FIRST YEAR EVENTS REPORT May 2016 - oar.sci-gaia.eu · However, the Sci-GaIA consortium members cannot accept liability for any inaccuracies or omissions nor do they accept liability

Sci-GaIA Project H2020 Grant Agreement #654237 Call: H2020-INFRASUPP-2014-2 Topic: INFRASUPP-7-2014 D4.1 – Dissemination and Exploitation Plan & Communication Chart June 2015 Author: SIGMA ORIONIS

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FIRST YEAR EVENTS REPORT May 2016

Funded by the European Union’s H2020 Programme

Ref. Ares(2016)3070071 - 29/06/2016

Sci-GaIA Project H2020 Grant Agreement #654237 Call: H2020-INFRASUPP-2014-2 Topic: INFRASUPP-7-2014 D4.3 – First Year Events Report May 2016 Author: UBUNTUNET ALLIANCE

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PROJECT DOCUMENTATION SHEET

Project Acronym : Sci-GaIA

Project Full Title : Energising Scientific Endeavour through Science Gateways and e-Infrastructures in Africa

Grant Agreement : GA #654237

Call Identifier : H2020-INFRASUPP-2014-2

Topic : INFRASUPP-7-2014

Funding Scheme : Coordination and Support Action (CSA)

Project Duration : 24 months (May 2015 - April 2017)

Project Officer : Leonardo Flores Añover, Unit C.1, DG CONNECT : European Commission

Coordinator : Dr. Simon J. E. Taylor, Brunel University London (UK) - BRUNEL

Consortium partners

: Brunel University London (UK) - BRUNEL : Sigma Orionis (France) - SIGMA : The UbuntuNet Alliance for Research and Education (Malawi) - UBUNTUNET : University of Catania (Italy) - UNICT : The West and Central African Research and Education Network (Ghana) -WACREN : The Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden) - KTH : The Dar es Salam Institute of Technology (Tanzania) - DIT : Karolinska Institutet (Sweden) - KI : CSIR/Meraka Institute (South Africa) - CSIR

Website : www.sci-gaia.eu


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DELIVERABLE DOCUMENTATION SHEET

Number : Deliverable D4.3

Title : First Year Events Report

Related WP : WP4 (Training, dissemination, communication and outreach)

Related Task : Task 4.3 (Workshops)

Lead Beneficiary : UBUNTUNET

Author(s) : Tiwonge Msulira Banda (UBUNTUNET) – [email protected] : Chris Rohrer (UBUNTUNET) – [email protected]

Contributor(s) : Roberto Barbera (UNICT) - [email protected]

Reviewer(s) : Simon J E Taylor (UBRUN) – [email protected]

Nature : R (Report)

Dissemination level : PU (Public)

Due Date : May 31, 2016 (M13)

Submission date : June 29, 2016 (M14)

Status : Final

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


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QUALITY CONTROL ASSESSMENT SHEET

Issue Date Comment Author

V0.1 03/02/2016 First draft Tiwonge Msulira Banda (UBUNTUNET)

V0.2 15/05/2015 Second draft Tiwonge Msulira Banda (UBUNTUNET)

V0.3 13/06/2015 Third draft Tiwonge Msulira Banda (UBUNTUNET)

Final 29/06/2015 Final version Tiwonge Msulira Banda (UBUNTUNET)


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DISCLAIMER The opinion stated in this report reflects the opinion of the authors and not the opinion of the European Commission. All intellectual property rights are owned by the Sci-GaIA consortium members and are protected by the applicable laws. Except where otherwise specified, all document contents are: “©Sci-GaIA Project - All rights reserved”. Reproduction is not authorised without prior written agreement. The commercial use of any information contained in this document may require a license from the owner of that information. All Sci-GaIA consortium members are also committed to publish accurate and up to date information and take the greatest care to do so. However, the Sci-GaIA consortium members cannot accept liability for any inaccuracies or omissions nor do they accept liability for any direct, indirect, special, consequential or other losses or damages of any kind arising out of the use of this information. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This document is a deliverable of the Sci-GaIA project, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration under Grant Agreement (GA) Nb #654237.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................... 5

1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 6

2 PURPOSE OF SCI-GAIA EVENTS ................................................................. 6

3 SCI-GAIA WORKSHOPS IN FIRST YEAR ....................................................... 7

3.1 WORKSHOP 1: 18-19 NOVEMBER 2015, MAPUTO, MOZAMBIQUE .................................. 7

3.2 WORKSHOP 2: 15 MARCH 2016, DAKAR, SENEGAL ................................................. 14

4 Events Organised with Partner Projects/Organisations ..................................21

4.1 SESSION AT IST-AFRICA 2015 ......................................................................... 21

4.2 NETWORKING SESSION AT ICT 2015 ................................................................. 22

4.3 SIMULATION WORKSHOP 2016, APRIL 2016 (STRATFORD, UK) .................................... 22

5 PLANNED EVENTS FOR SECOND YEAR .......................................................22

5.1 SESSION AT TNC16 .................................................................................... 22

5.2 WORKSHOP #3 ........................................................................................ 23

5.3 FINAL CONFERENCE ................................................................................... 23

5.4 OTHER CONFERENCES WHERE SCI-GAIA WILL BE PRESENT ......................................... 23

6 Conclusion .............................................................................................23


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1 INTRODUCTION

The Sci-GaIA project is structured in five work packages (WP) and Task 4.3 of Work Package 4 “Training, dissemination, communication and outreach” is specifically dedicated to the organisation of events. Over the duration of the project, three thematic workshops and one final conference are to be organised. Deliverable 4.3 reports on the organisation, structure, content and results of two workshops which have been organised by the Sci-GaIA project during the first year of the project, both focusing on Open Science:

Sci-GaIA Workshop on Open Science, held as a pre-conference event at UbuntuNet-Connect 2016 on 18

November 2016 in Maputo, Mozambique (organised by UBUNTUNET).

Sci-GaIA Workshop on Promoting Open Science in Africa collocated with the WACREN 2016 Conference in

Dakar, Senegal on 15 March 2016 (organised by WACREN)

In addition, section 6 of this deliverable presents external events to which Sci-GaIA project partners have actively contributed:

External events where Sci-GaIA project partners have organised specific sessions

External events where Sci-GaIA project partners have contributed as speakers or panellists, presenting

project activities and outcomes.

During the upcoming second year, Sci-GaIA will organise one more thematic workshop collocated with the Technology Transfer Alliance conference (to be organised by DIT) and conclude with Final Conference in Brussels (to be organised by UBRUN).

2 PURPOSE OF SCI-GAIA EVENTS

The main purpose of Sci-GaIA events, which are collocated with high level events in Africa, is to strengthen collaboration among European and African communities of practice (CoPs). Early in the project, Sci-GaIA adopted Open Science primarily because the project is promoting open approaches to scientific endeavour, vis Science Gateways and open publication of documents and data (Open Access Data Repositories and Research Registries).


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3 SCI-GAIA WORKSHOPS IN FIRST YEAR

3.1 WORKSHOP 1: 18-19 NOVEMBER 2015, MAPUTO, MOZAMBIQUE

Event Background and Objectives The first Sci-GaIA thematic workshop was held as pre-conference event for UbuntuNet-Connect 2015 in Maputo, Mozambique on 18 November 2015. UbuntuNet-Connect is the annual networking conference for UbuntuNet Alliance in Eastern and Southern Africa and is hosted by member NRENs. In 2015 the conference was hosted by the Mozambique Research and Education Network (MoRENet) through the Ministry of Science and Technology, Higher Education and Vocational Training (MCTESTP). The workshop, titled: Sci-GaIA Workshop on Open Science targeted research/scientific communities in Mozambique as well as those from the region and was aimed at promoting collaboration among African and European Communities of Practice. This first Sci-GaIA workshop, with a focus on Open Science had the following main objectives:

Strengthen collaboration among African and European scientists;

Provide a forum for discussions and debates on open science issues;

Engage key local community stakeholders and reach African policy makers;

Promote the uptake of Science Gateways and e-Infrastructures in Africa;

Support African Communities of Practice;

Create synergies with similar projects and initiatives.


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This thematic workshop was organised by UbuntuNet with the support of all Sci-GaIA project partners. The Workshop was co-hosted by the National Centre for Biotechnology and Biosciences in Mozambique (CNBB), which played a critical role in reaching out to the local scientific community in Mozambique. Event Planning and Programme Committee Planning for the workshop was coordinated at project consortium level with UbuntuNet and SIGMA leading. All project partners contributed in the development of the event programme and identification of presenters. The programme was shared with the local co-host after they had accepted to co-host the workshop. Event Format

In addressing the objectives, the workshop was designed to be an interactive one allowing maximum

participation of all attendees. The workshop included speeches, presentations and discussions carried

out within the following sessions:

An opening session honoured with the participation of high-level policy makers from Africa and

Mozambique in particular from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Higher Education and

Vocational Training (MCETSP)and of representatives from UbuntuNet Alliance;

Two sessions with presentations related to Open Science and Open Data Infrastructure;

“Bird-of-a-Feather” (BoF) sessions with thematic group discussions on:

o Open Science,

o Science Gateways, and

o NRENs supporting Open Science;

A session on the Sci-GaIA directions of development;

A session on the identification of possible synergies with similar projects like TANDEM, MAGIC

and AfricaConnect2

Workshop conclusions and Vote of Thanks.

http://www.tandem-wacren.eu/

http://www.magic-project.eu/

http://www.africaconnect.eu/MediaCentre/Pages/AfricaConnect2.aspx


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Presentations gave a state-of-the-art review of enabling technologies for Open Science, including Open Access Data Repositories, Science Gateways and e-Infrastructures. Presentations were also given on emerging Science Gateways that are supporting the needs of scientists and practitioners in life sciences, healthcare and the environment. A brainstorming session identified several new African communities of practice that could benefit from Science Gateways as well as the urgent need to promote African open access data repositories as part of a wider initiative of Open Science in Africa. A demo on Science Reproducibility was conducted by Roberto Barbera on the last session of the UbuntuNet-Connect 2015. This was featured as part of the Sci-GaIA workshop proceedings. Event Programme The following was the workshop programme. The same is available, with links to full presentations at https://agenda.ct.infn.it/event/1190/other-view?view=indico_infn_meeting Wednesday, 18 November 2015 08:00 - 08:30 Arrival and registrations

08:30 - 09:45 Opening Session Facilitators: Ludmila Maguni - Ministry of Science and Technology, Higher Education and Vocational Training, Mozambique Simon Taylor - Brunel University London, UK & Coordinator of the Sci-GaIA project

08:30 Welcome Remarks and Introductions

Ludmila Maguni (Ministry of Science and Technology, Higher Education and Vocational Training, Mozambique)

08:45 Introduction to the Sci-GaIA Project objectives and workshop expected outputs Tiwonge Banda (Finance and Admin Manager, UbuntuNet Alliance, Malawi)

09:00 Welcome remarks from UbuntuNet Alliance Pascal Hoba (CEO, UbuntuNet Alliance, Malawi)

09:10 Remarks from the African Academy of Science Berhanu Abegaz (Executive Director, African Academy of Sciences)

09:30 Remarks from Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia e Biociencias

https://agenda.ct.infn.it/event/1190/other-view?view=indico_infn_meeting


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Alsacia Atanasio (Director, CNBB, Mozambique)

09:45 - 10:15 Coffee break, Networking & Group Photo

10:15 - 11:15 Energising Science with Science Gateways Facilitator: Tiwonge Msulira Banda - Finance and Admin Manager, UbuntuNet Alliance, Malawi

10:15 Energising Scientific Endeavour through Science Gateways and e-Infrastructures in Africa Simon Taylor (Reader in Computing, Department of Computer Science, Brunel University London, UK & Coordinator of the Sci-GaIA project)

10:30 Supporting Communities of Practice through the Sci-GaIA platform. Jaran Ericksen (Clinical pharmacologist, KI, Sweden)

10:45 Open Data infrastructures in Africa Bruce Becker (Senior Researcher, Meraka Institute, South Africa)

11:00 Status of Open Science in Mozambique 15' Alsacia Atanasio (Director, Biotechnology Center, Mozambique)

11:15 - 12:15 Towards an African Open Science Commons Platform Facilitator: Zelalem Assefa - CEO, EthERNet, Ethiopia

11:15 The Sci-GaIA's vision and implementation of an Open Science Commons Platform for Africa Roberto Barbera (Associate Professor, University of Catania, Italy)

12:00 Q&A and Discussion

12:15 - 13:30 Lunch & Networking

13:30 - 14:15 "Bird-of-a-Feather" (BoF) parallel session

Group #1 - Open Science Convener: Amos Nungu (CEO, TERNET, Tanzania)

Group #2 - Science Gateways Convener: Peter Muia (System Administrator, KENET, Kenya)

Group #3 - NRENs Supporting Open Science Convener: Bonny Khunga (CEO, ZAMREN, Zambia)

14:15 - 15:00 "Birds-of-a-Feather" (BoF) plenary session Reports from parallel sessions

14:15 Report from Group #1 - Open Science Amos Nungu (Chief Executive Officer, TERNET, Tanzania)

14:25 Report from Group #2 - Science Gateways Peter Muia (System Administrator, KENET, Kenya)

14:35 Report from Group #3 - NRENs Supporting Open Science Bonny Khunga (CEO, ZAMREN, Zambia)


15:00 - 16:00 Science Gateways and e-Infrastructures Facilitator: Amos Nungu - CEO, TERNET, Tanzania

15:00 Improving East Africa's Weather Information management Through the Application of Suitable ICTs Amos Nungu (Chief Executive Officer, TERNET, Tanzania)

15:15 Overall approach of what Sci-GaIA offers CoPs, examples of CoPs and perspectives Bjorn Pehrson (Professor, KTH, Sweden)

15:30 The Sci-GaIA e-Infrastructure application survey 15' Omo Oaiya (Chief Technical Officer, WACREN, Ghana)


16:00 - 16:30 Coffee break & Networking

16:30 - 17:15 Panel on "Possible synergies with similar projects" Facilitator: Sylvie Mboyo - ICT Director, University of Rwanda, Rwanda Panelists: 1) Simon Taylor, Brunel University, UK - Sci-GaIA Project Coordinator 2) Omo Oaiya, WACREN, (Regional) - TANDEM Project Partner 3) Ognjen Prnjat, GRNET, Greece - VI-SEEM Project Partner


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4) Maria Jose Lopez, RedCLARA, Chile - MAGIC Project Partner 5) Tiwonge Banda, UbuntuNet Alliance, Malawi - AfricaConnect2 Project Partner

17:15 - 17:30 Conclusions and Vote of Thanks

17:15 Conclusive remarks Simon Taylor (Reader in Computing, Department of Computer Science, Brunel University London, UK & Coordinator of the Sci-GaIA project)

17:20 Conclusive remarks Tiwonge Banda (Finance and Admin Manager, UbuntuNet Alliance, Malawi)

17:30 - 19:00 Networking Reception

Event Registration and Attendees Prior registration was required for the workshop, free of charge. This was done via Eventbrite. The workshop was attended by 45 participants from 23 countries. High level policy participants were from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Higher Education and Vocational Training (MCTESTP) and the National Center for Biotechnology and Biosciences (CNBB). To facilitate the participation of some key people, mobility grant were given to 7 African participants. The grants were offered based on the strategic importance of the person’s participation and also the role the person would play at the event. The following are the recipients of the grants: 1. Prof. Gbenga Jegede Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria

2. Prof. Idris Rai State University of Zanzibar

3. Dennis Joseph Mazali Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Science, Tanzania

4. Novat Karol Elimu Living Lab, Tanzania

5. John Kamanga NEPAD Fish Node, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Malawi

6. Dr. Eric F Oteng-Abayie Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, Ghana

7. Collence T. Chisita Harare Polytechnic School of Information Sciences, Zimbabwe

The pie chart below shows the countries where the participants came from. The attendee list is included in Appendix 1.


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Dissemination and Outreach Prior to the event, dissemination and outreach were carried out, first with the creation of a page on the project website (http://www.sci-gaia.eu/2015/10/28/mark-your-calendar-sci-gaia-workshop-on-open-science-maputo-mozambique-november-18-19-2015/). The announcement was re-published by several other websites:

EU FUTURIUM Digital4Science

https://ec.europa.eu/futurium/en/content/sci-gaia-workshop-open-science

OCSD net

http://ocsdnet.org/event/sci-gaia-open-science-workshop/

EU PARL Net

http://euparl.net/9353000/1/j9vvhskmycle0vf/vjyzckmuyiqd?ctx=vg9ibb65quyr&tab=1

Europa Nu

http://www.europa-

nu.nl/id/vjyzckmuyiqd/agenda/sci_gaia_workshop_on_open_science?ctx=vg9ibb65quyr&v=1&t

ab=1&start_tab1=5

Delegates at the workshop received project fliers (factsheet). The following dissemination materials were placed in the workshop rom:

Brazil 2%

Chile 4%

DRC 2% Ghana

4% Greece 2%

Italy 2%

Jordan 2%

Kenya 2%

Malawi 11%

Mozambique 11%

Nigeria 4%

Rwanda 4%

Senegal 2%

Somalia 4%

South Africa

7%

Sudan 4%

Sweden 2%

Tanzania 7%

Uganda 2%

UK 7%

USA 4%

Zambia 4%

Zimbabwe 2%

PArticipants' countries

http://www.sci-gaia.eu/2015/10/28/mark-your-calendar-sci-gaia-workshop-on-open-science-maputo-mozambique-november-18-19-2015/

http://www.sci-gaia.eu/2015/10/28/mark-your-calendar-sci-gaia-workshop-on-open-science-maputo-mozambique-november-18-19-2015/

https://ec.europa.eu/futurium/en/content/sci-gaia-workshop-open-science

http://ocsdnet.org/event/sci-gaia-open-science-workshop/

http://euparl.net/9353000/1/j9vvhskmycle0vf/vjyzckmuyiqd?ctx=vg9ibb65quyr&tab=1

http://www.europa-nu.nl/id/vjyzckmuyiqd/agenda/sci_gaia_workshop_on_open_science?ctx=vg9ibb65quyr&v=1&tab=1&start_tab1=5




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A 3m x 1m front banner, giving workshop details

Two A1 posters (5 copies each)

o A Federated Platform for an Open Science Commons in Africa

o Reproducible Open Science in Sci-GaIA

Two roll up Sci-GaIA project banners

After the workshop, several other

MAGIC project

http://magic-project.eu/index.php/2015-05-28-22-53-32/news-and-events/202-magic-

ubuntunet-connect

Event Output and Main Conclusions The workshop presented an opportunity for the research community to discuss the open science paradigm and the contributions the Sci-GaIA project is making, especially with regard to Science Gateways, Open Access Digital Repositories. It was the first focused interaction that the project had with the community. Potential communities of practice were identified, as well as new organisations that would deploy the Open Access Digital repositories. The workshop also allowed the project team to promote the upcoming Winter School.

http://magic-project.eu/index.php/2015-05-28-22-53-32/news-and-events/202-magic-ubuntunet-connect

http://magic-project.eu/index.php/2015-05-28-22-53-32/news-and-events/202-magic-ubuntunet-connect


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3.2 WORKSHOP 2: 15 MARCH 2016, DAKAR, SENEGAL

Event Background and Objectives The second Sci-GaIA thematic Workshop took place on March 15, 2016 at in Dakar, Senegal. The

workshop was organised jointly with the TANDEM and MAGIC projects, in co-location with the WACREN

2016 Conference. At this workshop, the project continued to focus on Promoting Open Science in Africa.

The main objectives of the workshop were to hear the opinions of leading African Scientists and to see

recent advances in Open Science services that have been developed for African Scientific Communities

of Practice. The Workshop was also an opportunity to see how Science Gateways, e-Infrastructures,

Open Access Data Repositories and Research Registries can be used to support Open Science, as well as

understanding the key roles and contributions that organisations such as National Research and

Education Networks, DataCite, ORCID and THOR and international cooperation projects including Sci-

GaIA, TANDEM and MAGIC are making to Open Science.

https://agenda.ct.infn.it/event/1205/

https://indico.wacren.net/event/20/

https://indico.wacren.net/event/20/


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Event Planning and Programme Committee

This Sci-GaIA thematic workshop on Open Science was organised by WACREN with the support of

UBRUN, UBUNTUNET and all the Sci-GaIA project partners. WACREN took a lead in developing the

programme and invitation of speakers.

Event Format Just like the first thematic workshop, the second workshop was also designed to be interactive and

encouraged the participation of all. The workshop included the following sessions:

A “Setting the scene” session with representative speakers of the research and academic fields

from Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana. This helped present a state-of-the-art in West African region;

A session focusing on the perspectives related to Open Science in Africa developing case studies,

upcoming training opportunities, collaboration tools;

An interactive Brainstorming session on leveraging open science in Africa;

Workshop conclusions and Vote of Thanks.

The brainstorming session led to the signature of the Dakar Declaration on Open Science as a way of promoting open science in Africa. The declaration was also immediately signed by to the participants to the 2nd TANDEM Workshop and to the WACREN Conference 2016. So far, the Dakar Declaration on Open Science in Africa has been signed online by 143 individuals (out of which, 119 explicitly confirmed their signature by email) and by 13 organisations. Institution-level signatures are listed in the web page: http://www.sci-gaia.eu/institutional-signatures/

Event Programme The following was the workshop programme. The same is available, with full presentations at https://agenda.ct.infn.it/event/1205/other-view?view=indico_infn_meeting.

http://www.wacren.net/

http://www.ubuntunet.net/

http://www.sci-gaia.eu/about-sci-gaia/project-partners/

http://www.sci-gaia.eu/institutional-signatures/



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Tuesday, 15 March 2016 09:00 - 09:15 Welcome Address 09:15 - 10:45 Setting the Scene: African Biomedical and Health Research

09:15 Large Data and Biomedical Computational Pipelines for Complex Diseases Prof. Ezekiel Adebiyi (Covenant University Bioinformatics Research Group (CUBRe), Nigeria)

09:45 Computational Complexity and Resource needs in Genomic Data Analysis Dr. Chiekh Loucoubar (Group of Biostatistics, Bioinformatics and Modeling (G4 BBM) Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Senegal)

10:15 The West Africa-Michigan CHARTER in GEOHealth: The Role of ICT Prof. Fobil Julius (School of Public Health, University of Ghana)

10:45 - 11:15 Coffee break, Networking & Group Photo

11:15 - 12:45 Setting the Scene: African Environmental and Chemical Research

11:15 Statistical Kinetic Data Analysis and Scientific Graphing Dr. Chukwuemeka Isanbor (Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, University of Lagos)

11:45 Numerical Simulations in Climate Modelling : Requirements and Challenges Dr. Abdoulaye Deme (Laboratoire des Sciences de l'atmosphère et des Océans, Université Gaston Berger, Senegal)

12:15 Advances in Environmental Monitoring - The WIMEA-ICT Experience Prof. Björn Pehrson (KTH, Sweden), Prof. Gbenga Jegede (Atmospheric Physics Research Group (APRG), OAU, Nigeria)

12:45 - 14:00 Lunch & Networking

14:00 - 15:30 Supporting the Scene: Towards Open Science in Africa

14:00 The Open Science Vision Prof. Roberto Barbera (Technical Coordinator, Sci-GaIA Project, University of Catania, Italy)

14:10 A Simple Basis for Digital Data Governance Mr. Matthew Buys (Regional Director, ORCID)

14:30 Developing Science Gateways and Data Repositories - The Sci-GaIA Training Workshops Prof. Roberto Barbera (Technical Coordinator, Sci-GaIA Project, University of Catania, Italy)

14:50 A Case Study of Open Science: The REPAST Infection Model Dr. Simon Taylor (Coordinator, Sci-GaIA Project, Brunel University London, UK)

15:10 MAGIC - Collaboration tools and communities/group sharing for science applications Mr. Gustavo Adolfo Garcia Plaza (Technical Manager, RedCLARA)

15:30 - 16:00 Coffee Break

16:00 - 17:30 Brainstorming: Leveraging Open Science in Africa with ICT

16:00 The Impact of National Research and Education Networks on Science in Africa Mr. Omo Oaiya (Chief Technology Officer, WACREN)

16:20 Sharing value-added services for Research and Education communities Dr. Ognjen Prnjat (European and Regional e-Infrastructure manager, GRNET)

16:40 Brainstorming session What will be the impact of Open Science in Africa? What do we need to do to create African Open Science? What are the key challenges and how can we meet them?

17:10 Summarising the key points from the Brainstorming session

17:30 - 18:00 Workshop conclusions and Vote of thanks

18:00 - 19:00 Networking Reception

Event Registration and Attendees

Registration to the workshop was free and was carried out through the main WACREN 2016 Conference registration process. Registrants were asked to tick a check box if they wanted to attend the Sci-GaIA Workshop on Promoting Open Science. The workshop registered and overall attendance of 83 participants coming from 23 countries from four continents – Africa, Europe, North America and South


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America. The pie chart below shows the distribution of participants’ countries. The attendee list is available in Appendix 2.

To facilitate the participation of some key people, mobility grant were given to key 5 African participants. The grants were offered based on the strategic importance of the person’s participation and also the role the person would play at the event. The following are the recipients of the grants: Name Institution 1. Prof. Ezekiel Adebiyi Covenant University, Nigeria

2. Prof Gbenga Jegede Atmospheric Physics Research Group (APRG), Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

3. Prof Julius N Fobil University of Ghana

4. Prof John Aguiyi University of Jos, Nigeria

5. Dr Chukwuemeka ISANBOR Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, University of Lagos, Nigeria

Dissemination and Outreach The workshop was announced through the Sci-GaIA website (http://www.sci-gaia.eu/2016/02/08/2nd-

sci-gaia-workshop-dakar-senegal-march-15-2016/). This was promoted on other websites:

Cameroon 2%

Chile 1%

Colombia 1% Cote d'Ivoire

4%

France 10% Gabon

1%

Gambia 1%

Ghana 5% Greece

1%

Italy 1%

Malawi 2%

Mali 8%

Niger 5%

Nigeria 16%

Senegal 19%

Sierra Leone 1%

South Africa

1% Sweden

4%

Tanzania 2%

Togo 2% UK

5%

USA 6%

Participants' Country

http://www.sci-gaia.eu/2016/02/08/2nd-sci-gaia-workshop-dakar-senegal-march-15-2016/

http://www.sci-gaia.eu/2016/02/08/2nd-sci-gaia-workshop-dakar-senegal-march-15-2016/


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CAAST-Net Plus

https://caast-net-plus.org/object/event/1496

TANDEM Project website

http://www.tandem-wacren.eu/tandem-2nd-series-of-events/

Association of African Universities (AAU) Blog

https://blog.aau.org/tag/sci-gaia/

Specific communication materials were created for the second workshop: a folder for delegates and a

horizontal banner placed in front of the workshop room. Sci-GaIA roll up banners were also placed in

the room to add to the branding.

Workshop proceedings were published online after the event and includes: Presentations & Final

Agenda, an Attendee list and a Photo Gallery. These can be accessed at

https://agenda.ct.infn.it/event/1205/other-view?view=indico_infn_meeting.

Event Output and Main Conclusions

The workshop was another opportunity for three H2020 projects Sci-GaIA, TANDEM and MAGIC to

interact and showcase synergies. It was also a forum for the project and communities to once again

discuss issues related to the open science paradigm that is being promoted by Sci-GaIA. Specifically, the

workshop:

Brought to light a number of projects that are being carried out in West Africa and the synergies

that exist with the Sci-GaIA project, especially with regards to Open Science

Release and signature of the Dakar Declaration on Open Science, which continues to get

endorsements by both institutions and individuals. The declaration continues to get high level

endorsements and is a major milestone in the history of open science in Africa.

Monitoring and Evaluation Survey A workshop evaluation was conducted at the end of the day and out of the 84 participants, 31 completed and returned their evaluation forms, representing 37%, which is acceptable. The 31 responses were from 14 countries in Africa, Europe and North America. The Figure below show a pie chart of the percent distribution of the countries of the participants that submitted responses.

https://caast-net-plus.org/object/event/1496

http://www.tandem-wacren.eu/tandem-2nd-series-of-events/

https://blog.aau.org/tag/sci-gaia/





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The participants then were asked to rate the event on a number of aspects on a scale of 1(Poor) to 5

(Excellent). The results are shown in the table below. The weighted average on each aspect of the

workshop is equal to or greater than 4, meaning that the majority of the workshop participants were

satisfied with the event.

– 1

(Poor) 2

3 (Average)

4 5

(Excellent) Total

Weighted Average

How do you assess the overall participation to the workshop

0.00% 0.00% 9.68% 54.84% 35.48% 31 4.26

How do you assess the overall quality of the workshop program?

0.00% 3.23% 3.23% 58.06% 35.48% 31 4.26

How do you assess the networking opportunities provided by the workshop?

0.00% 3.33% 23.33% 40.00% 33.33% 30 4.03

How do you rate the logistics of the workshop (venue, catering, facilities)?

0.00% 3.33% 13.33% 63.33% 20.00% 30 4.00

How would you rate the organisation of the day in terms of timing?

0.00% 0.00% 13.33% 60.00% 26.67% 30 4.13

How do you evaluate the quality of presentations?

0.00% 3.33% 3.33% 63.33% 30.00% 30 4.20

How do you evaluate the quality of discussion?

0.00% 0.00% 10.00% 53.33% 36.67% 30 4.27

Did the workshop improve your understanding of Open Science and

0.00% 0.00% 3.33% 50.00% 46.67% 30 4.43

Senegal 3%

Cote dIvoire 7%

Togo 3%

Ghana 10%

USA 3%

France 7%

Cameroon 7%

Gabon 3%

Niger 6%

Italy 3%

Nigeria 26%

Sierra Leone 3%

Tanzania 6%

Mali 13%

Distribution of Home country of respondents


20

– 1

(Poor) 2

3 (Average)

4 5

(Excellent) Total

Weighted Average

of the progress in this field in Europe and Africa?

The Sci-GaIA consortium used the conference to obtain information from the participants on other

issues that the project is promoting or carrying out. These are training; availability of Open Access

Repositories at their home institutions; availability of Identity providers at their home institutions; and

whether the participants had an ORCID ID. The results are shown in Figure below. On training, only 20

participants responded and 90% of them indicated their interest in training. They also provided their

email addressed to be contacted in future with training opportunities. Seventy-one per cent of the

respondents indicated that their home institutions do not have Open Access Repositories and the same

percentage also said their home institutions do not have Identity Providers. Some 86% of the

respondents stated that they do not have ORCID IDs and all of them said that they would like to have

one. These aspects underscore the importance of the work that the Sci-GaIA project is doing and the

need to intensify efforts in promoting open science on the continent.


21

Participants also were given the opportunity to highlight other items or topics that they would have

loved to be included on the program of the workshop. Responses to this open ended question are

categorised/summarised as follows:

MOOCs

e-Learning

Special Seminar/Training for researchers/academicians

More demonstrations

Programmes for the trainees who are members of the community. Support (incentives) for them to be

able to keep giving their contributions to the development of the communities

Technical aspects of the infrastructure that should be set up in order to establish gateways were not well

tackled

Lessons learned. Presentations for some who have made mistakes but still continued

Finally, the workshop participants provided a short testimony regarding their participation to the

workshop. Here are some of the responses provided:

The workshop was a wonderful opportunity for me to get an insight about open science and related

issues

This has been of great benefit to me as a scientist and researcher and for its quite promising for

development and scientific application

With fibre optic broadband rollout in Africa, this is good timing to establish common research and

education networks - application, infrastructure, software, etc.

I have got a very good experience on networking with different people and I have been across the new

technologies and opportunities that I must grab as I get back

It has been eye-opening and educative event

The concept of open science is very important and essential for promoting research visibility,

reproducibility and repeatability in Africa and around the world

A very good initiative to bring together major actors in the field of education and research in the WACREN

region together with an impressive panel of international experts from Europe and the US. This kind of

gathering is to be encouraged to bring collaborative work among members of the WACREN community.

Indeed this event is a very enriching experience that needs to be continued. BRAVO!

Open Science is the future. Africa can leap-frog by learning from the Sci-GaIA experiences

This was a very useful workshop that brought researchers together and exposed them to the

fundamentals and benefits of NREN and federated identity. The use of Science Gateways and open

science completed the picture

4 EVENTS ORGANISED WITH PARTNER PROJECTS/ORGANISATIONS

4.1 SESSION AT IST-AFRICA 2015

The first project interaction with stakeholders was a 90 minute session that was held jointly with the

other H2020 projects TANDEM and MAGIC on 7 May 2015 at the IST-Africa 2015, which was held in

Lilongwe Malawi. The session was titled “Synergy for Global Collaboration in Science Powered by R&E


22

networks”. Chaired by Dr Boubakar Barry, CEO of WACREN, the session included a presentation from

each of the three projects followed by a discussion on synergies.

4.2 NETWORKING SESSION AT ICT 2015

The three H2020 projects, Sci-GaIA, TANDEM and MAGIC combined efforts at the ICT 2015 in Lisbon,

Portugal on 22 October for session titled "Towards global research e-infrastructures for 2020 and

beyond". This Networking Session was aimed at promoting the cross border collaboration needed in

order to develop world research infrastructures for 2020 and beyond. Three EC-funded projects joined

forces to discuss the development, deployment and operation of research e-Infrastructures in different

regions of the world. The networking session constituted an open forum to share ideas, experiences,

best practises and challenges around e-infrastructures related topics. The Agenda for the event is

available at https://agenda.ct.infn.it/event/1170/ which also included presentations.

4.3 SIMULATION WORKSHOP 2016, APRIL 2016 (STRATFORD, UK)

Practitioner and Academic Collaboration: Getting the Best from Both Worlds

Simulation is a critical exploratory tool in research, industry and society. This session led by Dr Simon

Taylor (UBRUN, Sci-GaIA Coordinator) focussed on several areas. Effective collaboration in simulation

between practitioners and academics can lead to extremely beneficial results for both parties. However,

how do collaborations get started? What are reasonable expectations from both sides? How can such

collaborations be managed? What can happen if things go wrong? Using real examples of

collaborations, this tutorial will explore how to get the best from both worlds. The tutorial particularly

focussed on practitioners who want to know more about funding mechanisms that support academic

collaborations and early stage academics who want to start industrial collaborations, especially with

respect to partnerships between Europe and Africa

5 PLANNED EVENTS FOR SECOND YEAR

5.1 SESSION AT TNC16

The EC funded MAGIC, Sci-GaIA and TANDEM projects will join forces at TNC16 in Prague, Czech

Republic on 14 June 2016 to promote the cross-border collaboration needed to develop global research

infrastructures for 2020 and beyond, and showcase the development and operation of research e-

infrastructures in different world regions; introducing their approaches on these issues and stimulating

discussions about the benefits of developing new world class research e-Infrastructures for the R&D

communities. The session will be titled: MAGIC + Sci-GaIA + TANDEM: Towards Sustainable e-

Infrastructures.

https://agenda.ct.infn.it/event/1170/


23

5.2 WORKSHOP #3

The third Sci-GaIA workshop is planned to be held in co-location with the Technology Transfer Alliance

(TTA), which will be held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania during the first week of September 2016. The

workshop will be hosted by Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT) with the support of all the

project partners. Details of the workshop are yet to be developed.

5.3 FINAL CONFERENCE

The final conference is planned to be held in Month 22 (February 2017) in Brussels. This final Event will

include a face-to-face User Forum and a high-level Conference. It has been decided that this event will

be held jointly with TANDEM project. Details of the event are yet to be developed.

5.4 OTHER CONFERENCES WHERE SCI-GAIA WILL BE PRESENT

The Sci-GaIA consortium will also be present at the following events during the second year of the

project:

e-Research 2016, Cape Town, South Africa, 3-5 October 2016

Ubuntunet-Connect 2016, Kampala, Uganda, 3-4 November 2016

IEEE Symposium on Distributed Simulation-Real Time Applications, Brunel University, London

WACREN Conference 2017, March 2016

6 CONCLUSION

During the first year of implementation of the Sci-GaIA project, the consortium has been able to deliver

the 2 planned workshops all focusing on open science. Through these, the project has provided a

platform for promoting collaboration among European and African researchers, especially on issues

related to open science. The project has also been able to discuss synergies with existing H2020

projects. TANDEM and MAGIC by partnering with them in relevant regional and international

conferences. A major milestone in promoting open science in Africa was the release and signature of the

Dakar Declaration on Open Science, which continues to get signatures from both individuals and

institutions. The consortium will continue to use its events to promote collaboration among researchers

of the two continents during the second year of the project.


24

Appendix 1 Attendee List for Workshop #1 The following is a list of attendance to the 1st Sci-GaIA workshop held in Maputo, Mozambique on 18-19 November 2016.

Surname Other names Affiliation Country 1. Porto Eriko CKLN Brazil

2. Altamirano Tania RedCLARA Chile

3. Lopez Maria-Jose RedCLARA Chile

4. Kalenda Dibungi T Eb@le DRC

5. Dhlamini Nodumo AAU Ghana

6. Oteng-Abayie Eric Ghana/KNUST Ghana

7. Prnjat Ognjen GRNET Greece

8. Barbera Roberto University of Catania Italy

9. Torman Yousef ASREN Jordan

10. Muia Peter KENET Kenya

11. Andoh Hoba UbuntuNet Alliance Malawi

12. Banda Tiwonge UbuntuNet Alliance Malawi

13. Kamanga John FishNode-Bunda College Malawi

14. Ndebvu Hastings UbuntuNet Alliance Malawi

15. Rohrer Chris UbuntuNet Alliance Malawi

16. Atanasio Alsacia CNBB/MCTESTP Mozambique

17. Jamal Suzana MCTESTP - Mozambique Mozambique

18. Mungoi Mario Antonio Teofilo

Eduardo Mondlane University and FNI Mozambique

19. Mussagy Cassamo Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia e Biociencias Mozambique

20. Mussagy Aidate Eduardo Mondlane University Mozambique

21. Jegede Gbenga OAU/Nigeria Nigeria

22. Oaiya Omo WACREN Nigeria

23. Mboyo Sylvie RwEdNet Rwanda

24. Nyiranzeyimana Josephine RwEdNet Rwanda

25. Barry Boubakar WACREN Senegal

26. Hassan Dahir SomaliREN Somalia

27. Jama Abdulilareem H

SomaliREN Somalia

28. Becker Bruce CSIR, Meraka South Africa

29. Lotz Len TENET South Africa

30. Martin Duncan UbuntuNet Alliance South Africa

31. Abdelrahman Iman University of Khartoum Sudan


25

32. Elamin Yassir Hassan

SudREN Sudan

33. Eriksen Jaran Karolinska Institute/Sci-GalA Sweden

34. Karol Novat Elimu Living Lab Tanzania

35. Mazali Dennis J MUHAS Tanzania

36. Nungu Amos DIT Tanzania

37. Mbonimpa Nicholas RENU Uganda

38. Burnett Peter INASP UK

39. Mathews Phil UbuntuNet Alliance UK

40. Taylor Simon Brunel/Sci-GalA UK

41. Firestone Rachel World Bank USA

42. Kelly Tim World Bank USA

43. Khunga Bonny ZAMREN Zambia

44. Mkandawire Stein ZAMREN Zambia

45. Chisita Collence T Harare Polytechnic School of Information Sciences

Zimbabwe


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Appendix 2 Attendee List for Workshop #2 The following participants attended the 2nd Sci-GaIA Workshop held in Dakar, Senegal on 15th March 2016.

Last name Other names Affiliation Country 1. Kona Gwet Bi RIC Cameroun 2. Emvudu Yves RIC Cameroun 3. Labbé Carmen Red Clara Chili 4. Garcia Gustavo Red Clara Colombia 5. Traore Issa RITER Côte d'Ivoire 6. Kone Tiemoman RITER Côte d'Ivoire 7. Meite Daouda RITER Côte d'Ivoire 8. Sor Joel CIRAD France 9. Alliné Damien IRD France 10. Guezou Jean François RENATER France 11. Granier Philippe CIRAD France 12. Carbon Agnès IRD France 13. Labadie Michel IRD France 14. Sahoune Sammy IRD France 15. Signorini Jacquelène IRD France 16. Balira Ousmane Konfe GabonREN Gabon 17. Seine Anna NSRC Gambia 18. Eshun Benjamin GARNET Ghana 19. Fobil Julius University of Ghana Ghana 20. Togo Emmanuel GARNET/University of Ghana Ghana 21. Dhlamini Nodumo Association of African Universities Ghana 22. Prnjat Ognjen GRNET Greece 23. Barbera Roberto UNICT Italy 24. Banda Tiwonge UbuntuNet Alliance Malawi 25. Rohrer Chris UbuntuNet Alliance Malawi 26. Keita Ibourahima MaliREN Mali 27. Ly Ousman MaliREN Mali 28. Coulibaly Demba MaliREN Mali 29. Cisse Bakary PADES/MaliREN Mali 30. Traore Pr Abdoulaye MaliREN Mali 31. Mare Sidy Sou ICER Mali Mali 32. Traore Pierre Claver B. USTTB Mali 33. Hamadou Ali NigerREN Niger 34. Moussa Baragé UAM Niger


27

35. Sanda Ibrahim Alio NigerREN Niger 36. Moussa Tessa Ousmane NigerREN/WACREN Niger 37. Nwaukou Ijenonea adaku University of Jos Nigeria 38. Olanlokun Laide National Universities Commission/NgREN Nigeria 39. Adebiyi Marion Covernant University Nigeria 40. Adebiyi Ezekiel Covernant University Nigeria 41. Aguiyi Pr. J.C University of Jos Nigeria 42. Adewale Ajao Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife Nigeria 43. Jegede Gbenga Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife Nigeria 44. Ayoola Muritala Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife Nigeria 45. Iyoha Owen EKO-KONNECT Nigeria 46. Charles Uwadia EKO-KONNECT Nigeria 47. Atha Joshua NgREN Nigeria 48. Oaiya Omo WACREN Nigeria 49. Isanbor Chukwuemlka UNILAG Nigeria 50. Abeye Davy WACREN Senegal 51. Seck Massamba UADB/SnRER Senegal 52. Sene Amy UADB/CRI Senegal 53. Niang Ibrahima SnRER Senegal 54. Mbame Maissa SnRER/TANDEM Senegal 55. Mballo Marie Hélène IFOAD/UADB Senegal 56. Dathe Hamidou UCAD Senegal 57. Gueye Khoudia SnRER/UCAD Senegal 58. Diarra Maryam Institut Pasteur Dakar Senegal 59. Loucoubar Cheikh Institut Pasteur Dakar Senegal 60. Diouf Mouhamadou DSI/Université de Thies Senegal 61. Deme Abdoulaye LSAO/UGB Senegal 62. Agne Mamadou DSI/Univ Thies Senegal 63. Reigney Frederique IRD-SREC Senegal 64. Bousso Mamadou Univ Thies Senegal 65. Michel Namar AUF/BAO Senegal 66. Songu Thomas NJALA University Sierra Leone 67. Becker Bruce CSIR South Africa 68. Pehrson Bjõrn KTH Sweden 69. Erikson Jaran Karolinska Institute Sweden 70. Tenhune Hannu KTH Sweden 71. Matiko Joseph DIT/Sci GaIA Tanzania 72. Ngata Stephan TERNET Tanzania 73. Arnaud Amelina AUF/TOGORER Togo 74. Palanga Eyouleki T.G.V TogoRER Togo


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75. Taylor Simon Brunel University London UK 76. Abbott Pamela Brunel University London UK 77. Anagnostou Anastasia Brunel University London UK 78. Abram Manuella GEANT UK 79. Lynch Lucy NSRC USA 80. Whalen Chris NIAID/NIH USA 81. Sun Wei Howard University USA 82. Oti Donna CEI USA 83. Flanagan Heather NSRC USA

Documents

FIRST YEAR EVENTS REPORT May 2016 - oar.sci-gaia.eu · However, the Sci-GaIA consortium members cannot accept liability for any inaccuracies or omissions nor do they accept liability