Announcing Funding for the Seeds to Systems Initiative

- Malvika, Yo, Patricia

Tom Rogers (Unsplash License)

OLS is thrilled to announce the ‘Seeds to Systems’ initiative made possible by generous funding from the Open Science Program of Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI). This funding will build up OLS’s capacity to support individuals and teams in biomedical and related research fields who are ready to transition their open source/science projects to the next stage.

This announcement marks a significant beginning of OLS’s new strategic direction for 2025-2030, reinforcing our commitment to fostering a thriving open science ecosystem. Building upon the proven success of our flagship program, Open Seeds, the ‘Seeds to Systems’ initiative will support open research projects (the “seeds”) by developing and systematising strategies, processes, and infrastructure needed to sustain their work in the long term.

Our work under this initiative will enable the development of a research-based curriculum and training programme targeted at projects that have become established, such as research initiatives, research communities of practice, or volunteer-run organisations. This will be complemented by our fiscal hosting infrastructure. The goal is to build researchers’ skills and expertise needed to navigate the complex research funding and sustainability landscape, and ensure the effective management and impactful delivery of their open research projects. This work encompasses three key components:

  1. Open Research: Conducting community-based research and building reference resources for a Seeds to System curriculum informed by the current research ecosystem and sustainability models.
  2. Cohort-Based Training and Mentoring: Providing Seeds to Systems training with personalised mentorship and a supportive peer network for collaborative learning and problem-solving.
  3. Fiscal Hosting Infrastructure: Offering critical support such as fiscal hosting, finance management and essential legal guidance, particularly crucial during the early stages of project development and management.

Through rigorous impact assessment and a dedicated community feedback process, we will ensure that ‘Seeds to Systems’ is continuously developed and delivers tangible impact for our community members, extending the positive outcomes of open science throughout their wider research communities.

Find more details in a separate post (coming soon) announcing our strategic direction.