You are invited to submit proposals to the annual conference for the Forum for Open Research in MENA (FORM), a non-profit membership organisation supporting the advancement of Open Science policies and practices in research institutions and research communities throughout the Arab world, facilitating the exchange of actionable insights and the development of practical policies.
Theme - Democratising Knowledge: The evolution of open science research ecosystems and research communities in the Arab World
Date & Venue: 23 -24 October | Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
The 2023 Annual Forum will offer a series of carefully tailored presentations and panels addressing the key themes and topics raised during the highly successful 2022 Annual Forum (held in Cairo with the support of UNESCO and the Egyptian Knowledge Bank).
This call is open to librarians, researchers, policymakers, higher-education institutions, and solutions providers to submit presentation proposals relating to the development and implementation of open science policies and practises, and the building of open science communities, in higher education institutions and libraries.
Topics can include but are not limited to:
- Case studies from the Arab world (reflections on the challenges and obstacles, successes and solutions faced by individual institutions)
- The challenges of localisation and translation – Open Science in Arabic (language and
infrastructure challenges) - Contextualisation of FAIR principles in non-WIRED countries
- How can governments and funders support the transition to open in the higher education system?
- Open Science, Open Data, Open Education and Open Access – developing policies and
determining best practices supporting sustainability - Human, physical, digital and political barriers to Open Science
- The rise of community-owned and community-led Open Science infrastructures and publications
- Improving global visibility of Arabic research, researchers, and research institutions via Open
Science best practises - Building and Sustaining Communities of Practices (CoP) in Arabic-speaking countries
- Building reproducible, open and interoperable infrastructure in the Global South
- Research assessment protocols and incentives for Open Science
- Digital and human capacity building
- The commercialisation of Open Science
- Promoting Open innovation in the Arab World – when innovation meets entrepreneurship in
Open Science - Open Science projects and initiatives from across the world
- Research and open source software and solutions for Open Science – benefits and challenges
- Preprints, transparent peer review, and open-access publishing
- Open access workflows in scholarly communications
- Sustainable development and higher education
- The rise of Open Science predators and how to identify, avoid, and even counteract them
Please send proposals (in English or Arabic) of no more than 300 words to the Organisers by June 30, 2023. The proposal should include the title of your presentation and a brief outline of the topic, together with your name, professional affiliation, and email address. In addition, please include a short professional biography (of no more than 100 words).
Clearly state whether your proposal is for a 20-minute presentation or a 10-minute lightning round presentation and if you are submitting a proposal for a round table discussion or organised panel, please include information on the topic and all proposed speakers involved. Please also clearly state if you will be unable to attend in person and can only be considered for an online presentation slot.
Send proposals to Dr Emily Choynowski before June 30, at contact@forumforopenresearch.com
Proposals will be evaluated by the Scientific Committee and notifications of acceptance sent out by the 31st of July 2023. Full presentations will not be required in advance of the event. Selected presentations will be considered for publication after the Annual Forum, at which point we will request complete papers be submitted for review.