Feature Episode: Regional Open Science Dialogue in Southern Africa Day 2 Part 2

Mazungumzo - African Scholarly Conversations

This episode features highlights from the two-day Southern Africa Regional Open Science Dialogue held at the University of Pretoria in April 2023. This engagement brought together higher education stakeholders from Southern Africa who explored key themes over the two days, such as rethinking research assessment and incentivization in academia, with the aim to foster the adoption of Open Science and Open Access principles within the region.

Episode Highlights:

(00:02:12) Ms. Joy Owango begins the session highlighting the day's topic as the Infrastructural Aspect of Open science and proceeds to welcome the first speaker of the day.

(00:03:06) Professor Madara Ogot is the Chief Executive Officer of the Ubuntu Alliance for Research and Education Networking (UbuntuNet) highlights the critical role of the UbuntuNet in supporting open science and digital transformation in Eastern and Southern Africa. He delves into laying out the Network`s structure and most importantly what infrastructure they have on open science, the Mutinet Open Science Cloud.The Professor`s discussion highlights UbuntuNet's pivotal role in supporting open science, fostering collaboration, and providing vital infrastructure and services to advance research and education across Eastern and Southern Africa.

(00:16:52) Dr. Clifford Ntomani, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the National Research Foundation overseeing National Research Infrastructure Platforms, discusses their efforts to establish research infrastructures that empower scientists and develop human and technological resources in support of their science agenda. He highlights the foundation's strategic expansion of research infrastructure, with two key streams: one for humanities, arts, and social sciences and another for digital research infrastructures spanning all disciplines. Dr. Clifford highlights on Prof. Abraham's upcoming talk that will aim to define the scope of these essential digital research infrastructures. This initiative includes active consultation and collaboration with the research community in South Africa and across the continent, enhancing accessibility and capacity for researchers.

The workshop is part of an ongoing series of high-level Open Science dialogue workshops targeting institutional leadership in AAU member regions and universities with the objective of raising knowledge and awareness on the importance and best practice of Open Science and Open Access, and increase the number of Open Science mandates within higher education institutions.

The Southern Africa Regional Open Science Dialogue was a collaborative effort by ⁠⁠⁠⁠TCC Africa⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Public Library of Science (PLOS)⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Association of African Universities (AAU)⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Africa Open Science Platform (AOSP)⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠ University of Pretoria⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠University of Cape Town⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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Owango, J., Kupe, T., Mchunu, N., Wanyenze, R., Veldsman, S., Shahungu, M., … Nxomani, C. (2023). Regional Open Science Dialogue in Southern Africa. TCC Africa. Retrieved from ⁠https://tccafrica.pubpub.org/pub/hqzpi08k⁠