getting Involved: LNLs Attend 2nd Global Summit on Diamond Open Access
Three of our Local Network Leads (LNLs) - Josiline Chigwada, Joseph Sagbohan, and Zoé Aubierge Ouangré - attended the 2nd Global Summit On Diamond Open Access in Cape Town from 8 to 14 December, 2024.
The summit which was hosted by the University of Cape Town Libraries was themed "Centering social justice in scholarly communication to advance research as a public good", bringing together participants from all around the world which included researchers, publishers and policymakers. The summit served as an avenue for dialogue between various stakeholders to strengthen the Open Access movement.
Josiline is the University Librarian at the Chinhoyi University of Technology with 18 years of experience in academic librarianship, Joseph is an accomplished professional in Library and Information Sciences at the University of Abomey-Calavi in Benin, while Zoé teaches information science at the Université Norbert Zongo in Burkina Faso.
The three met during AREN’s Local Network Lead training program which ran virtually from April to October 2024. The program brought together 71 researchers from 21 countries in Africa to receive training on open research practices and advocacy. The ultimate goal of the training program was to have trainees establish and lead local networks that collaborate across the continent to promote best research practices after their training. Open Access was one of the core open science principles taught and discussed during the sessions.
Attending the summit has helped our LNLs gain further insights on how to better support their communities in adopting open research practices. This success story is a firm example of how passionate our Local Network Leads are a bridging the
gaps in open science advocacy through community and collaboration.
