May OHBM Open Science Demo Call

By Elizabeth DuPre and Kirstie Whitaker

This month we continued our Open Science Demo Call series with a focus on this year’s OHBM annual meeting in Singapore, and the many ways that OHBM members promote open science at the meeting. We heard from Michele Veldsman, Ayaka Ando, and Aki Nikolaidis from the student and postdoc special interest group; Greg Kiar and Anisha Keshevan from the open science special interest group; and Nils Muhlert from the communications committee.

We first heard from Aki about the Monday Night Social, featuring beautiful views of the Singapore skyline and an announcement of the winners of this year’s Brain Art competition. All OHBM members are encouraged to attend! Ayaka gave us a sneak peak into this year’s career development symposium, 'The Secrets Behind Success' with presentations from Tom Nichols and Lucina Uddin. Michelle told us about the mentorship program, which seeks to support professional growth at all career levels, from masters students to principal investigators. Although mentors and mentees meet at the OHBM annual meeting, you don’t have to be attending to get involved! Aki, Ayaka, and Michelle encourage everyone interested in any of these initiatives to stop by one of their events or reach out on twitter!

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Greg & Anisha

Greg and Anisha then told us about this year’s OHBM BrainHack and TrainTrack. Formerly known as the OHBM hackathon, this is a collaborative event which brings together researchers and scientists from across the neuroimaging community to work together on projects, learn new skills, and engage with the community. While registration for the BrainHack and TrainTrack is sold out, the Open Science Room at OHBM will be hosting demos, workshops, and an open working space throughout the annual meeting. Greg and Anisha encourage everybody to come and find out about the great initiatives and individuals in our open science community!

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Nils visiting the Arab Quarter in Singapore

Nils introduced us to the amazing work the communications committee is doing to spotlight open science at the meeting and throughout the year. They were involved in revamping the OHBM website and maintain a blog highlighting initiatives within the OHBM community (including these demo calls!), as well as educational materials such as the OnDemand courses. Nils pointed out that this provides a great way to stay involved year-round (e.g. workshops on analysing diffusion MRI), even for those who cannot attend the annual meeting. The communications committee also helps promote the excellent brain mapping work carried out around the world, and provides a unique window into the stories of many successful neuroscientists through their keynote interview series. Nils encourages anyone interested in contributing to the blog to sign up!

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We’ll be taking a break next month for the annual meeting, but look forward to starting back up at the end of the summer! If you’d like to nominate yourself or someone else to be featured on these monthly calls, please add their information at this github issue, or email the host of the calls Kirstie Whitaker at kw401@cam.ac.uk. You can also join the OSSIG google group to receive reminders each month.