Batool Almarzouq
Research Project Manager, Alan Turing Institute, London, UK
Lead of Open Science Community Saudi Arabia
Event Registration (opening soon)
When
Pre-conference workshops: September 22, 2025, 2 – 5pm
Main unconference – Inaugural key lecture and come together: September 22, 2025, 5pm
Project work: September 23 – 24, 2025
Where
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum
Format
In presence only. Due to the highly interactive and collaborative unconference format, hybrid and remote participation will not be possible.
Language
The communication language of the unconference is English.
Programme Organizing Committee
About the Event
This event is hosted by the QUEST Center for Responsible Research | Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité , the Einstein Foundation Award for Promoting Quality in Research and EXCELScIOR ERA Chair | University of Coimbra.
Responsible Research in Action (RRiA) Unconference 2025 - A Collaborative Event for Everyone Ready To Improve Research Culture From the Inside
The RRiA Unconference 2025 invites you to step out of the traditional conference format and into an interactive, team-based environment focused on how research is done.
Join us from September 22-24, 2025 in Berlin.
We will work in interdisciplinary teams and discuss various aspects of responsible research and co-create actionable solutions for current issues.
Whether you're driven to improve research culture, want to rethink how science is evaluated, or design new models of funding and collaboration — this event is for you!
This is a unique opportunity to work alongside different stakeholders from the research ecosystem on practical change projects — not just to talk about improving research practice, but to help build it.
What Is an Unconference?
An Unconference is a participant-driven, interactive, unconventional meeting designed to maximize informal exchanges and stimulate discussions that typically occur during networking breaks at traditional conferences. At the RRiA Unconference, you won’t be listening to endless presentations — at this particular event, you’ll learn from conversations and activities, while working hands-on and collaborating with a team in a project towards a defined goal. Concretely, you will have the opportunity to
• Join one of ten RRiA project teams, based on your interests and expertise.
• Work in teams of up to 20 participants representing a mix of disciplines, backgrounds and career stages.
• Co-develop practical outputs like toolkits, recommendations, frameworks, white papers etc.
In order to reach this interactivity, this event is in-person only. The working language is English.
RRiA Projects
Following our open call, submitted projects from over the world were peer reviewed by the Programme Organizing Committee. As a result, ten projects were selected to be addressed at the RRiA Unconference. RRiA projects aim to tackle real challenges in research practice, covering several fields of action, from reproducibility and preregistration to funding and research assessment reform.
Find the list of RRiA Projects here.
Soon, you will also find some explanatory videos on this site. We asked the RRiA Project Leaders to introduce their projects and highlight the types of expertise that would be especially valuable for their project.
RRiA Project Teams
Project Team Leaders are the persons who submitted project ideas that were selected by the Programme Organizing Committee.
Apart from the Project Team Leaders, the RRiA Unconference 2025 will receive around 150 regular attendees, who will select to actively participate in one project.
The size of each project team will be decided in consultation with the Project Team Leaders and will not exceed 20 persons per group.
Who should join?
We invite scientists at all career levels, e.g. early-career, mid-career or seniors, as well as other stakeholders involved in any aspect of research, such as project managers, funders, publishers and editors, regulators, and other members of research institutions to join the Unconference and to contribute actively within the RRiA projects, seeking to enhance responsible research culture and practice.
RRiA Pre-Conference Workshops (Optional)
On September 22, 2 - 5pm, we’ll offer interactive workshops for those who want to build skills in leading and contributing to research improvement projects.
Find the list of RRiA Projects here.
Workshops are optional to attend for registered participants at no additional costs, but seats are limited - reserve yours early! You will receive a link with the option to do so after you have registered for the Unconference.
Registration
Once you’ve found the project that best matches your interest and expertise, you’ll be able to register for that specific RRiA project.
Keep in mind that by signing up for a project, you are committing to work with that team throughout the duration of the Unconference. To ensure continuity and team cohesion, it is not possible to switch between projects during the event.
Registration Fees
Note that the Unconference is a non-profit, community-driven event. To help cover venue, meals, and materials, we charge a reduced participation fee of 200 € for students and PhD candidates, and 300 € for all other participants.
Fees include:
• Working on the selected RRiA project on September 23 and 24, 2025
• (Optional) Attendance at one pre-conference workshop on September 22, 2 - 5pm (limited number of places, assigned as first come, first served – register early and secure your seat!)
• Keynote lecture on September 22, 5pm
• Welcome Reception on September 22, 6 - 9pm, as well as the Networking Dinner on September 23, 7 - 10pm
•Coffee breaks from September 22 to 24, as well as lunch on September 23.
Travel & Accommodation
Participants are responsible for their own travel and lodging. Try book early - the Berlin Marathon takes place shortly before the Unconference, and hotels will fill up fast.
Venue address
Charité - Campus Virchow Klinikum (CVK)
Forum 3
Augustenburger Platz 1
13353 Berlin
: Google Maps link
Coordinates: 52°32'27.8"N 13°20'23.7"E
How To Get There
The nearest metro station is the (Underground) U-Bahn line 9 (U9), Station Amrumer Strasse.
Go to the official BVG Berlin transportation website https://www.bvg.de/en/connections and search there for the best connection option from the place you arrive to Berlin (airport, main train station, others).
The venue and plenty of hotels are located in the city transportation zones A/B. For better orientation, see the BVG maps here.
Please note that the Berlin airport lies within the zone C. For single travels from the airport to the venue or back, you will need a single ABC ticket. Alternatively, if you already have e.g. a one-day AB ticket, you may buy only an “extension” ticket (Anschlusskarte), to “add” the zone C to your AB ticket, see here.
After the event: Outlook
The Responsible Research in Action Unconference will also include opportunities for cross-pollination and networking among different projects. At the culminating session, each group will briefly present what they accomplished, including challenges, outputs created during the Unconference, and plans for further work after the event, including
• Sharing their outputs on the Open Science Framework (OSF)
• Creating a brief project summary video
• Planning next steps for wider implementation or further development
