From February 17 to February 21, 2025, the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa hosted a transformative Open Science School in Pretoria, a collaboration between CERN, UNESCO, and the NRF. Nearly 50 open science practitioners from South Africa and across Africa attended, including university and government representatives involved in digital repository administration, development, and policy implementation.
The event featured presentations and workshops from leading organizations, including CERN, UNESCO, and UbuntuNet Alliance. As the Africa Open Science Platform Southern Node, UbuntuNet Alliance introduced participants to open science opportunities such as workshops, webinars, and community meetings designed to foster collaboration among repository managers and researchers.
A major highlight was the UbuntuNet Alliance Open Science Cloud, a dedicated infrastructure supporting platforms like AfricArXiv and TOME. TOME aims to revolutionize university textbooks in Africa by offering upfront payments to authors, ensuring more sustainable academic publishing. Currently still in the testing phase, the tool will be launched soon.
Participants engaged in a hands-on workshop on AfricArXiv, exploring its open-access capabilities, including free DOI minting for uploaded items and ORCID integration for seamless author identification. These features enhance research discoverability and align with global best practices in open science.
Sessions on open science policy development were also a key focus, with CERN and UNESCO providing insights into policy formulation and implementation. These discussions equipped participants with the knowledge to drive open science initiatives in their institutions.
UbuntuNet Alliance is establishing a community for repository builders and administrators to share best practices and collaborate. The Alliance expresses its gratitude to CERN, UNESCO, and the South Africa NRF for organizing the event, with special thanks to NRF for hosting and fostering an environment of knowledge exchange and innovation.