UbuntuNet Alliance is pleased to launch the OPAR Open Science Webinar Series, beginning with an insightful session presented by Crossref on Strengthening Metadata Quality and Research Discoverability. The webinar will take place on 24 July 2026 and will bring together librarians, repository managers, scholarly communication professionals and research support staff from across Africa and beyond.
The OPAR Open Science Webinar Series is a public learning and engagement platform developed to advance open science, research visibility and scholarly infrastructure across Africa. Through expert-led presentations, practical demonstrations and community dialogue, the series will explore the infrastructure, standards and practices needed to make African research more visible, discoverable, citable and reusable. Webinar recordings will be shared through UbuntuNet TV, while presentation materials will be archived through OPAR, creating an openly accessible collection of learning resources.
The inaugural webinar will be presented by Johanssen Obanda of Crossref. Obanda works with the Crossref Ambassador community as a Community Engagement Manager and supports Crossref’s global outreach initiatives. Institutional repositories play a critical role in preserving scholarly outputs and improving access to research. However, repositories achieve their full value only when their metadata is complete, consistent and connected to the wider research ecosystem. During the webinar, participants will learn how persistent identifiers and rich metadata help repositories improve discoverability, interoperability and connections between research outputs, researchers and institutions.
The session will introduce Crossref and examine why metadata quality matters for institutional repositories. It will also cover the Research Nexus, the emerging DSpace–Crossref integration, and the use of Crossref Participation Reports to assess and improve metadata completeness. Participants will leave with practical approaches that African institutions can apply to strengthen their repository metadata and improve their participation in the global scholarly communication ecosystem.
Webinar Details
Title: Strengthening Metadata Quality and Research Discoverability
Date: 24 July 2026
Time: 11:00 AM CAT
Duration: 60 minutes
Target audience: Repository managers, librarians, scholarly communication professionals and research support staff
Registration: https://ubuntunet.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9j1xsci4SX2PuKGWnvW63w
Join us for this exciting opening session and become part of a growing community working to strengthen the visibility and impact of African research.