Cultivating interpersonal skills for open science and collaboration

How do researchers learn to navigate complex, multicultural collaborations? Many teams face this challenge for the first time only after joining collaborative projects, forcing them to learn interpersonal skills with minimal guidance or feedback. Imagine if, instead, researchers could practice facilitation, mentoring, and strategies that encourage positive community interactions, in a supportive environment. This talk will share how these skills are modeled within our training programs and how participants practice them within their projects. Since 2020, OLS has delivered virtual training cohorts to empower 380+ researchers and teams to lead open projects globally. We combine practical training with 1:1 mentorship, supporting participants to apply open practices within their contexts. Beyond technical skills, our programs are intentionally designed as spaces where inclusive participation, cross-cultural communication and constructive feedback are practiced. We achieve this through a range of interventions, from simple but impactful practices like collaborative note-taking and structured meeting facilitation, to community-scale initiatives such as a code of conduct. Participants often return as facilitators and mentors, further honing their interpersonal skills and introducing these practices to their own communities. We share documentation and templates of these interventions openly on our website. In 2024, we have adapted our strategies to deliver cohorts for NASA’s Open Science 101 curriculum, demonstrating their flexibility across different training formats and content. By sharing these experiences, we aim to encourage broader exploration and adoption of structured approaches for cultivating collaboration skills as part of research training.