‘Voices of OPERAS UK’ is a blog series spotlighting the members of OPERAS based in the UK. Each feature introduces a member organisation through the same five quick questions.
OPERAS is a European research infrastructure that supports open scholarly communication in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) across the European Research Area. Its mission is to bring together and coordinate resources across Europe, helping researchers communicate their work more effectively.
Introducing Abertay University
In May, we talked to Professor Stefano De Paoli, Professor of Digital Society in the Faculty of Social and Applied Sciences and the Faculty of Design, Informatics and Business, Abertay University.
Tell us a little bit about your organisation and your role within it?
Abertay University is located in the city of Dundee in Scotland. It is a small University with around 200 members of staff and circa 5000 students. Abertay University is a pioneering institution, globally recognised as a powerhouse for video game education and research. Beyond its strong focus on games, the university excels in practical, industry-led research across cybersecurity, food, business, and social sciences, and a large part of its activities relate to the design and impact of digital technologies and digital transformation. My research interests centre around AI application to social sciences, digital infrastructures and open science, codesign and user research.
When and why did your organisation join OPERAS?
We have been an Ordinary Member of OPERAS since 2022, having been involved in OPERAS related research projects since 2019, when the Sociology Division actively participated in the design of the GoTriple platform (by leading the Work Package on User Research and CoDesign).
Through this work, we learned about OPERAS and built strong relationships of cooperation with some of the key OPERAS members (find out more about the different types of membership over on the OPERAS website). It then felt natural to solidify this cooperation by applying to join OPERAS as a member, and contribute with our expertise to user research for OPERAS digital services.
The group of people (at Abertay) that follows OPERAS activities specialise in user research, though the main contacts are myself (contact Stefano via email) and Dr. Kathy-Ann Fletcher (contact Kathy via email), Lecturer in Marketing in the Division of Accounting, Business and Management at Abertay University (view Kathy’s profile on the Abertay’s website).
How does your organisation engage with OPERAS currently? Do you use any services, tools or platforms? Are you partners in any projects or a member of an OPERAS Special Interest Group?
We are currently involved in the following OPERAS projects – FASCA, GRAPHIA & LUMEN (Abertay were awarded nearly £600K in Horizon Europe research grants – read more over on the Abertay website) – contributing to user research and co-design.
We are also members of two OPERAS Special Interest Groups (known as SIGs). SIGs work collaboratively, share information, watch, and prepare projects on their specialised topic. I am a member of the Artificial Intelligence SIG, while my colleague Kathy-Ann is a member of the Open Access Business Models Working Group, part of the Open Access Books SIG.
Why do you think OPERAS is relevant and timely to your organisation, and the UK more widely?
Through OPERAS, we have the opportunity to work with a group of highly skilled partners. Through LUMEN, GRAPHIA, and FASCA, we are collaborating with several European partners, including CNRS, NET7, Fox-Cub, The Institute of Literary Research, University of Zadar, University of Bologna, and KU Leuven (among others).
UK membership of OPERAS is particularly relevant in 2026, due to the intersection of post-Brexit research reintegration with European Union partners, as well as the increased relevance of Open Access publishing in research especially in SSH. When we decided to join OPERAS, for example, we saw our membership as a strategic bridge, ensuring we could remain active in European research and research infrastructures.
How would you like to see OPERAS UK develop?
It is important to have national research projects that can foster OPERAS related activities in the UK. We hope that OPERAS UK will be able to conduct UK-based research projects fostering OPERAS activities, where we could perform research in a similar fashion to what we do in Horizon Europe funded projects, and contribute to leading activities related to what we do for OPERAS e.g., on user research and codesign work. At the moment, we are particularly interested in the role of AI for research workflows. Get in touch if you have similar interests and would like to talk further and potentially discuss future collaborations!
Find out more
Stay tuned for the next post in the series, coming soon! If you are interested in your organisation joining OPERAS, or just finding out a bit more, get in touch via email. You can keep up to date with UK member activities via our mailing list – sign up to the JiscMail.
