The ORCA Forum highlights student research, creative projects, and open scholarship across disciplines.

What began as a Maker Week competition transformed into something new: the inaugural Open Research and Creative Activities (ORCA) Forum, held on Friday, May 9 at Orbach Library. This quarterly event, hosted by the UCR Library’s Research Services Department, celebrates student projects across disciplines and academic levels, with a focus on open scholarship and interdisciplinary research.

The shift from a Maker Week-related competition to a presentation-based forum was led by Dr. Jing Han, Digital Scholarship Librarian, who saw it as an opportunity to rethink student engagement. “The transition was driven by a desire to experiment with different models for student outreach and engagement, informed by my previous experiences as a student participating in various presentation events,” said Jing. She also identified a “growing need to promote eScholarship usage on campus.”

That insight connected with Jing’s discovery of Janeway, an open-source publishing platform that supports peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, and other scholarly publications. “During a walkthrough of the Janeway platform with the eScholarship team, I noticed its potential for managing conference submissions and publishing proceedings, though there was no existing use case,” she explained. “As several of these elements aligned, the concept for the ORCA Forum naturally came together.”

The forum was designed as both a platform for interdisciplinary research and a pilot for integrating Janeway into UCR’s open publishing infrastructure. “While the Janeway integration is still in progress,” Jing noted, “the forum successfully offered a meaningful space for students across disciplines and academic levels to share their work and engage with the values and practices of open scholarship.” She added, “I was especially happy to see students bond with one another after the event, many of them forming new friendships and becoming research partners.”

Presenters covered a wide range of topics, from visual poetry to mathematics and political science. In the end, Angeliz Vargas Casillas, a PhD candidate in Mathematics, and Mst Shamima Hossain, a PhD candidate in Computer Science and Engineering, tied for first place. Vargas Casillas presented a project on multiscale mathematical modeling of keloid scar expansion, while Hossain showcased her research on developing an “electronic bee-veterinarian” system to safeguard honeybee populations using technology.

Looking ahead, Jing hopes to scale the event while maintaining its intimate format. “Each student retains the opportunity to present for 10 minutes and engage in meaningful feedback from both judges and the audience.” She also hopes to see Janeway “fully matured to manage submissions and publish proceedings directly to eScholarship, including the establishment of a clear review process.”

The next ORCA Forum is scheduled for summer 2025. In the meantime, Jing is preparing to launch a Digital Scholarship Certificate program and The Reference Desk, a biweekly podcast hosted by Jing and produced by KUCR, featuring UCR faculty and student researchers.

Stay up-to-date with all things digital scholarship at UCR by visiting library.ucr.edu/digital-scholarship.