Addis Ababa University (AAU) Libraries will host an EIFL-funded workshop titled 'Making research data open'.

The workshop, on 21 July 2015, will address the following topics:

• Current open access (OA) initiatives at AAU and in Ethiopia;
• The importance of open data for Ethiopia;
• A proposal to implement an open research data project for the AAU;
• ORCID: Connecting Research and Researchers.

Zanele Mathe of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology Library, and Matthew Buys, the ORCID Regional Director: Africa & Middle East, both from South Africa, are among the invited speakers. There will also be speakers from AAU.

Participants include AAU staff and members of the Consortium of Ethiopian Academic and Research Libraries (CEARL). Researchers, research administrators and librarians will discuss the importance of making research data openly available, open research data policies, and best practices in data sharing.

The event is a part of an EIFL-funded project that aims to share best practices of AAU on OA with other institutions in Ethiopia, to sustain current OA projects, and to organize a workshop on open research data that will support Ethiopian universities to develop OA policies and launch open research data services.

At the first project event, 'Open access policy at AAU', on 23 June 2015, participants discussed the adoption of the AAU OA policy.

BACKGROUND

The EIFL Open Access Programme removes barriers to knowledge sharing by advocating for the adoption of OA policies and mandates, and by building the capacity to launch and sustain OA repositories and journals.

In Ethiopia, EIFL has supported the launch of the OA publishing platform Ethiopian Journals Online and advocated for setting up OA repositories and introducing OA policies in universities and research organizations.

Learn more about EIFL's OA work in Ethiopia.