About us | Open Research Competencies Coalition

The open research support and scholarly communications sectors are key growth areas within universities. They support open research practices, open access, repository management, publishing advice, bibliometrics and research data management. However, in the rapid evolution of this sector a skills gap has developed. There are difficulties with identifying and describing the skills needed and in recognising their interconnectedness. This lack of role profiles presents challenges in the recruitment and development of open research support staff. Competencies are usually gained on-the-job, and through self-development. There is a high turnover of trained employees between research support teams and out of the sector.

In addressing the skills gap, ORCC aims to identify and map the skills and competencies needed by the current and future open research support workforce. Professionalising these roles across the sector will achieve the very highest quality of support for researchers. ORCC engages heavily with the library and research management communities through active outreach at community workshops and conferences. A recent workshop organised by ORCC, in cooperation with FAIRsFAIR and EOSC Synergy highlighted the need for UK institutions to take a coordinated and strategic approach to building the competences and capabilities for Open Research.

ORCC was founded in 2017 and was previously known as SC3. Its new name (as of July 2021) is Open Research Competencies Coalition (ORCC). ORCC is not a part of Jisc and is grateful to Jisc for hosting its web page.

Resources about the experience of working in scholarly communications

Blogs and reports about what we have been doing

Research we have done