Introduction
The Turing Way is a flagship project of The Alan Turing Institute. Shared as an open source community-driven handbook on data science, the project promotes best practices for reproducible, ethical, inclusive and collaborative research. To date, 490+ diverse contributors from international organisations have collaborated to develop 300+ chapters and resources, which are available across guides on reproducibility, project design, communication, collaboration, research ethics and community. Hosted under the Tools, Practices and Systems Research Programme, the project draws expertise from the institute’s Community Management, Research Application Management, Academic Skills and Research Engineering Teams.
The Turing Way Practitioners Hub is an extension of The Turing Way that engages and involves industry experts, called Experts in Residence (EiRs), from partnering organisations. This initiative aims to advance their efforts in promoting best practices in data science and AI, especially around open source, open data and reproducibility.
The Practitioners Hub serves as a platform for cross-sector collaboration, knowledge exchange, and strategic partnerships, spanning various sectors and data science initiatives, including but not limited to the small and medium-sized (SME) enterprises in BridgeAI network. By leveraging a cohort-based approach, we build a shared understanding of open source principles, open data practices, cross-sector collaboration, research reproducibility, and ethical considerations in the context of data science and AI. EiRs are supported to develop case studies with stakeholders in their networks, sharing insights into the successes and challenges associated with the adoption of AI within their respective sectors. This is combined with customised training, expert consultation and collaborative opportunities, contributing to the improvement and adoption of data science practices that enhance the quality, viability, and real-world impact of data science and AI technologies in their sectors.
Learn more about our Experts in Residence from 2023 and 2024 cohorts.
All resources including case studies developed by cohort members are shared under the CC-BY 4.0 License on the Practitioners Hub community page of Zenodo.
This work is supported by Innovate UK BridgeAI.
The project has also received funding and support from the Ecosystem Leadership Award under the EPSRC Grant EP/X03870X/1 & The Alan Turing Institute.
2024 Cohort
The Practitioners Hub is excited to welcome the 2024 cohort joined by EiRs from 20 organisations. To learn more about them, please check out the Practitioners Hub's Expert in Residence page.
Between September 2024 and February 2025, we will host a series of workshops and cohort-based activities, including skills-related training and expert coaching/consultation. Additionally, we will organise events on open source and related themes in AI, which will be opened to a broader community of organisations and industry practitioners.
EiRs will also engage with The Turing Way team, our network of advisors and other domain experts in the cohort to build skills, exchange knowledge and develop a long-term strategy for scaling their efforts using industry best practices in data science and AI. They will be supported in implementing best practices drawn from The Turing Way, including open source, open data, cross-sector collaboration, research reproducibility and ethical approaches.
Previous Cohorts
Overview of 2023 Cohort
In 2023, we worked with the inaugural cohort of Practitioners Hub joined by five EiRs representing their organisations respectively: Office of National Statistics, Genomics England, British Antarctic Survey, Energy Systems Catapult and Digihaul.
Each EiR engaged across a range of activities in the Practitioners Hub including expert-led workshops, case study curation from their respective organisations and peer-mentoring activities. In addition, each EiR was offered personal coaching/consultation and support in accelerating the impact of their work as open source/science, reproducibility and The Turing Way champions.
Case Studies from the 2023 Cohort
We are very excited to share the following case studies co-developed with the EiRs:
- Meta Case Study: Organisational Adoption of Open and Responsible AI: Meta Case Study from The Turing Way Practitioners Hub Cohort 1. Zenodo, 4 Mar. 2024, doi:10.5281/zenodo.10777730.
- "The power of collaboration: creating maximum value from open source energy projects." Zenodo, 12 Feb. 2024, doi:10.5281/zenodo.10338376.
- "AI in transportation: DigiHaul's vision for decarbonizing the UK's road network." Zenodo, 12 Feb. 2024, doi:10.5281/zenodo.10338551.
- "Genomics England and The Turing Way: a path to open science in a sensitive data landscape." Zenodo, 12 Feb. 2024, doi:10.5281/zenodo.10338456.
- "Meet the ONS open sourcers: promoting practices for working in the open." Zenodo, 12 Feb. 2024, doi:10.5281/zenodo.10338293.
- "Exploring the intersection of data science and open practices at British Antarctic Survey." Zenodo, 12 Feb. 2024, doi:10.5281/zenodo.10337801.
Video recording from The Turing Way Practitioners Hub Fireside Chat launching these case studies is available on our YouTube channel.
