UbuntuNet Alliance invites the research and education community to the next OPAR Open Science Webinar, titled “Enabling Open Science in Africa with DataCite: Insights and Use Cases.” The webinar will take place online on Friday, 4 September 2026, from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM CAT.
Africa continues to expand its research production and Open Science initiatives. However, many valuable research outputs remain difficult to discover, access, cite and reuse because of the limited adoption of persistent identifiers and shared global research infrastructure. This webinar will explore how institutions can address these challenges through Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), open metadata and the services provided by DataCite.
The session will introduce the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science and explain the role of persistent identifiers in making research outputs more visible, discoverable and reusable. It will also introduce DataCite’s global community and services, demonstrate how DOIs can support diverse research outputs beyond traditional publications, and present practical use cases from institutions across Africa.
The webinar will be presented by Mohamad Mostafa, Community Specialist at DataCite. Mohamad supports institutions and communities around the world in adopting open research practices through DataCite membership, services and community activities. He is also a member of the UNESCO Working Group on Open Science Infrastructures and has more than a decade of experience in scholarly publishing and Open Access.
The session is particularly relevant to researchers, librarians, repository managers, data stewards, research offices, National Research and Education Networks, research infrastructure providers, policymakers and institutions seeking to improve the visibility and impact of their research outputs. Participants will also learn about pathways for accessing DataCite services through direct membership and consortium models.
The OPAR Open Science Webinar Series is part of the project “Unlocking Potential: Elevating Open Institutional Repositories in Africa for Global Impact,” led by UbuntuNet Alliance in collaboration with Access 2 Perspectives and supported by Invest in Open Infrastructure through the IOI Fund’s Network Adoption Fund.
Participation is free, but registration is required.