Skip to content

Research cell

Research practice lab

Learners who work on a real research question with a mentor and publish what they find.

Start this cellAll cell types
To launch
3 members
or more
Roles
4
each a credential
Decides by
Consent (sociocratic objection rounds)
yours to change
Joining
By request
set per cell

How it works

The operating model

  1. People

    • Principal investigator1 needed
    • Secretary1 needed
    • Data steward1 needed
    • Ethics contactwhen needed

  2. How it decides

    1. Propose
    2. Discuss
    3. Consent (sociocratic objection rounds)
    4. Record and sign
    • Conflict-of-interest recusal

  3. First work

    • ProjectResearch plan and question
    • ProjectEvidence and literature review
    • IssueAgree authorship and credit
    • IssueWrite the data management plan
    • CallCo-authors and reviewers

  4. Services

    • Data
    • Review hub
    • Translation
    • Learning

Start this cell

Research practice lab

Cells · Risk Academy

What would you like to do?

Type

Each type comes with roles, a decision rule and a first project you can change later.

Cell type

Pick the type closest to your work. Everything can be changed later.

Teams on the ground

Research and learning

Data, systems and tools

Policy, standards and review

Mission and area

What the cell will do, where, and the first problem it takes on.

Search the map for your place, or type it below.

Set the pin on the map, or name the place and give its coordinates.

Enter coordinates
Scale
The problem it works on

Roles and founders

You lead unless you choose someone else. Open roles show on the cell's page for others to take.

Email addresses or member names, one per line. Members get an invitation; others get an email to join.

Who holds each role (you lead unless you choose)
  • Secretary
  • Lead
  • Data steward
  • Ethics contact

Host organisation

The organisation the cell works under. A network body can host it if you have none.

Charter

A starting charter from the type. The founders ratify it by a vote once the cell forms, and can amend it by proposal.

Safeguards on decisions
Who can join
Meets

Safeguarding

Who takes part

With members under 18, a safeguarding contact is named in Roles, and their names are never shown in public.

Find a cell

No cell is open to join here yet

Go back and choose "Form a cell" to start the first one.

Ask to join

What you bring and what you would like to do. An open cell lets you in at once; any other reads your note first.

Your organisation

The network body reviews the offer and lists the organisation as a host.

Cells it can host

Review and submit

Check your answers. You can change any of them later from the cell.

You sign in to submit. Your answers stay in this browser and come back after you sign in.

In detail

Purpose, roles, agreements and expertise

Purpose

Works on a defined research question and produces methods, models, papers and datasets with open outputs and a recorded review.

Roles and what each does
RoleWhat it doesMinimum
Principal investigatorConvenes the cell, holds its mandate from the host and speaks for it.1 required
SecretaryKeeps the records: minutes, decisions, the member list and the cell log.1 required
Data stewardLooks after the cell's data: licences, quality, access and retention.1 required
Ethics contactChecks that work with people, their data or communities has the approvals it needs.Required when the work involves people, their data or communities
The whole starter work programme

First projects

  • Research plan and question
  • Evidence and literature review
  • Open dataset and method note

First issues

  • Agree authorship and credit
  • Write the data management plan
  • Check the ethics approvals needed

Open calls

  • Co-authors and reviewers
Decision rule and agreements

Consent (sociocratic objection rounds)

Adopted when nobody has a reasoned, unresolved objection.

  • Cell charter Required The mission, scope, host, roles, governance model and how the cell closes.
  • Membership agreement Required What members commit to, how they join and leave, and how credit is recorded.
  • Data sharing agreement Optional What data the cell holds, who may use it, for what, and for how long.
  • Intellectual property and open licence Required Who owns the outputs and the open licence they are published under.
  • Code of conduct and safeguarding Required How members treat each other, how concerns are raised, and who acts on them.
Expertise and competence evidence
  • Risk governance and institutions
  • Multi-hazard and compound risk assessment
  • Foresight and futures
  • Climate science, variability and change
  • Systems science and complex systems
  • Data science and statistics
  • Economics and finance
  • Sociology and demography
  • Geoscience and seismology
  • Epidemiology
  • Mathematics and applied mathematics
  • Principal investigator the cell's own field, at capability level 4 (Stewarded practice) Stewarded practice in the cell's field, shown by publications or reviewed contributions.
  • Principal investigator A record of publications or datasets, linked to the member's profile
Where it can form

Guides and support

Privacy choices