Round two of the LIBSENSE Opena Science Symposium is set to begin this month. Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Ghana are the destinations for the next string of national activities. The events are expected to build on the engagements between LIBSENSE and local stakeholders on the policies, infrastructure and capacity building on open science. This year’s events are expected to bolster open science practices, build capabilities, and foster a culture of transparency and accessibility in research in these countries. On August 23 and 24 in Freetown, key policymakers and the research community will gather in Freetown to foster an environment conducive to adopting open science practices across Sierra Leone’s research community. The two-day event will be a fine opportunity for the diverse stakeholders and partners to establish shared priorities for open science in the country and devise a roadmap for fostering an enabling policy environment encompassing crucial infrastructure and capacity building. In Nigeria, the symposium’s main goal would be to improve awareness of and adherence to open scientific concepts within the research and education ecosystem. The local NRENs, the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU), the Association of University Librarians of Nigerian Universities (AULNU), and the Committee of Directors of ICT of Tertiary Institutions (ComDICT) lead this endeavour. One of the symposium’s main goals is to increase the visibility of Nigerian journals and books in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB). More on the event here – https://libsense.ren.africa/en/nigeria-open-science-symposium/ In Ghana, LIBSENSE will partner with the Ghanaian Academic and Research Network (GARNET) and the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Ghana (CARLIGH) to facilitate training workshops for university librarians on research data management, including system design, data-sharing platforms, and data management plans. The Symposia in the above countries are being funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office of the UK Government with support from the AfricaConnect3 project co-funded by the European Commission.
