An international consortium of over 100 university presidents from five continents called Presidents United to Solve Hunger (PUSH) aims to end hunger and poverty through research, education, student engagement and outreach. A recent study assessed the open access and open data policies of 99 PUSH universities and found that while 15 have open access policies, none have open data policies. The study identified benefits and concerns of open data, and provided recommendations for universities to develop open data policies and infrastructure to support open data practices. These recommendations include communicating benefits, aligning policies with funder expectations, improving faculty compliance, refining policies, and creating infrastructure.

1. Anne Mims Adrian, PhD
Open Data Project Manager, PUSH
Kara Newby
Operations Manager, Hunger Solutions Institute
October 29, 2018
Presidents United to Solve Hunger (PUSH)
and
Open Data a PUSH Universities

2. Presidents United to Solve Hunger (PUSH)

3. Presidents United to Solve Hunger (PUSH)
An international consortium of universities
have the collective mission to end hunger
and poverty, both locally and globally.
Over 100 university presidents from
5 continents have agreed to make food
and nutrition security a priority on their
campus—through research, instruction,
student engagement, and outreach.
www.pushtosign.org

4. PUSH Study and Report – in partnership with GODAN
Assessed 99 PUSH universities’ online open
access and open data policies.
Identified university representatives with
advanced knowledge of institutional open
access and open data policies.
Conducted interviews to understand
policies, infrastructure, and practices of
open access and open data in universities.
Compared findings with the GODAN report
on Donor Open Data Policy and Practice.
Concluded with recommendations for
universities to develop or improve open
access and open data policies.

5. PUSH Open Data Study (2017-2018)
Of 99 PUSH schools, 15 have open access
policies.
Most of open access policies provide licensing
requirements for sharing scholarly works and
allow for faculty to waive the requirement
unless the funder requires open access.
No school has an open data policy.
Open data and data management planning are
driven by funders’ requirements for researchers
to receive funding.

6. Interviews

7. Interviewees’ Recognize Open Data Benefits
Enhance and hasten research and innovation
Provide more transparency to research
Increase citations and recognition for the
faculty and their universities
Increase potential of finding research
collaborators
Connect researchers from various locations
and disciplines
Help provide solutions to wicked problems

8. Interviewees’ Discussed Concerns
Privacy
Protection of university and faculty intellectual
property
Ownership of research-published and not
published
Funders’ contract requirements
Resources needed to provide functional and
secure data management
Faculty not understanding licensing options

9. Comparing GODAN and PUSH Reports
GODAN conducted a study in 2017 with the
United Kingdom Department for International
Development (DFID), United States Agency
for International Development (USAID), and
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
(BMGF).
GODAN reviewed and compared open data
policies of these organizations with ODI’s
checklist of policy elements. They interviewed
and surveyed stakeholders and program
researchers and assessed the data quality of
funded agriculture programs.

10. GODAN Recommendations
Provide resources for researchers and program
managers, including opportunities for peer-learning
among donor organizations and research partners.
Incentivize researchers to publish data by
rewarding quality data production and including
data management support in long term budgets.
Foster a culture of change through openness,
collaboration, and messaging at the highest level of
authority.
Monitor policy implementation and data quality
while improving process by designating these
responsibilities.
Provide access to shared tools for data publication
and consider platform selections.

11. Both GODAN and PUSH Found
Grantees struggle to ensure data quality
through effective data management and the
provision of pathways for responsible data
reuse.
Lack of proper budgeting and institutional
open data policies hinder the process of
opening and publishing data correctly.
Lack of clear directives on where to publish
and low awareness of how researchers can
access published data create barriers to
compliance. This is especially true for
researchers without a mature disciplinary
repository.

12. PUSH Recommendations
I. Communicate the benefits of open data
II. Create alignment between funders’
expectations and universities’
capabilities
III. Improve faculty’s ability to comply with
open access and open data
requirements
IV. Refine and/or develop open access and
open data policies
V. Create infrastructure

13. Questions?
PUSH and how can your university become a
PUSH university
Kara Newby, Operations Manager, Hunger
Solutions Institute, kara.newby@auburn.edu
Advancing open data at universities
Anne Mims Adrian, PhD, PUSH Open Data
Project Manager, aadrian@auburn.edu