FOCUS ON OPEN SCIENCE DELHI
Creating a Research Culture for the 21st Century

  • Online & self-paced
  • 2 hours of video content
  • Short surveys & quizzes
  • Certificate included
  • Start anytime
  • English
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INTRODUCTION

This course will focus on Open Science and its potential to transform research. Key topics include research reproducibility and access to publicly-funded research, data sharing policies and infrastructure in India, ethical aspects of reproducibility, scholarly communication and resistance to change, addressing inequalities, inclusivity, ethics, and links between science and society, and re-shaping public-private partnerships. The course will explore the role of research organizations in the transition to Open Science and challenges in adopting efficient communication models.  The overarching aim is to foster a more transparent, collaborative, and equitable research ecosystem by addressing existing inequalities and improving the links between science and society.

Our instructors

Meet our speakers

Prof. Ashwini Agarwal
Professor, Department of Textile Technology, IIT Delhi
Chairperson, Advisory Committee for the Library (ACL), IIT Delhi
Dr. Ashwini K. Agrawal is Chair Professor of Smart Textiles at the Department of Textile and Fibre Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He graduated in Textile Technology from IIT Delhi in 1986 with Institute Silver medal and completed M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, US in 1992. In the past, he has served as Associate Dean R&D, Head of the Central Research Facility of IIT Delhi and Head of the Department of Textile and Fibre Engineering. He has published over 120 research papers in international journals and over 260 papers at national and international conferences. He holds several national and international patents and has facilitated transfer of several home-grown technologies from lab scale to the Indian industry. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards, noteworthy among them are: National Award 2016 for commercialization of Indigenous technology by Technology Development Board, National Award 2017 for most promising technology for a start-up company by Technology Development Board, Abdul Kalam Technology Innovation National Fellowship by Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), Institute Chair Professor, Prof. K. L. Chopra Faculty Research Award 2019 for applied research, Innovation award 2022 instituted by Foundation of Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT), IIT Delhi and most recently Late Professor W. B. Achwal Endowment Award for the year 2023-24 instituted by the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai

Profile URL: https://textile.iitd.ac.in/faculty-profile/7
Dr. Paul Ayris
Pro-Vice-Provost, LCCOS (Library, Culture, Collections, Open Science)
Paul Ayris graduated from Selwyn College, Cambridge, in 1978 with a 1st class degree in Theology and Religious Studies, obtaining a Ph.D. in 1984. He worked in Cambridge University Library (1984-97), becoming Head of IT Services. In 1997 he moved to UCL (University College London), and is now Pro-Vice Provost (LCCOS), responsible for libraries, museums, galleries, theatres and Open Science. In 2015, Dr Ayris founded UCL Press, the UK’s first fully-OA University Press. He also established the UCL Office for Open Science, the UCL Research Institute for Collections, and UCL Press Play. He was President of LIBER (Association of European Research Libraries) (2010-2014); and Chair of the LERU INFO Group, League of European Research Universities (2011-21); and is currently Chair of the LERU Open Science Ambassadors (January 2025). 
Dr. Moumita Koley
Senior Research Analyst, DST-CPR, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, India
Research Fellow, RoRI, UK
Moumita Koley is a senior research analyst at the DST-Centre for Policy Research at IISc, Bangalore, and a Research Fellow at the Research on Research Institute (RoRI) in the UK. She is a member of the International University Association (IAU) Open Science Expert Group and serves on the steering committee of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), representing Asia. She served as a consultant for the International Science Council’s Future of Scientific Publishing project between March 2023 and June 2024. Moumita holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the Vienna University of Technology in Austria, where she focused on synthesizing small molecules that can direct the differentiation of pluripotent stem cells toward heart muscle cells. Later, she became interested in exploring the structure and evolution of science, including various dimensions of open science, such as open access, open research data, and research evaluation. Her work focuses on advancing the accessibility of scientific knowledge, fostering an efficient and responsible research ecosystem, and promoting research that responds to local needs. She has authored many research papers and newspaper articles on these topics.

Profile URL: https://www.moumitakoley.in
Dr. Sandy Schumann
Department of Security and Crime Science at UCL (University College London)
I am a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at University College London, Department of Security and Crime Science. My current research examines the interplay between (social) media/information/communication/technology and hate/(violent) extremism/radicalisation in different permutations. I take an interdisciplinary approach and work in the borderlands of communication science, social psychology, and terrorism studies. I am also passionate about meta-research, improving research methods and analysis procedures in extremism and terrorism studies. In 2018, I founded JDI Open, a seminar series on open science practices and innovative statistical methods. Since 2023, I am a co-lead of UCL’s chapter of the UK Reproducibility Network.
Dr. Madhan Muthu
Director of the Global Library at O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, India
Madhan is a librarian with over 25 years of experience in research and academic libraries. He is currently the director of the Global Library at O.P. Jindal Global University in Sonipat, India. He is also a visiting scholar at the DST Centre for Policy Research, IISc, Bengaluru. His research interests focus on the intersection of scientometrics and science policy, and open access to scholarly information. 

Profile URL: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1651-4180
Dr. Nabi Hasan
Head Librarian, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Nabi Hasan is a distinguished library professional with an impressive track record, having received numerous awards and accolades for his contributions to the field. He is currently the Head Librarian at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, and has earlier served as the University Librarian at Aligarh Muslim University. He is the First Norman E. Borlaug Fellow from India, trained at Cornell University. Dr. Hasan has been honoured with many awards, including FSLA, Engineering Librarian of the Year Award, Bonnie Hilditch International Librarian Award, Royal Society of Chemistry’s Librarians’ Choice Award, SALIS-Dr. Harish Chandra-Sushila Chandra National Best Librarian Award, SLA Asia Librarian Excellence Award, etc. He has published several books and papers and is currently President of the Engineering Librarians Community of the SLA USA and the Secretary of the Information and Communication Society of India (ICSI).

Profile URL: https://web.iitd.ac.in/~hasan
Dr. Tiberius Ignat
Director at SKS Knowledge Services
Tiberius Ignat is the Director of SKS Knowledge Services, a mission-driven company operating in the quaternary sector of the economy to make Research a popular culture.  His company runs a successful series of workshops – Focus On Open Science, now in its 10th year. After being a long-time individual member of the European Association of Research Libraries (LIBER), he became a LIBER Associate through his company, where he founded and is now the co-chair of the LIBER Citizen Science Working Group.Tiberius founded and served as the vice-chair of the Working Group “Citizen Science at University” at the European Citizen Science Association, and he is a member of the Association for Advancing Participatory Sciences (US). He is a member of the Scientific Committee for OAI, the CERN – Geneva University Workshop on open science and a member of the core group at EARMA’s Open Science Thematic Group (The European Association of Research Managers and Administrators). He developed and launched BESPOC (Broad Engagement in Science, Point of Contact), a model for science-society engagement now implemented by a number of European universities. Tiberius is an EU Expert and occasionally assesses research proposals under EU funding schemes. He was part of the Sorbonne Declaration on Research Data Rights organising committee.Tiberius Ignat has a PhD in Library and Information Science from the University of Bucharest and is an active researcher in research management, participatory science, and the impact of new technology on the research cycle.
Dr. Manu T R
Assistant Librarian, Central Library, IIT Delhi
Manu T R is Assistant Librarian at Central Library, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. Before joining IIT Delhi, he worked as a Deputy Librarian at Adani Institute for Education and Research (now Adani University), Ahmedabad and IIT Gandhinagar as a library professional. He did his Ph.D. on ‘Research Data Management Services in Science & Technology Libraries in India: An Exploratory Study’ from Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar. He holds MLISc from University of Mysore, Karnataka. He has edited a conference proceeding and published research papers in journals, book chapters and presented papers/posters at international and national conferences. His research interests include research data management, open access open science,  resource guides, research support services and scholarly communication.Profile URL: https://web.iitd.ac.in/~manutr