This post is part of a series in which we share more about what we’re working on and what we’re learning. Read our last update.
Have a question or comment about anything you see here? Get in touch! We’d love to hear from you.
On to the update …
What we are working on:
- Launch of IOI’s Open Infrastructure Fund - Watch this Space. Next week, we will launch the Call for Proposals for the Open Infrastructure Fund pilot, as a next step towards building the Fund we announced in November. This follows a series of participatory design processes to ensure the inclusivity and responsiveness of the pilot to core community needs. We’re looking to support iInitiatives focused on one of the following areas: capacity building, strengthening community governance, and critical shared infrastructure. Stay tuned for more details!
- Building sustainable research infrastructures in Africa - IOI Workshop in South Africa. In March, we held our first-ever workshop in Africa in Accra, Ghana, focused on exploring collaborative pathways to solve the funding challenge for open infrastructure initiatives in Africa. Next month, we will continue the conversation, focusing on how Public-Private Partnerships can be leveraged to enhance the sustainability of research infrastructure in Africa. The workshop will happen on June 12, 2023, in Stellenbosch, South Africa from 2 to 6 pm. For more details, read our concept note and email emmy@investinopen.org if you would like to attend.
- Time is running out - Apply for one of our open positions. We have four new roles on the IOI team that we are looking to fill. The positions we intend to fill are Research Data Analyst, Engagement Coordinator (Infrastructure), Django Developer, and Product Lead. The jobs are fully remote, with the deadline of May 15, 2023, fast approaching. Submit your application today.
Who we are talking to:
- Caxton Murira, Science for Africa Foundation, on their efforts to partner with like minded organizations to advance research software engineering in Africa as well as potential collaborations between IOI and the SFA Foundation.
- Jo Howarth, Open Supply Hub on how they are working to enhance access to supply chain data from factories as a public good. Discussion also touched on the operationalization of the upcoming IOI Open Infrastructure Fund.
- Sergio Santamarina, UNPAZ Library, to learn about their work supporting their researchers and scholars in publishing open access and sharing their data openly, and the challenges they face.
- Pragya Chaube and Moumita Koley, Indian Institute of Science DST-Centre for Policy Research, to learn more about their open science community building and advocacy work in India.
- Eunice Mercado-Lara, Open Research Funders Group, to learn more about the Open and Equitable Model Funding Program and to explore areas of synergy between our work.
What we are reading/exploring:
A list of highlights is below — for a more comprehensive view, please check out the Open Infrastructure Tracking Project (also on Twitter and Mastodon).
- Anna Fazackerley, ‘Too greedy’: mass walkout at global science journal over ‘unethical’ fees, May 7, 2023, The Guardian3
- Teresa Hackett, New Partnerships - A Right To Research In Africa, April 25, 2023, EIFL
- Rebecca Graham, Bioinformatics, data and the value of open science, April 26, 2023, Silicon Republic
- Astha Kapoor and Keyzom Ngodup, How Digital Public Infrastructure can serve as a building block for Data Free Flow with Trust, April 28, 2023, World Economic Forum
Upcoming events/talks:
We look forward to meeting you at the following events!
- Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) Annual Meeting 2023 in Costa Rica from May 16-18, 2023: Our Executive Director Kaitlin Thaney will be attending in person.
- Open Science – From Policy to Practice conference, 16-17 May.
- Incentivizing Collaborative Open Research (ICOR) inaugural public webinar, 17 May.
- Top findings from the Tidelift 2023 state of the open source maintainer report, 18 May.