This webinar series is designed to empower African researchers, librarians, and institutions by providing valuable insights into adopting digital tools and persistent identifiers. Our primary goals are to significantly enhance the discoverability of African research on a global scale and streamline scholarly workflows for increased efficiency.
This webinar series is co-organized by UbuntuNet Alliance and Access 2 Perspectives with support from the African Open Science Platform.
Upcoming sessions
Click on one of the posters below to learn more about each session.
Stay tuned for the line-up of events and receive updates on all upcoming webinar sessions by filling in the form at https://forms.gle/4w5BSAvmSqaQjYaq5.
More sessions will be announced here upon confirmation. Register to make sure you get notified:
Past sessions
Explore all past session recordings in the list below.
All past presentations are accessible at https://africarxiv.ubuntunet.net/handle/1/20
- The Role of COAR in Advancing Open Access in Africa
This webinar session featured Kathleen Shearer, the Executive Director of COAR (Confederation of Open Access Repositories), as our guest speaker. She spoke on the topic: “The Role of COAR in Advancing Open Access in Africa”.During the session, attendees discovered: Watch the recording: The slides are available here: https://africarxiv.ubuntunet.net/handle/1/1817 This webinar series is co-organized by: UbuntuNet… Read more: The Role of COAR in Advancing Open Access in Africa - Enhancing the Policy Impact of African Research: Strategies for Visibility and Influence through Overton
This webinar session featured Euan Adie, CEO of Overton, as the guest. Overton is the world’s largest searchable index of policy documents, guidelines, think tank publications and working papers. Euan spoke on the topic: Enhancing the Policy Impact of African Research: Strategies for Visibility and Influence through Overton.African researchers and other attendees learned how to make… Read more: Enhancing the Policy Impact of African Research: Strategies for Visibility and Influence through Overton - Enhancing Research Visibility in Africa: Leveraging DOAJ for Open Access Publishing
This webinar session featured Ina Smith, the Planning Manager, Scholarly Publishing Unit, Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), South Africa & DOAJ Ambassador Southern Africa. She spoke on the topic: Enhancing Research Visibility in Africa: Leveraging DOAJ for Open Access Publishing. Attendees learned how African researchers and journals can increase their visibility and impact… Read more: Enhancing Research Visibility in Africa: Leveraging DOAJ for Open Access Publishing - Empowering African Researchers: Building Data and Coding Skills with The Carpentries
In this webinar, Angelique Trusler from The Carpentries spoke on the topic: Empowering African Researchers: Building Data and Coding Skills with The Carpentries. She shared insights on how African researchers can start their data and coding skills journey. Key Areas Discussed: This webinar series is co-organized by: UbuntuNet Alliance: https://ubuntunet.net/ and Access 2 Perspectives: https://access2perspectives.org/ … Read more: Empowering African Researchers: Building Data and Coding Skills with The Carpentries - Advocating for Preprint Sharing in Rwanda
In this webinar, we discussed about the benefits of preprints, how they support scientific progress, and the challenges and opportunities for preprint sharing in Rwanda specifically and Africa at large. This session was made for everyone interested in open science, research, and preprint sharing, especially researchers, academics, librarians, students, and science enthusiasts in Rwanda, across… Read more: Advocating for Preprint Sharing in Rwanda - Open peer review, collaborative preprint review, and opportunities to learn and teach others
In this webinar, we discussed the benefits of open peer review and how researchers can work together to review preprints. Vanessa Fairhurst and Chad Sansing from PREreview also shared opportunities for learning and teaching within the research community. Some members of the 2024 PREreview Champions Program also joined to share their experiences of working with… Read more: Open peer review, collaborative preprint review, and opportunities to learn and teach others - Diamond Open Access publishing in Africa
Join us as we delve into the findings of EIFL’s latest report, ‘Landscape of No-Fee Open Access Publishing in Africa’. This report offers a comprehensive overview of open access (OA) journals across Africa that operate without charging fees to authors or readers, commonly known as Diamond OA journals. What to Expect: This webinar is essential… Read more: Diamond Open Access publishing in Africa - Dataverse – Automating workflows and providing academic credit to data curators for F.A.I.R. research data archiving.
Watch the recording The slides are available at https://africarxiv.ubuntunet.net/handle/1/1622 Speaker profile Sonia Barbosa Sonia Maria Barbosa is a passionate advocate for open research data and serves as a key figure at Dataverse, a renowned web-based repository dedicated to enabling researchers to share, preserve, cite, explore, and analyze research data. With a robust background in data… Read more: Dataverse – Automating workflows and providing academic credit to data curators for F.A.I.R. research data archiving. - A research funder’s Open Access Policy
Webinar on the Gates Foundation’s updated Open Access Policy, effective January 1, 2025. This policy ensures unrestricted access and reuse of all peer-reviewed research funded by the foundation, expanding the reach and impact of vital research to improve the lives of the world’s most vulnerable populations. You will learn about their journey from the original 2015 policy to the latest updates. - Exploring the Openness of Global Research Landscapes Using Open Data: The COKI Open Access Dashboard
Watch the recording The slides are available at https://africarxiv.ubuntunet.net/handle/1/1532 Speakers’ profiles Kathryn Napier Dr Kathryn Napier is a data scientist who bridges the analytics gap in transdisciplinary research. She is currently the Technical Lead of the Curtin Open Knowledge Initiative, leading a team of data scientists and software developers who work with leading experts in… Read more: Exploring the Openness of Global Research Landscapes Using Open Data: The COKI Open Access Dashboard - Securing the future of African Innovation, Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Heritage.
Watch the recording The slides are available at https://africarxiv.ubuntunet.net/handle/1/1499 Speaker profile Joy Owango Joy Owango is an award-winning Founding Director of the Training Centre in Communication (TCC Africa), a registered trust in Kenya established in 2006. TCC Africa is the first African-based training center focused on teaching effective communication skills to scientists. Ms Joy Owango… Read more: Securing the future of African Innovation, Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Heritage. - Connecting African scholarly stakeholders across the continent.
Watch the recording The slides are available at https://africarxiv.ubuntunet.net/handle/1/1486 Speaker profile Mofahloshi Chuene Mofahloshi R.M. Chuene is a research scientist specializing in applied chemistry, with a focus on water treatment, nanotechnology, and sustainable energy solutions. She recently completed a Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry at the University of Johannesburg, where her thesis investigated the development… Read more: Connecting African scholarly stakeholders across the continent. - Investing in [African] Open Infrastructure
Watch the recording The slides are available at https://africarxiv.ubuntunet.net/handle/1/1460 Speaker profile Jerry Sellanga Jerry Sellanga currently works on the Invest in Open Infrastructure (IOI) team as Engagement Coordinator, Networks, where he uses his expertise to expand IOI’s audiences through events, digital communications, and stakeholder management, especially in Africa. He specializes in strategic communications, graphic design,… Read more: Investing in [African] Open Infrastructure - Zendy – Accessibility, affordability, and discoverability for scholarly literature in Africa.
Watch the recording The slides are available at Speaker profile Kamran Robert Kardan is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Knowledge E. He founded Knowledge E in 2012, to provide unique, professional, and high-quality services to theinformation professionals in the Middle Eastern region and beyond. He is also the Co-founder and Managing Director at… Read more: Zendy – Accessibility, affordability, and discoverability for scholarly literature in Africa. - Knowledge Futures – Building public digital infrastructure that enables [African] communities to publish documents and data more effectively.
We will hear about fostering trust through interoperable preprint review metadata with Docmaps, and advancing open publishing with community services. Watch the recording here: Speaker profile Emily Esten is the Project Lead at Knowledge Futures. In her varied work experience – from project lead to curator, educator to site developer – her primary focus has… Read more: Knowledge Futures – Building public digital infrastructure that enables [African] communities to publish documents and data more effectively. - DRYAD – Data sharing best practices for researchers and institutions working with AfricArXiv
Watch the recording The slides are available at https://africarxiv.ubuntunet.net/handle/1/1325 Speaker profile Maria Guerreiro is the Head of Partnership Development at Dryad.Maria is an open science enthusiast who enjoys working collaboratively with researchers and other stakeholders in scholarly communication to drive positive change. She is Head of Partnership Development at Dryad, where she leads the partnership… Read more: DRYAD – Data sharing best practices for researchers and institutions working with AfricArXiv - Facilitating the implementation of Open Science practices across Africa
The Africa Open Science Platform (AOSP), established in 2017, aims to place African scientists at the forefront of data-intensive science. It achieves this by promoting interactivity, creating opportunities through scale efficiencies, building a critical mass through shared capacities, and amplifying impact with a unified purpose and voice. Since 2020, the AOSP Project Office has been… Read more: Facilitating the implementation of Open Science practices across Africa - Figshare – Enabling global reach and discoverability of African research data
Watch the recording The slides are available at https://africarxiv.ubuntunet.net/handle/1/1332 Speaker profile Mark Hahnel ORCID:0000-0003-4741-0309 Mark Hahnel is the founder of Figshare, which he created whilst completing his PhD in stem cell biology at Imperial College London. Figshare currently provides research data infrastructure for institutions, publishers and funders globally. He is passionate about open science and the… Read more: Figshare – Enabling global reach and discoverability of African research data - The UNESCO Open Science Toolkit – A Focus on Africa
Watch the recording The Slides are available at https://africarxiv.ubuntunet.net/handle/1/169 Speaker profile Ana Persic Dr Ana Persic is Programme Specialist for Science Technology and Innovation Policies and Open Science at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. An ecologist by training with a Ph.D. in Ecotoxicology, Dr Ana Persic joined UNESCO in April 2006 in the framework of… Read more: The UNESCO Open Science Toolkit – A Focus on Africa - The African Reproducibility Network (AREN) – Building gateways to open science in Africa
Watch the recording Speaker profile Emmanuel Boakye ORCID: 0000-0003-2043-5952 Emmanuel Boakye holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. He is an African Open Science champion who has worked with organizations such as the Center for Open Science in the USA and the Association of… Read more: The African Reproducibility Network (AREN) – Building gateways to open science in Africa - Research Organization Registry (ROR) – the identifier for research institutions and universities – a spotlight on Africa
In this AfricArXiv webinar, we introduce ROR and explain its benefits, give a summary of African organizations in ROR, highlight ROR-enabled systems in use in Africa, and discuss existing and future collaborations with services such as ORCID and with African research entities. Watch the recording The slides are available at https://africarxiv.ubuntunet.net/handle/1/16 Questions that were addressed… Read more: Research Organization Registry (ROR) – the identifier for research institutions and universities – a spotlight on Africa - Scholarly and patent literature as a public good to inform problem-solving in Africa feat. The Lens
Cambia Cambia (https://cambia.org/) is a non-profit social enterprise creating new tools, technologies, and paradigms to promote change and enable innovation. Our mission is to democratize innovation: to create a more equitable and inclusive capability to solve problems using science and technology. Our institutional ethos is built around an awareness of the need and opportunity for… Read more: Scholarly and patent literature as a public good to inform problem-solving in Africa feat. The Lens - DataCite – Contributing to the PID infrastructure in Africa
Moderator: Ebuka Ezeike (ORCID: 0000-0003-3452-0306) Speaker profile Bosun Obileye ORCID: 0000-0002-1200-0994Bosun Obileye is the Regional Engagement Specialist – Africa for DataCite. His career spans the institutionalization of open science from policy development, infrastructural development and implementation, advocacy, engagements and adoption. He has a background in Computer and Information Research Science, Cybersecurity, Research for Development (R4D),… Read more: DataCite – Contributing to the PID infrastructure in Africa - Crossref – Enabling African research item discoverability through the Research Nexus
We will hear about the Crossref Research Nexus and about the activities of the Crossref Ambassadors in Africa. Watch the recording The Slides are available at https://africarxiv.ubuntunet.net/handle/1/1338 Speaker profile Johanssen Obanda ORCID: 0000-0002-2111-7780 Obanda joined Crossref in 2023 to work with Crossref Ambassadors to effectively engage their communities and support Crossref’s outreach initiatives. Obanda is… Read more: Crossref – Enabling African research item discoverability through the Research Nexus - Utilizing persistent identifiers to provide services for researchers and publishers – A spotlight on Africa
This session is part of the AfricArXiv Webinar Series on Open Science for the Discoverability of African Research. https://www.scienceopen.com/ Nov 09, 2023 at 12pm WAT – 1pm CAT – 2pm EAT ScienceOpen – using persistent identifiers as a vehicle to provide services for researchers and publishers – spotlight on Africa. At AfricArXiv, we have been… Read more: Utilizing persistent identifiers to provide services for researchers and publishers – A spotlight on Africa - Adoption of ORCID and other Persistent Identifiers in Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and across Africa – opportunities and lessons learned
Watch the recording The Slides are available at https://africarxiv.ubuntunet.net/handle/1/286 Speaker profiles Lombe Tembo Shuma ORCID: 0000-0002-7532-7126 Lombe Tembo is the Grant Program Officer and Engagement Lead at ORCID. She is responsible for improving equity of participation in ORCID in currently underrepresented areas, especially the Global South as well as for growing membership and adoption in… Read more: Adoption of ORCID and other Persistent Identifiers in Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and across Africa – opportunities and lessons learned - FAIRsharing – a globally inclusive curated resource on data and metadata standards
FAIRsharing is a curated resource on data and metadata standards, interrelated to databases and data policies, across all disciplines. We will hear what documentation FAIRsharing holds for African research standards, databases, and more. Watch the recording The slides are available at https://africarxiv.ubuntunet.net/handle/1/1344 Speaker Profile Allyson Lister ORCID: 0000-0002-7702-4495; LinkedIn: /in/allysonlister Allyson Lister is the FAIRsharing… Read more: FAIRsharing – a globally inclusive curated resource on data and metadata standards
About the Webinar Series
Through an engaging webinar series dedicated to exploring the transformative impact of persistent identifiers (PIDs) we highlight to African scholarly stakeholders how selected scholarly services work to increase the discoverability of African research in the global scholarly landscape. In this series, we delve into the significance of three key PIDs – ORCID, ROR, and DOI – and how they facilitate interoperability across various scholarly digital services.
About Persistent Identifiers
Persistent Identifiers serve as unique and enduring labels assigned to digital objects, resources, or entities, encompassing a wide array of items such as research datasets, academic papers, books, websites, and more. Notably, PIDs can also be assigned to individual researchers (ORCID) and research institutions (ROR), ensuring a comprehensive and interconnected scholarly ecosystem.
Key Focus Areas
- ORCID: Understanding the role of ORCID in uniquely identifying and connecting individual researchers to their contributions, fostering collaboration and recognition.
- ROR: Exploring the significance of Research Organization Registry (ROR) in assigning PIDs to research institutions, contributing to a more structured and interconnected research landscape.
- DOI: Unraveling the benefits of Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) in uniquely identifying and ensuring the persistent accessibility of diverse digital objects and scholarly outputs.
Target Audience
This webinar series is tailored for African researchers, librarians, and institutions seeking to harness the potential of digital tools and PIDs. Whether you are an academic professional or part of a research institution, this series is designed to empower you in optimizing research discoverability and advancing scholarly contributions.
Why Attend?
- Gain in-depth knowledge about the role of PIDs in scholarly communication.
- Learn practical strategies for adopting digital tools and PIDs in your research workflows.
- Contribute to the global visibility and impact of African research.
Join us on this transformative journey to amplify the visibility of African research and foster a more interconnected and efficient scholarly ecosystem. Together, let’s pave the way for a future where African contributions are prominently featured and celebrated on the global stage.
Register to be invited to all or selected sessions.