Kenya National Open Science Dialogue Venue: Chandaria Hall,6th Floor University of Nairobi Tower University of Nairobi, 20 September 2023. Open Science Platforms’ role in promoting Open Science in East Africa Prof Muliaro Wafula PhD.,FCCS, FCSK Associate Professor: JKUAT Chair: CODATA Kenya Lead Scientist: AOSP EA node Adjunct Professor, AICAD Why Open Science? • significant amounts of research still locked behind paywalls and only accessible at a high cost, this creates a research and innovation divide. Open Science and Open Access can democratize higher education, by providing equitable access to literature resources to academic communities. Open Science Dialogue in Kenya -Prof Muliaro Wafula AOSP vision for EA region ➢ more citations, media attention, potential collaborators, job opportunities, and funding opportunities ➢open access journals- more citations ➢ open research awards - incentive. ➢data and research materials stored in independent repositories and preserved for future. ➢easier for researchers to connect with one another, easy access to novel data and software resources. Open Science Dialogue in Kenya -Prof Muliaro Wafula Best Practices Implementers: ✓Promote open science culture through training and Government, Policy awareness raising Makers, Universities, ✓Develop cloud computing facilities that provide networked Scholarly Societies, computation, data access and analysis tools Publishers, Research ✓Promote science diplomacy Institutes, Research ✓Encourage citizen science Funding Agencies, ✓Support open collaboration through ICTs Repositories, Libraries, ✓Support Open Innovation Archives, and ✓Promote open software code Researchers ✓Adopt Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) Data Principle Open Science Dialogue in Kenya -Prof Muliaro Wafula The African Open Science Platform (AOSP) with HQ in SA (https://aosp.org.za/) • It has 3 regional nodes: 1. Egyptian National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences (NARSS) is the Northern African Node based in Egypt; 2. The African Institute for Capacity Development (AICAD) is the East African Node based in Kenya, and 3. The UbuntuNet Alliance is the Southern Africa Node based in Malawi Open Science Dialogue in Kenya -Prof Muliaro Wafula AOSP key objectives • Create a platform, with the potential to be a powerful lever of social, cultural and scientific vitality and of economic development. • put African scientists at the cutting edge of contemporary, data-intensive science as a fundamental resource for a modern society • Enable researchers to access a wide diversity of data streams, which, when integrated, reveal deep patterns in complex phenomena. • Make science a more public enterprise that engages actively with business, policymakers, governments, communities and citizens as knowledge partners • facilitate data-intensive, solutions-oriented research, bringing scientists and nonscientists together as knowledge partners in open networks of collaborative learning and problem solving Open Science Dialogue in Kenya -Prof Muliaro Wafula Key Objectives for National Dialogue on Open Science in Kenya: • Recognize the challenges that exist in the implementation of open science • Define the next steps for implementing national open science initiative. Open Science Dialogue in Kenya -Prof Muliaro Wafula Priority ranking of OS issues that contribute to economic and social development in Africa Ref: Mwelwa, J, et al. 2020. Developing Open Science in Africa: Barriers, Solutions and Opportunities. Data Science Journal, 19: 31, pp. 1–17. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2020-031 Open Science Dialogue in Kenya -Prof Muliaro Wafula AOSP EA node steps towards OS implementation ✓ Stakeholder mapping and analysis ✓ Mapping of open science infrastructure landscape in the region: Policy, hardware, software, skills ✓ Federate hardware, software and operational instruments to bridge gaps ✓ Data infrastructure management and support ✓ Develop open source software tools for open science: Data collection, analysis, visualization tools ✓ Training scientists on data stewardship (plans) ✓ VizAfrica conference and summer school ✓ Webinars & seminars ✓ Establish a data publishing journal ✓ Development of data APIs, DOIs ✓ Advocacy and awareness ✓ Promote FAIR principles ✓ Collaborate with publishers and funders ✓ Train on data formats in various domains e.g. Agriculture, health, climate resilience Open Science Dialogue in Kenya -Prof Muliaro Wafula Open Science drivers in Kenya Ref: Kenya Open Government Partnership National Action Plan IV (https://www.opengovpartn ership.org/wpcontent/uploads/2021/03/K enya_Action-Plan_20202022.pdf) Open Science Dialogue in Kenya -Prof Muliaro Wafula Open Educational Resources • Most universities are yet to offer educational resources, including teaching, learning, and research materials, openly and for free. • One must be enrolled as a student to access the open learning platforms, which is a barrier for non-students. • AOSP will promote OERs development and provision Open Science Dialogue in Kenya -Prof Muliaro Wafula (Ref: Wafula et al, 2019) Open Science Dialogue in Kenya -Prof Muliaro Wafula Open Science Dialogue in Kenya -Prof Muliaro Wafula Current Project • Development of Data Repository for Decision Making in MoH- National Vaccine and Immunization Program (NVIP) ✓ Publish APIs ✓ Issue DOIs ✓ Create FIP Communities ➢Organizing VizAfrica 2024 https://datatin.net/vizafrica-conferenceand-symposiun/ : ✓Nairobi Jan 29 –Feb 2, 2023: Summer School Training ✓Main conference Feb 5-7, 2024 ➢Proposed to host International Symposium on Open Science Clouds (ISOSC) 2024 (Nairobi) see just concluded Beijing ISOSC 2023 https://codata.org/international-symposium-on-open-science-cloud2023/ Open Science Dialogue in Kenya -Prof Muliaro Wafula THANK YOU