What we are working on:
- We are now accepting proposal submissions for the IOI Open Infrastructure Fund. The fund aims to strengthen sustainability, resilience and increase the adoption of open infrastructure that underpins research and knowledge creation. 60% of the total fund amount of $130,000 has been ring-fenced for initiatives from Low and Middle-Income Economies (LMIEs). Read our English and Spanish blog posts for more application process and eligibility information. We also have set up office hours (bilingual) in June and July to provide a dedicated space for the IOI team to field any questions about the fund. The application deadline is July 31, 2023.
- We are now less than a week away from our workshop in South Africa that will focus on how Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) can enhance the sustainability of research infrastructure in Africa. The workshop will happen on June 12, 2023, adjacent to the 2023 Open Repositories Conference in Somerset, South Africa.
- Interviews with some great candidates are ongoing for the Product Lead, Research Data Analyst, and Engagement Coordinator, Infrastructure roles. We expect to announce some exciting new additions to the IOI team in a few weeks!
Who we are talking to:
- Peter Gietz, DAASI, to learn more about the BonafID identity management system in African universities and plans for its scaling up.
- Clifford Nxomani, National Research Foundation(South Africa), on potential collaboration for the upcoming workshop in Cape Town as well as broader collaboration on open science in South Africa.
- Daniel Carranza, Data Uruguay, to understand how they work to support open data repositories for research in Uruguay and explore potential synergies with IOI on the Open Infrastructure Fund.
- Leonel Malacrida, LABI/Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, on their work in advancing bioimaging in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as its regional hub model that is aimed at developing local research capacity.
- The International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) Strategies for Open Collaboration in Library Consortia (SOCLC) Task Force, on ways that consortium leaders can support open infrastructure.
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 Slack, Twitter, and Mastodon).
- Kayla Yup, How Scientific Publishers’ Extreme Fees Put Profit Over Progress, May 31, 2023, The Nation
- How India is using digital technology to project power, June 4, 2023, The Economist
- Alek Tarkowski and Zuzana Warso, SHIFTING TIDES: The Open Movement at a Turning Point, June 7, 2023, Open Future
Upcoming events/talks:
We look forward to meeting you at the following event!
- Open Repositories 2023, June 12-15, South Africa: Kaitlin, Jerry, and Engagement Lead Emmy Tsang will be attending and leading a workshop there.