Graduation guide

Before You Begin: Important Notes for Mentees

Please note that mentees are not required to finalise or execute their projects exactly as initially proposed or planned in order to graduate from the program. Open Seeds is designed to support individuals or teams in advancing their research projects with a focus on making them open. We understand that this process involves planning, collaboration, and task execution, which often extends beyond the 16-week program duration.

The primary criterion for success in Open Science and eligibility for graduation in the Open Seeds program is progress in terms of “process,” not “product.” It is entirely acceptable to change directions during your participation, or even to conclude that the project does not need to continue, as long as genuine reflection and thoughtful consideration are evident.

How does the OLS team evaluate genuine reflection?

This evaluation is conducted by mentors who work closely with mentees throughout the program. Mentors help mentees reflect on their progress and assess whether meaningful thought and effort have been invested.

What do mentors consider during this assessment?

Mentors evaluate whether mentees have made consistent efforts to:

Actively engage with the Open Seeds program by attending cohort calls, coming prepared for mentor meetings, and interacting with other participants through platforms such as cohort calls, Slack, and GitHub issues.
Advance the open science aspects of their projects by completing assignments provided in Open Seeds that help them critically evaluate and incorporate openness into their work.
Show interest in the topics introduced in Open Seeds by exploring these topics further, identifying relevant resources from the open science community to deepen their understanding, and seeking feedback from experts to refine their project.
Demonstrate a commitment to advancing open science principles within their network by sharing their project through presentations, participating in events, or engaging in online communication to promote open science.

Requirements for Graduation from the Open Seeds Program by OLS:

Cohort Calls: Attend cohort calls or watch the recorded videos if attendance is not possible.
Mentor-Mentee Meetings: There are a total of 7-8 mentor-mentee calls throughout the programme. All participants should schedule and attend mentor-mentee meetings regularly unless a valid reason is provided and confirmed by their mentor(s).
Mentor Confirmation: Receive a “yes” from your mentor(s) confirming your active participation and engagement as listed above.
Vision and Mission Statements: Create and discuss your Vision and Mission statements with your mentor.
Open Canvas: Develop and discuss your Open Canvas with your mentor.
Roadmap: Prepare and discuss your project Roadmap with your mentor.
Online sharing of their work: Create a GitHub repository, or website, or use other online ways of sharing their work with open license. This could even be just their final presentation shared via Zenodo.
Updates via OLS’s GitHub issue: Sharing their progress and link to their assignments on an issue under a GitHub repository created by the OLS team for their respective cohort (see example for OLS-9]
Skill-Building Participation: Participate in at least one skill-up session or thematic session, unless a valid reason is provided and confirmed by your mentor(s).
Community management resources: Developed one or more community management-related resources, like contributing guidelines and Code of Conduct, personas and pathways, Mountain of Engagement or other resources that can help them think about participatory aspects of their work.
Mid-Term Survey: Complete the mid-term survey for project leads/mentees.
Final Presentation: Deliver a 5-minute presentation and attend one of the graduation calls for their cohort.

Preparing for graduation

Prepare Your Five-Minute Presentation

Your Learning Process: Share key lessons and insights gained during your time in the program, and how these have shaped your approach to open science.
Progress in Your Work: Highlight the milestones you’ve achieved, challenges you’ve addressed, and any significant developments in your project.
Open Questions: Identify areas where you’d like feedback or support, and specific questions you hope the community can help address.
Invitation to Collaborate: You can also invite others to join your project as collaborators or advisers, sharing how they can contribute.
Next Steps: If known, outline your future goals and plans to continue advancing open science in your work and network.

This presentation is also a great opportunity to acknowledge and thank those who have supported you on this journey.

Before your graduation

Please discuss your plan with your mentor in the meetings before graduation.
Sign up for one of the graduation rehearsal and feedback sessions (Week 15). During these sessions, you can refine your presentation and receive valuable feedback from peers and mentors.
Refer to your cohort’s schedule or public calendar to find the times for a graduation call (Week 16) and sign up for the session that works best for you.
If possible, please use the Open Seeds slides template and OLS logo in your presentation.
If it is a group project, we would prefer if all project members are present during the graduation call, and more than one person speaks/delivers the presentation.
Please upload your presentation on Zenodo, and include ‘openlifesci’ in the ‘community’ section. This will allow us to feature your presentation on our Zenodo community page.

What happens if an emergency occurs?

If something unexpected happens and you cannot prepare your presentation in the expected timeframe, please get in touch with us - team@we-are-ols.org - and we will get back to you to discuss your case.

Graduates and their projects

Upon your graduation, as an Open Seeds OLS cohort graduate, you can call yourself an OLS Fellow and Alumna/Alumnus.

All OLS fellows are part of our community and are invited to return to future cohorts as mentors, speakers, facilitators or other roles. They will continue to use our Slack workspace and can engage with the OLS community.

What happens if you do not graduate?

Can participants who don’t graduate still say they participated?

Yes, you can say you participated in the program, even if you didn’t complete it.

Can you apply to OLS again?

Absolutely! You can reapply with the next stage of the same project or with a different project altogether. If OLS invites applications through open calls for participation, you’ll have the opportunity to explain in your proposal any challenges or hurdles that prevented you from continuing in the previous cohort. Additionally, we will seek feedback from your mentor about their observations and recommendations for changes to improve your experience in the next cohort.

Additional Information

If you are a team of 3 or more people, does everyone have to present in one of the graduation sessions or participate in the recorded presentation? No, although we prefer all team members to be present in the graduation sessions, and that they present in the pre-recorded presentations.
If you are a team of people, does everyone have to complete the requirements listed in this document in order to graduate? Yes. The requirements apply to each participant.
If you didn’t graduate, can you be nominated by your mentor to become a mentor? Some of our participants are open science practitioners and experts and hence can be nominated as a mentor. We would prefer that you graduate from the programme unless there is a valid reason you or your mentor can share with the OLS team.
Can people nominate themselves to be invited back as experts, facilitators or mentors? Graduates can nominate themselves as experts and facilitators. They can express their interest in joining as mentors, but we will confirm your readiness to mentor from your mentor.
Can people be nominated by other OLS community members despite not having graduated? Yes, but we would prioritise graduates in the next cohort to ensure fair opportunity is given to folks who have engaged in the programme.

See below for more information about weeks 15 and 16

Week-15 Information: Rehearsal calls

During week 15 we organise graduation rehearsal calls. These calls are not recorded and their purpose is to help mentees rehearse their presentations, get feedback from OLS team members and other fellow mentees and therefore make a better graduation presentation.

Before this call:

Prepare to share a 5-minute presentation of your project - it doesn’t have to be a polished or finished presentation.
If you are unsure what to present, your mock presentation can also be a snapshot of your entire presentation.
This mock presentation can be in the form of a demo, a short 1-2 slide presentation or a walk through your website or other materials you find appropriate.

During these calls:

The OLS team will start by introducing how to give and receive constructive feedback.
They will create small breakout rooms where participants will present their project mock presentation to each other.
Participants will share feedback on others’ projects and presentations to help each other prepare for the final presentation required for graduation.

After these calls:

Participants will integrate feedback from their peers into their presentation
Prepare to give a live 5 minutes presentation or pre-record their talk (confirmed by the organisers)
When pre-recording, please send a copy of your recording to the OLS team who will review and upload your video to the OLS’s YouTube channel

Week 16: Mode of Graduation Calls

While the criteria and requirements for graduation remain unchanged, the OLS team will plan the format of graduation calls based on the cohort size.

For cohorts of up to 45 mentees or mentee groups, each will have 5 minutes during the graduation call to present their graduation presentation.

For cohorts with more than 45 mentees or project groups (such as OLS-9, which includes 110 mentees), each will be required to:

Submit a 5-minute recorded presentation to the OLS-9 team by the end of Week 15, who will upload it to the OLS YouTube channel.
Attend one of the graduation calls to share highlights of their OLS-9 journey and express gratitude to those who supported them.

Please refer to weekly emails, particularly during Weeks 13–14 of Open Seeds, for important updates and instructions.

(Optional) Prompts for your presentation

Here are a few questions to help you generate ideas and content for your graduation presentation. Your notes to these prompts can be used to write a speed blog or a final report.

Project background

Tell us what motivated you to work on your OLS project.

Goals and expectations in OLS

What did you expect or hope to learn from participating in OLS?
Missions and goals set at the beginning of the OLS process.

Goals achieved, key understanding, accomplishments

List 2-3 things you’ve learned or accomplished whilst participating.
Was this the same as the goals you originally set?

OLS journey

Initial steps: Starting out - what did you do to explore the problems/project?
What elements helped you get there: Discussions, connections made, activities carried out, mentors consulted, other?
Did you apply anything you learned to other projects or areas in your life?

Next steps

My immediate next step: Whether you’re launching something, bringing someone new in, adding governance, or writing up a project plan or case study - what’s happening next?
Longer term tasks: What will be the long-term goals and sustainability plans - this can also be about starting your project if you did not do that already

Staying connected

What is your call for action? how can people collaborate in your project? Where can someone help or learn about your project? Include links to your work!
Do you plan to stay in touch with the OLS community or other members? If yes, how do you think you can do that?

Special mentions and acknowledgements Please mention ideas, lessons and people who helped you achieve whatever you could in this project so far.

Optional Reflection

Optional Speed Blog

You can write a speedblog and share it with the OLS team. We will post your speedblog on the OLS website. See this post for guidance on speed blogging, or explore our guide for further direction. Below are some examples of speed blogs from previous cohorts: