ERASMUS+ project – OPEN-ASIA: Boosting engagement of HEIs in Open Science in India and Malaysia –Reference No 101128493.Capacity Building Workshop
The OPEN-ASIA project is a collaborative effort aimed at fostering the digital economy and connectivity in India and Malaysia through the advancement of Open Science (OS) principles and values.
Ms. Meena Saxena (Director, International Linkages, SVKM’s NMIMS and OPEN-ASIA project coordinator) and Dr. Kapil Juvale (Asst. Prof., SPPSPTM, SVKM’s NMIMS) participated in the capacity building workshop conducted by Tampere University, Finland between 15th and 19th April 2024. The workshop was coordinated by Dr. Jussi Kivistö (Head of the Administrative Studies Unit, Faculty of Management and Business, Tampere University) and Kateryna Spurun (Researcher, Faculty of Management and Business, Tampere University).
The capacity building workshop 1 (CBW1): “Collaborative, Responsible and Open Science Infrastructure Development” was organized as a part of the OPEN-ASIA project co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. The participating organizations included SVKM’s NMIMS (India), Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology (India), University of Malaya (Malaysia), University Malaysia Sabah (Malaysia), University Malaysia Sarawak (Malaysia), International School for Social and Business Studies (Slovenia) and European Policy Development and Research Institute (Slovenia).
The five-day workshop organized by Tampere University focused on the creation of an open science (OS) infrastructure at participating institutes in Asia. The sessions conducted on day 1 and day 2 helped the participating institutes understand the
implementation of open-science infrastructure in Finland, particularly at Tampere University.
The sessions on day 1 included an introduction to the OS in Europe, OS coordination in Finland, the role of the Center for Science (CSC) in OS infrastructure and OS at the Research Council of Finland. The day 2 sessions created awareness about the different OS policies, infrastructures and services available nationally in Finland and
at Tampere University. Some of the OS infrastructure available included research information systems, open institutional and national repositories, and open-access support funding, among others.
Day 3 of the workshop started with interaction with MARIHE (Erasmus Mundus) students and deliberation on OS infrastructure. This highly interactive session was carried out by creating country-wise groups with MARIHE students to discuss potential OS infrastructure that could be implemented in that country.
On day 4 and day 5, every participating institute deliberated on the potential OS infrastructure creation at their institute. In this collaborative workshop, every institute presented the current status of the OS infrastructure and plan for further development. Each participating institute created a plan with a timeline for its implementation while taking learnings from other institutes. For SVKM’s NMIMS, Dr. Kapil presented the institutional plan for the creation of potential OS infrastructures at the institute. This included the creation of a research information system and repository for facilitating data sharing and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and a library of open educational resources to provide unrestricted access to students.
Overall, the capacity-building workshop provided an excellent platform for gathering experiences from leading OS institutes and the ones progressing in its implementation.
The five-day workshop ended with the distribution of the certificates by Dr Jussi Kivistö (Head of Administrative Studies Unit, Faculty of Management and Business, Tampere University).
