UbuntuNet Alliance invites university librarians in Eastern and Southern Africa to submit proposals to participate in a one-day training on Open Science (OS), collocated with the UbuntuNet-Connect 2024 Conference. The training is funded under the AfricaConnect3 project, co-funded by the European Union, and the Africa Open Science Platform (AOSP), co-funded by the National Research Fund, South Africa. The AfricaConnect3 project seeks to unlock the potential of education and research through increased access to digital infrastructures and technologies for African education and research institutions. The AOSP aims to convene and coordinate the interests, ideas, people, institutions and resources needed to advocate and to advance OS in and for Africa
The OS training will take place on October 30, 2024 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and will cover relevant aspects of Open Access and Open Data with hands-on exercises on how to make institutional repositories Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (see FAIR principles, https://www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/).
Below is the outline of the training:
| Session | Topic |
| Session I | Introducing Open Science: – Open Access, FAIR data and CARE principles – AfricArXiv for research dissemination – AfricArXiv OA Principle |
| Session II | Key components of research repositories: – Persistent Identifiers: ORCID, ROR, DOI – Content curation and metadata – Taking charge of institutional bibliometrics |
| Session III | Hands-on Practical (Please bring a laptop): – Upload, curate, deploy scholarly content – Institutional readiness and needs assessment |
UbuntuNet Alliance, through support from the AfricaConnect3 project and the National Research Foundation (NRF), will support 20 librarians by covering the cost for a round-trip economy air ticket, full-board accommodation, local transport and participation in the UbuntuNet-Connect 2024 Conference which will run from October 31 – November 01.
Interested librarians are requested to submit a short proposal (maximum 500 words) describing themselves, their role at their institution, and why they should be selected for the training. Proposals should be uploaded at: https://events.ubuntunet.net/event/139/ by June 30, 2024. Applicants will be notified by July 13, 2024. In case of any questions contact: eliakim.okundi@ubuntunet.net.