August 14, 2025 at 12:00 PM ET
Exploring the Power of Open Research
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In this enlightening webinar, Mark Hahnel, founder of FigShare and a key figure in the open data movement, shared his insights on how researchers can dramatically increase their impact by embracing open data practices. With over 100 attendees, this session explored the evolution from traditional academic publishing to a new paradigm where all research outputs can contribute to scholarly recognition and real-world impact.
Mark's journey began during his PhD in stem cell biology at Imperial College London around 2010-2011. When attempting to publish research videos showing stem cell movement, publishers rejected them citing file size limitations and lack of video support infrastructure. This limitation sparked the creation of FigShare—a platform enabling researchers to make any research output citable, shareable, and discoverable.
The platform expanded beyond Mark's initial needs, welcoming diverse research outputs including:
The numbers tell a compelling story. While academic paper publication has grown from under 2 million annually in 2000 to over 8 million today, dataset publications have experienced even more dramatic growth—now exceeding 2 million datasets published yearly. This represents the same volume of publications as all academic papers combined in the year 2000.
Mark outlined the systematic progression driving open data adoption:
A pivotal moment came in January 2023 when the National Institutes of Health (NIH)—the world's largest biomedical research funder—mandated that all funded researchers must make their data available upon publication.
The webinar highlighted a transformative example: Google DeepMind's breakthrough in protein folding prediction. Using the Protein Data Bank's 170,000-200,000 experimental structures (each costing approximately $100,000 to generate), DeepMind's AI:
This exemplifies the "fourth paradigm of research"—where openly available data enables AI systems to generate new knowledge at unprecedented scales.
Analysis of countries publishing more than 50,000 papers annually reveals fascinating trends:
Research demonstrates tangible career advantages:
The NIH has announced a groundbreaking $1 million prize competition to develop an "S-Index"—a metric specifically designed to reward exemplary data sharing. Similar to the established H-Index for citations, this new measure will:
For data to be truly useful, it must be FAIR:
Mark emphasized that while FigShare handles the technical infrastructure ("the boring stuff"), researchers must invest in quality descriptions and metadata to maximize discoverability and impact.
Unlike traditional academic publications, datasets typically don't undergo formal peer review. Instead, they require editorial checks ensuring completeness, accuracy, and proper documentation—focusing on reproducibility rather than novelty.
Open data publishing generally doesn't compromise IP rights. In fact, it can strengthen them by providing timestamped, persistent evidence of research priority. Researchers should follow the principle of being "as open as possible, as closed as necessary," avoiding sensitive data like patient information or endangered species locations.
Older datasets retain significant value and should be shared. Many universities find that humanities researchers, particularly those nearing retirement, become enthusiastic adopters, digitizing decades of research materials for long-term preservation and access.
Rather than replacing researchers, AI systems amplify human expertise. Mark drew parallels to chess, where human-computer partnerships consistently outperform either humans or computers alone. The key insight: "You won't lose your job to AI—you'll lose your job to someone who's adapted to AI better than you have."
The open data movement represents more than academic policy compliance—it's a pathway to addressing humanity's greatest challenges. Every UN Sustainable Development Goal, from poverty to climate change, will require open data and AI collaboration to achieve meaningful progress.
For researchers, institutions, and funders, the message is clear: the transition to open data practices is accelerating globally. Early adopters will benefit from increased visibility, citation rates, and career advancement opportunities while contributing to scientific breakthroughs that benefit society as a whole.
The webinar concluded with an open Q&A session, reinforcing that the open data revolution is not just changing how we share research—it's transforming how we generate new knowledge and solve complex global challenges.