Dr Stanley Blue from the School of Social Sciences has become the first ever winner of the Elaine Sykes Open Research Award.

Open Research champions the idea that all types of scholarly outputs (including data) should be shared as freely as possible and as early as possible in the research process.

His entry entitled 'Building Open Research Infrastructure: Establishing The Journal of Practice Theory through Open Journal Systems at Lancaster University' describes the development of the first new international, peer-reviewed, open access journal to be published at Lancaster University using Open Journal Systems (OJS).

Dr Blue said: “It is an honour to receive the inaugural Elaine Sykes Open Research Award. The project demonstrates how relatively modest investments in open research infrastructure can create significant opportunities for the University. I hope the platform will support a growing range of open access publications and help further raise the visibility and international reach of Lancaster’s world-leading research.”

The award is dedicated to the memory of the late Elaine Sykes, Head of Open Research in the Library between 2022 and 2025. It recognises the university’s efforts to undertake Open Research practices and approaches that facilitate more equitable access to knowledge.

Andrew Barker, now Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Student Experience and Colleges, was the Director of Library Services where he worked with Elaine.

He said: “Elaine was a huge advocate of open research at Lancaster University where she encouraged all of us to think differently about the role Lancaster University Library could play in taking a lead both institutionally and nationally. She understood this would require both courage and leadership - but she was never short of either. It therefore feels fitting that as we come to the first anniversary of her death on June 6, the award in her name goes to celebrate the embedding of open research practices within our university, something she was working hard to achieve throughout her time at Lancaster.”

Dr Blue will receive the opportunity to host an exhibition or event in the library to showcase his research.

He said: I’d like to thank Tom Morley and the Library’s Open Research Team for their partnership in bringing the Open Journal Systems platform to Lancaster.”

See the model of The Journal of Practice Theory here.

See more information about the open access publishing platform here.