This year, we are partnering with the Tanenbaum Open Science Institute (TOSI) at the Montreal Neurological Institute to grant 5 BLUE fellowships to students who want to promote Open Science.

TOSI’s mission is twofold:

• Establishing best practices and developing tools and infrastructure to support Open Science at The Neuro

• Encouraging and supporting other Canadian neuroscience institutions to embrace this new way of doing research

These five scholars have been working on projects that seek to break down the silos and barriers preventing the free flow of resources making research possible, and of the outputs (knowledge) resulting from research to further Open Science. Using B21’s signature curiosity- and passion-driven approach to research, the TOSI scholars are exploring how Open Science can enhance a variety of fields.

Tatiana Becerra

Drawing on indigenous ontological and epistemological definitions of learning and knowing, my project  addresses the intricacy of learning, knowledges and literacies, specifically by exploring their emergence from interaction with the land.  I specifically plan to visually and orally narrate land-based [hi]stories from a rural community in northern Colombia. I will curate [hi]stories from a pool of video-data that I obtained during fieldwork for my PhD dissertation. This video-data includes narratives that members of a rural community shared while walking the Land –mountains, fields, rivers, homes, gardens, ponds in their community. Adults and youth share the practices, beliefs, understanding, historical knowledge that sustain their ways of living and being in their rural community. Through my analysis of these [hi]stories, I expect to shed light on the ways knowledge is created from interaction with the Land. For example, how signs and meanings are evoked during Land-human interactions. These portrayal of embodied, land-based [hi]stories may allow us to recognize the value of local knowledges –especially those from rural communities that are often disregarded or deemed as inferior– for understanding how to engage in sustainable and responsible stewardship of the Land.

Alvaro Iturralde Zurita

As researchers, our projects are linked to a lab, whether we use the lab for testing, conducting analysis, or just meeting and exchanging ideas. Having access to these spaces enable us to be a part and contribute to science. However, for those outside of academia, these spaces remain far and the process of research becomes blurry.

In my project, I am exploring how we can break this barrier and bring the lab closer to the people. My proposal includes the creation of an online environment that encourages knowledge exchange and provides tools for students outside of academia to have their first experience conducting research.

Nicia John

It is captivating the way that movement contorts physical and abstract space.

In my daily research on human motor systems, I conceptualize ballet analogies to make sense of complex neural principles. During ballet training, I use scientific theory to recalibrate my procedural perceptions of motor control. Art and science are intricately intertwined and magnificently multiplicative. It is a joy to pursue both fields in equal tandem and to feel inspired by the weight of untouched interdisciplinary possibilities they hold.

This project, creMAP: The Art-Scientist Platform, proposes to construct an open-access network designed to amplify and promote the voices of innovative professionals who approach new ideas with both methodological thought and vast creativity -- the art-scientist. Using cognitive and behavioural principles of human movement as a tool for exploration, I question the process and potential impact of problem-solving with this dual-minded framework. When and why is the practice of art science necessary, and what is its role in developing the human experience?

I believe that art should be used as a tool to bridge the communicative divide between science and society, and through movement, I seek to facilitate the creation of spaces that minimize this gap.

Shuting Wang

I am currently a PhD student in the Faculty of Education at McGill. My background is in biotechnology and molecular biology, and I have been always interested in science education and science communication. My B21 project is focused on developing effective strategies to improve the accessibility of the methods of science.

UNESCO (2013) recognizes science as a paramount collective endeavor and one of the most important channels of knowledge. OECD/PISA defines scientific literacy as the inseparable connection between the knowledge about science and the knowledge about the processes by which scientific knowledge is developed. In today’s intricate information landscape, the way we perceive knowledge and truth, which impacts our decision-making process, should be grounded in reliable methodological tools that enable us to objectively evaluate various claims. Despite a growing sense of mistrust in science, particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the methods of science are still one of the best tools we have when our goal is to reduce uncertainty, increase prediction accuracy, and mitigate our own biases.

Improving the accessibility of the methods of science has the potential to enhance science literacy and foster a better understanding of knowledge. The possible outcome of this project may include greater community involvement in scientific research and a better understanding of socio-scientific issues, like climate change, evolution, and vaccination.

Claudia Baptista Claros

This project explores the question "what are the cybernetic principles of metasystems?" by analysing the sociological, technical, and philosophical characteristics of information ecosystems. Information ecosystems are defined as all the processes and structures, agents and entities, involved in the creation, dissemination, and access to information (Kuehn, 2023). The practice of science, its associated informational outputs, actors such as researchers or administrative personnel, the physical and institutional structures in which the practice of science is carried out, are all elements that jointly create an information ecosystem. By analyzing and formalizing the interdisciplinary body of theory around the concept of an ecosystem, we can better understand what it means for the practice of science to be open/sealed; in what way? To who? Should it always and indiscriminately be open? How can open science create knowledge?