Open Access Week 2020: the right time to think about Equity and Inclusion in Open Science

 

We are approaching the most exciting days of October for Open Science: Open Access Week. Not only a moment to gather our ideas and present new achievements, but also a time to stand together as community, this occurrence will articulate in several events regarding the theme “Open with Purpose: taking action to build structural equity and inclusion”, running from 19th to 25th October. What happened, and is still happening, this year, showed us how real is the impact of Open Science in the academic circles, and how much the connection between researchers can help the general society in finding answers to important problems.

Cadmus, the EUI Research Repository, set up a collection to assemble the material produced by its members in relation to Covid-19, and many commercial providers offered free access to their collections, in this time of need. Months of lockdown and common inability brought the attention on the necessity of a shared and free access to knowledge, to guarantee the fundamental rights of equity and inclusion.

Therefore, although the pandemic put a big strain on us, we worked hard to keep the Open Access Week active and functioning: the events organised by the EUI will take place in hybrid forms, allowing most of the people to participate.

The opening session has been included in the annual Library Research Skills program, and will take place on 21st October (13.30-15.30) in Sala del Capitolo, Badia Fiesolana. It will provide an introduction on how to embed Open Science practices into scholarly work and how the impact of a research can benefit from it.

The second event has been organised by the Law Department’s Infosoc Working Group. On 22nd October, the webinar will start at 10.00, and it will focus on this year’s topic, with a special attention on the UNESCO recommendation on Open Science. To register for the event, please send an e-mail by 18th October, 12.00 CET, to [email protected] The draft and zoom link will be shared upon registration.

After, it will be possible to join the Open Science Team Zoom chat, which will be on until 12.00. This specific event will repeat itself twice a month, until 3rd December.

In conclusion, the importance of keeping the community together and freely up to date with all the new academic findings will never grow old. Make sure of being part of the discussion, and let your voice be heard! Read others’ opinions and submit a post on www.openaccessweek.org, and access this page for further information about the EUI and OAW.