Training Librarians and Early Career Researchers on Open Science Practice

Olayiwola Lawal, Chiamaka Linda Oziri

Funding Area: Capacity building / Construcción de capacidad

Problem Statement: Nigeria does not currently have a national policy on open science. Most higher education and research institutions do not have open science or open access policies. Academics in senior management positions have worked based on traditional research practices and methods that are not aligned with Open Science, so do not implement Open Science policies in their institutions. The low open science practice therefore affects the use of open infrastructure that supports the practice. This can further be exacerbated by the low digital literacy skills of many Nigerian librarians and researchers resulting in the lack of use of open infrastructure which in turn reduces Researchers' visibility and scholarly communication and research outputs. The vast size of the country also makes it difficult to directly reach many higher institutions to promote advocacy and training. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that Open Science can impact including SDGs 4, 5, 9, and 17 are therefore hampered. Eko-Konnect proposes to run a series of workshops and subsequent for Librarians and Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to acquire digital literacy skills and open science skills to develop their open science practice and use open infrastructure tools and platforms available through an open science cloud platform we have built along with open infrastructure available from other sources.

Proposed Activities: We aim to train an initial cohort of librarians and ECRs from 6 universities on open science and the use of open infrastructure over 14 months. Activities within this project will include: Month 1 - Selection and engagement of host universities in 6 geopolitical zones where training workshops will be held. Month 2-3 - Sensitisation and communications campaign to disseminate workshop information and how interested ECRs can apply. We will also engage with the Library's participation of their staff. Month 2 - Recruitment of international facilitator - An Open Science (Open Access) expert who will work with the local training facilitators to run a specific number of training workshops. Month 3-4 -Selection of Research Associate (RA) and selection of participants for each university for programme coordination. RAs are anchor persons at each university; they may be an ECR or Academic Staff that are Open Science enthusiasts. They are responsible for liaison with Eko-Konnect and their campus community to ensure successful workshops. They will be the influencers on their campus in promoting the use of available open infrastructure and lead the building of the campus open science community. Months 3-7 - Training curricula and online course content development. This will involve updating existing R programming and Data Science online course content and working with training facilitators on new course content. Months 6-10 - Training workshops will bring librarians and early career researchers together for training in open science policy implementation and open research practice and output. Participants will also be taught how to use certain infrastructures and how to adopt open standards to implement or improve workflows in research data management, publishing, and any other practices to improve scholarly and research outputs. The training will be complemented by online courses. Months 8-14 - As workshops are concluded in the different universities, open science community development and activities to drive the adoption of open infrastructure will commence. Some specific tasks will include: Preparing reports and recommendations to university management; Onboarding users to the open cloud platform Eko-Konnect hosts; Establish and grow open science communities on campus; Set up pilots for Open Infrastructure use. Expertise & Resources: 1. International Facilitator - Open Science, Open Data, and Open Access Expert 2. Local Facilitators - Technical staff with skills for administering, and supporting open infrastructure platforms with strong ties to the Nigerian research and education community. 3. Community Outreach Coordinator (1) - Marketing, Communications, and social media expertise with experience in community building and governance. 4. Research Associates - Postgraduate or Post Doc students (or lecturers that have earned their PhDs in recent years).

Openness: We will support librarians and ECRs in transferring knowledge activities gained during their workshops to their colleagues and establish open science communities with our support. Marketing and communication campaign (community outreach) will continue promoting the workshop’s offering to other institutions who are able to fund the costs of the workshops after showcasing this project through our web and social media channel, annual users conference, and traditional marketing channels. Eko-Konnect runs an open science cloud that contains platforms developed using open-source software. These include journal publishing platforms, shared repository services, and education identity (eduID) among others. As part of post-workshop and community development activities, proof of concept projects that use the open cloud will be developed. Online Courses: The courses created for this project will be made available as creative commons. The overall objective is to support a culture change, whereby the practical aspects of open science and data science are fully implemented and ultimately rewarded, by providing an outcome-oriented training programme based on courses. As these courses become available we expect wider a user base will be able to access the courses and content improved upon and disseminated by others. We will share the findings and outcomes of this project on our website, at our annual Users Conference, and any other open channels available to us.

Challenges: 1. Scheduling workshops: The project involves collaboration with multiple institutions to host workshops in different parts of Nigeria. Finding mutually convenient dates can be complex, as each institution has its own unique academic calendars and events to consider. Schedules of facilitators, participants, and organizers can be similarly complex. 2. Monitoring communication campaign: Communication channels pre and post-workshop on the different university campuses with the objective of developing open science communities requires communication activities that use campus communication channels that would be difficult for external persons to view and monitor. 3. Workshop attendance: Registration for training, but no show at the actual training event. Participants with diverse levels of knowledge and enthusiasm could be a challenge although we will try to minimize this challenge during the selection process. 4. Conflicting obligations of ECRs during workshops: Early career researchers and librarians involved in the workshop are likely to have other academic or professional commitments, such as teaching, research, or other projects. Finding suitable workshop dates that do not clash with the participant's work, academic, and research obligations can be challenging. 5. Lack of Institutional support for the workshops: Gaining institutional buy-in, obtaining necessary approvals for ECRs to use open infrastructure and change their practice to open science

Neglectedness: Locally, to the best of our knowledge, there is no specific funding available for this kind of work at the moment. Open Infrastructure and Open science are not widely recognized or understood enough by relevant funding organisations in Nigeria. Internationally however, there have been some similar funding opportunities for open infrastructure although not known as open infrastructure at the time. eI4Africa was an EU-funded project to promote African Science and research practice. The 3rd of the four thematic workshops run during the project titled “Leveraging Science Gateways & Virtual Research Communities in African e-Science” was hosted by Eko-Konnect in 2014 in Lagos. Sci-GaIA: Open Science to Support African Scientists and Innovation was another EU-funded project that was an extension of the previous eI4Africa project. The project was aimed at developing and fostering science gateways and e-infrastructure in Africa. The project engaged NRENs and universities to reach out to African researchers to improve their expertise in building science gateways, data repositories and creating applications to make the most of these e-Infrastructures. Eko-Konnect participated in both of the above international projects as one of the collaborating partners in a consortium led by the West and Central African Research and Education Network (WACREN). The projects became the precursor for the development of our Open Science Cloud platform.

Success: 1. Number of ECRs that completed the training workshop. Participants are expected to engage in various workshop sessions and interactive activities to enhance their understanding and adoption of open science principles. The number of these researchers who complete the workshop activities provides a measure of the success of the project. 2. Uptake (subscriptions) or use of available open infrastructure available from Eko-Konnect and Persistent Identifiers?? 3.. Availability of Online Open Science Courses developed: As an output of the project, an online course on open science will be developed and made accessible to a wider audience. This course aims to extend the project's impact beyond the workshop participants and reach a broader audience of researchers, students, and other stakeholders interested in open science across Nigeria. 4. Number of subscriptions and completion of the Online Courses: 5. Establishment of open science communities on campuses: These campus communities will serve as platforms for sustainable engagement and collaboration among researchers who are committed to open science practices.

Total Budget: $17,029.41

Affiliations: LIBSENSE (Library Support For embedded NREN Services and E-Infrastructure)

LMIE Carveout: The project will be undertaken in Nigeria. Eko-Konnect operates from Lagos (the commercial capital of Nigeria) The workshops and subsequent development of open science communities will occur at the university campuses that are located in the 6 geo-political zones of Nigeria. The Proposed university states and geo-political regions of Nigeria are: 1. Ogun State (South West) 2. Sokoto State (North West) 3. Plateau State (North Central) 4. Edo State (South South) 5. Anambra State (South East) 6. Lagos State (South West)

Team Skills: Our Team skills include: Project Management Our team has project management skills having been involved in various projects to build the Nigerian research and education community since our incorporation in 2011. Ensuring that projects stay on track, meets their objectives, and outcomes are delivered within the defined time and budget constraints Open Source Software We have expertise and vast experience in putting to use open-source tools in building some of our open infrastructure and are valuable for some of the technical aspects of the intended workshop. Digital Learning Expertise This includes course content creation, setting up virtual learning environments, managing online collaboration platforms, and ensuring seamless interactions during virtual sessions. Repository software and PIDs With repository expertise, Eko-Konnect can demonstrate best practices for data preservation, metadata management and FAIR principles. which are fundamental aspects of open science. Our community outreach activities including ICT4 Girls, Nigerian Youth Internet Governance with our affiliations and partnership with various African and international organizations have strengthened our credentials as advocates of open science and the development of open infrastructure. To promote awareness, we have run webinars on enabling and improving research outputs and a national symposium on open science with funders and government stakeholders.. Our partners include LIBSENSE, JISC, UK, and WACREN

How Did You Hear About This Call: Word of mouth (e.g. conversations and emails from IOI staff, friends, colleagues, etc.) / Boca a boca (por ejemplo, conversaciones y correos electrónicos del personal del IOI, amigos, colegas, etc.)

Submission Number: 91