ukrn.org)
  • UKRN’s Special Interest Groups – Will Gawned (contact@ukrn.org)
  • ReproducibiliTea disicipline-specific resources – Hazel Aileen van der Walle (hazel.a.van-der-walle@durham.ac.uk)
  • The intersection of REF PCE indicators and Open Research – Tom Morley (local-lancaster@ukrn.org)
  • Working across faculties – Stef Juncu (local-port@ukrn.org)
  • Pilot initiative on integrating pre-registration into the research ethics process -Michel Belyk (local-edgehill@ukrn.org)  –  
  • Events run in the first year – Clement Lee (local-ncl@ukrn.org)  
  • First steps for a new LNL – Shames Maskeen (S.Maskeen@leedstrinity.ac.uk)  
  • Activities – Geetika Jain (local-keele@ukrn.org) 
  • iRISE (improving Reproducibility In SciencE) – Gill Currie (local-ed@ukrn.org)  

Parallel Sessions

Please contact those listed to get involved in their projects