ReproducibiliTea in Bordeaux: celebrating three years of success

ReproducibiliTea in Bordeaux: celebrating three years of success, the first Open Science workshop in the Neurocampus, and coming back soon with new hosts!

ReproducibiliTea is a worldwide Open Science (OS) initiative spread to more than 100 institutions in 25 countries. It came to Bordeaux in January 2021.

We have reached a significant milestone of completing three years of our journey, during which we conducted several informative sessions and presentations on enhancing research practices, and hosted our first-ever Open Science workshop at the Neurocampus. We are now preparing to welcome new hosts: Carmen Guerrero and Jakob Scharnholz! In this article, we would like to summarize the highlights of our journey so far and introduce our new skippers.

2023 Highlights

Eduarda Centeno and Fjola Hyseni during the Reproducible Research Days at Institut Pasteur in Paris.

Eduarda and Fjola were invited to participate in the Reproducible Research Days at Institut Pasteur in Paris. They talked about their experience with Open Science and hosting the BordeauxTea when they were PhD students. The event focused on reproducibility in science and aimed to start a reproducibility network in France.

The OS Workshop 2023 – Bordeaux Neurocampus

Between the 16 and 20th of October last year, the BordeauxTea brought to the Neurocampus the first-ever edition of an Open Science workshop aiming to bring practical and theoretical sessions on how to implement this new framework in the research cycle. It was designed as a step-by-step guide and was organized by motivated young and senior researchers who firmly believe that reproducible and transparent research practices should be at the core of scientific training and projects. This successful workshop was also part of Eduarda’s application for an Open Science prize in Canada.

On behalf of the organization, we want to pour out some heartfelt appreciation to everyone who made the 1st Open Science Workshop 2023 happen. Thank you to all the organizers, Arthur Leblois, Deepshika Arasu, Yoni Couderc, Chloé Mercier, Nathan Trouvain, Juan Garcia-Ruiz, Ankur Gupta, and Carmen Guerrero who accepted our proposal to join this project and work hard with us. Thank you to the graduate program that supported us and provided much-needed funding. This allowed us to offer registration, meals, and social events free of charge. Moreover, thank you to Anna Beyeler, Arthur Leblois, and Nicolas Rougier for contributing with a total of five travel grants. Finally, thank you to Armand Blondieux for helping with all administrative procedures, to Arnaud Rodriguez for advertising the workshop, and again to Nicolas Rougier, for his invaluable advice and support, before and during the workshop.

We are happy to say that we had a total of 20 amazing speakers and experts in their fields. They presented the general picture of OS and Reproducibility, Citizen Science, Data Management Plans, Preregistration and Registered Reports, protocols.io, good practices in the lab and coding, open data, open access, open peer review, and science outreach. Not only that but practical sessions were held after the talks, allowing the participants to practice the theoretical information and to interact with speakers.

We also want to thank all the participants for trusting the program and being there early in the morning every day, and most importantly for the level of their engagement and the passionate discussions. Half of our participants were from the University of Bordeaux and half were external, from Spain, Portugal, Germany, Brazil, and India. The majority of participants were from the neuroscience domain and mostly PhD students. However, postdocs and ERC were also present.

Some goodbyes and some hellos

From left to right: Jakob, Carmen, Eduarda, Fjola

After an incredible three years, Fjola and Eduarda will be leaving BordeauxTea. Carmen and Jakob, both first-year PhD students at the Institute of Neurodegenerative Diseases (IMN), will be taking their place. Jakob’s thesis will focus on investigating the effect of alpha-synuclein pathology on the neural network dynamics in the striatum. Meanwhile, Carmen will study the relationship between cortical structures and basal ganglia during song learning.

Carmen and Jakob have planned three warm-up sessions for the BordeauxTea academic semester. The sessions will take place in April, May, and June. The first session will be an introductory session on the Open Science movement. Whether you are an expert in Open Science or just starting to learn about it, you are welcome to join. Carmen and Jakob plan to use the feedback and inputs from these sessions to create something bigger for the next academic year (2024/2025). If you are interested in learning more about Open Science or sharing your ideas/opinions, you can attend the first session in April. To stay updated, you can subscribe to their newsletter.

Personal notes from the team

“The BordeauxTea was like my baby project. I remember the day I started discussing it with Cristina Lemos, who, in an always very supportive tone, helped me launch it and navigate the administrative waters up to turning it into what it is today. She also introduced me to the first co-host: big thanks for being at the beginning of this adventure with me, Dana Conlisk.
In the second year, I had the pleasure of having Fjola join me in steering the boat – a successful partnership that continues until today. I cannot explain how essential it was to have you on my side, girl!
Seeing this project hit the mark of three years with so many remarkable achievements and now pass the ball to two colleagues and friends I respect and admire is a perfect closing for me.
This project has taught me so much professionally and personally, and I am very grateful to every person who made it go beyond a scientific discussion and also turned it into a safe space for honest and open conversations about research and personal matters.
I will always remember the BordeauxTea as this sparkle that lightened up into beautiful friendships, rich discussions, challenges – and a lot of tea, of course! I’m looking forward to seeing it grow in the hands of Carmen and Jakob!”

Eduarda Centeno

“An important and unexpected aspect of my scientific journey in Bordeaux has been my involvement in Open Science and Reproducibility. I am very thankful to Eduarda for introducing me to the BordeauxTea. In the beginning, I was just one of the attendees enjoying the sessions, and then I was ecstatic at Eduarda’s proposal to join her in the organization in the journal club’s second year. Looking back at the experience, I realize that it has fully been done with passion and it has never felt overwhelming or tiring in any way. I have read, learned, and discussed so much on a variety of different topics and it has had a significant impact on how I see science. I have even had the pleasure of listening to the talks twice or three times during the editing process, and even then, they were not boring. I believe initiatives like these are among the best ways to understand a topic deeply and they need to be more present in Open Science, especially among students and as part of their education. BordeauxTea, for me, will always remain a beautiful project. Last but not least, I am extremely proud of the very loyal participants/our friends. I believe this is a telling that this journal club achieved its purpose in making young researchers want to learn and hopefully implement such OS knowledge in the future.”

Fjola Hyseni

“Hey everyone, I am excited to join the Open Science movement. I am quite a newbie myself and have much to explore still. It would be awesome if we could start this journey together!”

Jakob Scharnholz

“After having the opportunity to learn the ropes with Fjola and Eduarda, it is a great pleasure for both of us to continue the legacy of Open Science in Bordeaux. We encourage you deeply to take part in the movement with us. Come join us, everybody is welcome!”

Carmen Guerrero