Regional workshop on freedom of information and HE researchers - Glasgow

Freedom of information legislation (the UK and Scottish Freedom of Information Acts, and the Environmental Information Regulations) is highly relevant to researchers in Higher Education: as creators of information and/or data, they need to comply with the requirements of the law with regards to allowing access to their research outputs; and as users, they might make use of FoI as a means of obtaining information and/or data.

Organisations including RIN, the Information Commissioner’s Office, the Scottish Information Commissioner and Jisc are now examining the implications of FoI for the Higher Education research community, notably with regards to finding ways of dealing with the disclosure of research data. There is a need for evidence-gathering as a first step in a process to provide researchers and their institutions with appropriate guidance and support.

Why attend?

To develop an understanding of the challenges and opportunities represented by FoI, and how they can best be addressed.

Aims of the event:

• To provide an opportunity for initial evidence-gathering, by seeking views from HE researchers about their practices and concerns.
• To identify what might be appropriate to inform and support HE reserarchers in their approach to FoI (training material, guidance, case studies, etc).
• To engage in awareness-raising.

Participants will be able to contribute directly to the formulation of outputs from the workshops, thereby providing them with a real opportunity to influence the way that FoI impacts on their professional lives.