Discussion

How To Use These Prompts

Use these prompts for breakout activities, quick pair work, or end-of-session reflection. They are grouped by course theme so you can return to them across the programme rather than treating discussion as a one-off activity.

Digital Tools and Research Identity

Use alongside Digital Tools.

  1. Which digital systems are essential in your current workflow, and where do they overlap or conflict?
  2. Where do people in your team store files now, and which part of that setup feels most fragile?
  3. What makes a researcher identity feel consistent across ORCID, RIS, local profiles, and outputs?
  4. Which digital security habit would reduce the most risk for your current work?
  5. How do you record where a paper was found and why you retained it?
  6. What would help a co-author check your reading notes, citations and document revisions?

Digital Delivery and Coordination

Use alongside Digital Delivery.

  1. Where does work in your team become stuck: planning, handover, review, or follow-up?
  2. What would a two-week research sprint look like in your context?
  3. Which responsibilities are clear in your projects, and which are assumed but undocumented?
  4. What would shared ownership look like in practice rather than as a slogan?

Governance, Ethics, and Data Protection

Use alongside Data Governance & Policy.

  1. What kinds of data in your work are obviously high risk, and which are easy to underestimate?
  2. When people say “we have consent”, what important governance questions may still be unanswered?
  3. Which project decisions should be escalated early rather than solved informally?
  4. Where are role boundaries around controller, processor, PI, and project team currently unclear?

Research Data Management

Use alongside Research Data Management.

  1. If someone joined your project tomorrow, what would they struggle to find or understand?
  2. Which part of your current DMP or data handling plan is most vague in practice?
  3. How do you currently separate raw, cleaned, and derived data, if at all?
  4. What is one realistic step that would make your data more reusable in six months?

Group Debrief Format

After a small-group discussion, ask each group to report:

  • Summarise one practical change your group recommends.
  • Identify one barrier to implementing that change.
  • Propose one realistic first step for the next 2–4 weeks.

End-of-Course Reflection

Use these prompts near the end of the course or as follow-up reflection.

  1. Which one part of your workflow do you now see differently?
  2. What is one decision you can make more confidently than before?
  3. Which support service, platform, or practice do you need to engage with next?
  4. What will you change first: tooling, documentation, governance, collaboration, or analysis practice?

For follow-up practice and templates, use Additional Material.

Course Navigation

Course Overview · Setup · Additional Material · Reference · Discussion