Prof. Olusola B. Oyewole is the Secretary-General of the Association of African Universities (AAU), Accra, Ghana. At the AAU, he coordinated the British Government-funded project on the “Mobilization of Regional Initiatives for the revitalization of higher education in Africa” (2007-2009) and was the Project Officer of the World Bank project on “Quality Assurance for African Higher Education systems” (2006-2009). Before his role at the AAU, He served as Vice-Chancellor and the Director of the Research and Development Centre at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, and as a Senior Expert (Quality Assurance, Mobility and Scholarships) at the Department of Human Resources, Science and Technology of the African Union Commission in Ethiopia, Addis-Ababa (2009-2010).
Rania Mohamed Hassan Baleela (PhD, MSc, DLSHTM) has been a dedicated Open Science and Open Access trainer and advocate since 2012. She founded the first institutional digital repository (OASCIR) in Sudan, a platform for openly sharing and curating research. Rania is an Associate Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Khartoum and the Founding Director of the Toxic Organisms Research Centre. She is an alumnus of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (2010), and the current Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Sudan Ambassador. As an EIFL Open Access Country Coordinator, she played a key role in advancing open access in Sudan and trained several librarians. She is passionate about advancing Open Science and venom research through global collaborations to enhance public health interventions and scholarly communications.
Godwyns Onwuchekwa is the Head of Communities at eLife Sciences, where he leads initiatives to promote inclusivity, equity, and diversity in open science. His strong background in community advocacy and engagement, particularly in public health and social contexts, along with his work on social justice, enables him to amplify underrepresented voices, foster collaboration, and advance globally inclusive approaches to science communication and research. He has extensive experience supporting grassroots initiatives in Africa and facilitating cross-community collaborations between organisations and initiatives in the Global North and Global South.
Mercury Shitindo is the Chair and Executive Director of the Africa Bioethics Network and a Consultant at the WHO HQ Ethics Review Committee Secretariat. She is a Member of eLife’s Global South Committee for Open Science and a Technical Expert Consultant for Global Impact’s Advancing Health Online initiative. She co-founded the African Journal of Bioethics, where she serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief, and the SHADE Research Hub – Centre for the Sustainability of Digitally Enabled Health. With over 21 years of experience in bioethics, research governance, and open science, Mercury has led global initiatives on ethical research, AI in health, and sustainability. She has contributed to research ethics policy development, clinical trial governance, capacity building, and strengthening research integrity across Africa and beyond.
Olatunbosun Obileye is a seasoned expert and consultant in research data management, open science, cybersecurity, and technological innovation, with over 20 years of experience. As an Africa Consultant at DataCite, he drives the adoption of Persistent Identifiers (PIDs), enhances metadata standards, and fosters equitable access to research infrastructures across underrepresented regions in Africa. His career highlights include spearheading metadata schema integrations, leading AI-driven data quality initiatives, and designing capacity-building programs that have trained over 500 researchers globally. Previously, as Institutional Data Manager at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), he advanced FAIR data principles through strategic policy frameworks and cutting-edge cloud-based solutions. With advanced certifications in cloud security and an academic background in IT and business, Olatunbosun combines technical expertise with strategic vision.
Anelda van der Walt has extensive experience in open science, research infrastructure, and community building, with a background in bioinformatics. As the founder of Talarify, she has spent over a decade empowering researchers, institutions, and policymakers through training, consulting, and strategic capacity development. She specialises in interdisciplinary collaboration, systemic change, and co-designing localised solutions. Passionate about metascience, she actively works across academia, industry, and government to enhance digital research practices, human capacity development, and sustainable research ecosystems. She strongly focuses on the UN SDGs and Agenda 2063 and connects global and regional networks to drive impactful innovation. Anelda thrives on problem-solving, mentoring, and inspiring teams to leverage data, technology, and research infrastructure for societal benefit.