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Workshop

Fostering Global Collaboration in Open Science Infrastructure Sharing

The 2021 UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science set forth the first global standard to foster inclusive, transparent, and equitable open science practices. It calls for enhanced collaboration across national and regional infrastructures and for strengthening international networks to ensure that knowledge, data, and tools are openly accessible to all.

 In response to this call, the Chinese scientific community proposed the initiative “Towards Open Science Infrastructure Sharing Network: China’s Knowledge and Data Sharing Platform — Open for Science10”, which has been formally recognized by UNESCO. Among its expected outcomes are:

  1. The China Open Science Platform,
  2. The establishment of the Open Science Information Infrastructure Sharing Network Alliance (OSIISNA), and
  3. A national open science readiness monitoring tool.

As part of these efforts, the OSIISNA Alliance has been initiated to promote international cooperation on open science infrastructures. It aims to connect global and local infrastructures into an inclusive, interoperable, and sustainable network that can support diverse scientific communities worldwide.

The Open Science Fair 2025, co-hosted by OpenAIRE and CERN, provides an excellent opportunity to convene global stakeholders and jointly discuss the development of this alliance. This workshop, “Fostering Global Collaboration in Open Science Infrastructure Sharing,” will serve as a platform to exchange ideas, strengthen partnerships, and address key governance, interoperability, and sustainability challenges.

The workshop seeks to:

  • Foster dialogue on building and sustaining global–local collaboration in open science infrastructures.
  • Explore governance models for international infrastructure data-knowledge-sharing alliances, ensuring inclusiveness and accountability.
  • Address interoperability challenges, including semantic and technical frameworks for linking diverse infrastructures.
  • Discuss sustainability strategies for long-term viability, funding, and community-driven governance of OSIISNA.
  • Identify monitoring approaches, including methods for assessing the value and impact of international networks.
Expected Outcomes
  • Shared understanding of the rationale and roadmap for developing the OSIISNA Alliance.
  • Identification of good practices in governance and interoperability for global–local infrastructures.
  • Consensus on possible methodologies for monitoring and evaluating the impact of OSI sharing networks.
Target Audience

The workshop will bring together:

  • Policymakers and intergovernmental organizations (e.g., UNESCO)
  • Global infrastructure providers and networks (e.g., OpenAIRE, COAR, CODATA, Creative Commons)
  • Regional and national research institutions
  • Young academies and early-career researcher networks (e.g., TYAN)
  • Experts in open science policy, interoperability, and monitoring

Details

  • DATE:
    16 September 2025
  • ROOM:
    82/1-001 Science Gateway Lab A

Organisers

Speakers

Fang Wang

Open Science Research Cener, NSL-CAS

Jin XIE

Open Science Research Cener, NSL-CAS

Xiwen Liu

National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

Shahbaz Khan

UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia

Natalia Manola

OpenAIRE

Jinxia HUANG

Open Science Research Cener, NSL-CAS

Ai SUGIURA

UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia

Matti Heikkurinen

CODATA

Man Xiao

Open Science Research Center, NSL-CAS

Kathleen Shearer

COAR

Eloy Rodrigues

OpenAIRE

Jingyu Liu

National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Science

Nokuthula Mchunu

National Research Foundation

Short Bios

Fang Wang

Fang Wang is an Associate Professor at the Open Science Research Center of the National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences. She is engaged in the development of open resources, open science platforms, and metadata standards. Her research interests include open science and technological innovation, metadata for open resources, and interoperability mechanisms. She has been primarily responsible for the development of several platforms, including GoOA and Open for Science 10.

Jin XIE

Xie Jing is Professor of Engineering and Director of the Knowledge System Department at the National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He holds a Master’s in Computer Science and Technology from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. He has led and contributed to major CAS systems such as PubScholar and Scholarin. Xie also directed the “AI-empowered Intelligence Analysis and Knowledge Services” project under China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, achieving advances in LLM-based retrieval, knowledge discovery, knowledge graphs, and semantic indexing. His work focuses on applying AI to enhance knowledge services and building innovative infrastructure for open science.

Xiwen Liu

Prof. Liu Xiwen is Director and Research Fellow of the National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and Distinguished Professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research covers science and technology intelligence, policy, and innovation strategies. In recent years, he has focused on open science policy and infrastructure, leading the CAS Open Science Research Center in major international initiatives. These include the UNESCO-commissioned project on mapping open science infrastructures in East Asia, the Chinese Open Science project “Open for Science10”, supporting UNESCO’s “International Decade of Science for Sustainable Development.” He also launched the Open Science Infrastructure Sharing Alliance at the 2025 ZGC Forum.

Shahbaz Khan

Prof Khan has worked in Australia, France, Indonesia and Pakistan in various research, consultancy and policy positions. Before joining UNESCO, he was Professor and Director at the Charles Sturt University (Australia). His work has been widely recognized e.g. 2019 China Friendship Award, Great Wall Friendship Award China 2017, FEIAP Engineer of the Year Award 2016, UNESCO Team Award for Managing Hydro Hazards 2009, Land and Water Australia’s Eureka Prize 2007, CSIRO Medal 2007, Biennial Medal of the Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand.

Natalia Manola

Natalia Manola is CEO of OpenAIRE AMKE, the pan-European e-infrastructure for scholarly communication and Open Science. Trained in physics (University of Athens) and electrical & computer engineering (MS, University of Wisconsin–Madison), she previously worked as a software engineer and architect in the bioinformatics sector. She has deep expertise in Open Science policy and implementation, serving on the EOSC Executive Board (2019–20) and the European Commission’s Open Science Policy Platform (2016–17). Her interests include e-infrastructure development and management, scientific data management, data curation and validation, text- and data-mining, and research analytics, advancing interoperable, community-driven services for Europe’s open research ecosystem.

Jinxia HUANG

Dr. Jinxia Huang is Director of the Open Science Research Center at the National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and Professor at the School of Economics and Management, UCAS. Trained as a biologist (PhD), she has led the CAS Open Science and Technology Resources Development Team since 2013. Since 2020, she has played a leading role in open science projects for CAS, China, and UNESCO. Under her leadership, the team launched GoOA, a global platform integrating high-quality open access (OA) papers, developed the APCheck tool for Global OA Journals and APC monitoring, and annually publishes the Global OA Journals List and APC Reports.

Ai SUGIURA

Dr. Ai Sugiura is Programme Specialist for Natural Sciences at UNESCO’s East Asia Regional Office in Beijing, overseeing IHP, MAB, and IGGP with a focus on South-South cooperation, Open Science, and youth and women in science. From 2017–2023, she served in UNESCO Jakarta on science policy and capacity building. She previously worked at ICHARM in Japan on flood risk management, wastewater management in Indonesia, and lectured on disaster management at GRIPS. She holds Master’s degrees in Agronomy (Gembloux) and Hydrology (Paris VI), and a PhD in Water Sanitation and Reuse (Cranfield). She actively promotes inclusive Open Science worldwide.

Matti Heikkurinen

Matti Heikkurinen is Project Portfolio Manager at CODATA, the Committee on Data of the International Science Council (ISC), where he helps maximize the impact of projects advancing CODATA’s mission to connect data and people for science and society. Previously, he supported European and global open science in diverse roles: as a science communicator at CERN IT, working with the e-Infrastructure Reflection Group, contributing to Research Data Alliance (RDA) activities, and liaising with infrastructure providers at EGI Foundation and ETH Zurich. Earlier in his career, he worked as a web consultant with the Finnish Ministry of the Interior.

Man Xiao

Man Xiao is an Associate Professor at the Open Science Research Center of the National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSLC). Since joining NSLC in 2011, she has focused on the theoretical research and practical implementation of Open Science. Her current research interests include scientific paradigm transformation, Open Science policy, and capacity building. She has contributed to key projects funded by the Academic Divisions of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and supports the development of open knowledge platforms such as GoOA and OAinONE.

Kathleen Shearer

Kathleen Shearer is the Executive Director of COAR, an international association of over 130 members and partners representing libraries, universities, research institutions, and funders worldwide. With more than 20 years of experience in open access, open science, and scholarly communications, she has worked through COAR to strengthen repositories as essential infrastructure for open science. Shearer has spearheaded key initiatives such as Next Generation Repositories and COAR Notify, which advance repository interoperability and innovation. Based in Montreal, Canada, she also contributes to global and regional efforts, including UNESCO’s Open Science Working Groups, the Research Data Alliance, LIBSENSE Africa, SPARC, and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries.

Eloy Rodrigues

Eloy Rodrigues is Director of the University of Minho Libraries. He has worked on repositories, Open Access, and Open Science for nearly two decades, establishing the UMinho institutional repository in 2003 and coordinating the team behind RCAAP, Portugal’s Open Access repository network, since 2008. Internationally, he has contributed to major EU projects such as OpenAIRE and FOSTER, and serves on the European University Association Expert Group on Open Science. From 2015 to 2021, he chaired COAR’s Executive Board, where he advanced initiatives including Next Generation Repositories, the Pubfair model, and the COAR Notify Project.

Jingyu Liu

Liu Jingyu is the Associate Research Librarian in the Knowledge System Department of National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Science. She holds a Master's Degree of Library and Information Science (Wuhan University, China). In 2016, She participated in the ChinaXiv (preprint platform) project and now is responsible for the content cooperation and promotion. In 2023, she participated in the operation working group of PubScholar (public welfare academic platform build by CAS). Her research interests include preprints, open academic exchange, and digital resource rights.

Nokuthula Mchunu

Dr Nokuthula Mchunu is Director in the International Grants and Partnerships Division of the NRF. She holds a PhD in Fungal Genomics, with expertise in biotechnology, genomics, and Open Science. Her research applies genomics and data-driven methods to address environmental challenges, particularly water management and pollution control. She previously worked as Senior Researcher at the Agricultural Research Council of South Africa and as a senior scholar at Durban University of Technology for over 15 years. With international experience across the USA, Sweden, China, and Malaysia, she is recognized for her leadership in Open Science advocacy and partnerships across Africa.

    Agenda

    Moderator:  Xiwen Liu, Director, NSL-CAS   

    11:00-11:10

     Welcoming Remarks

    11:10-11:55

     Guide Speech

    11:10-11:25

    11:25-11:55

     Jinxia HUANG, Jin XIE, Fang WAGN, Open Science Research Cener, NSL-CAS

     Invited Speech

    11:25-11:35

     Ai SUGIURA, Programme Specialist for Natural Science，UNESCO Multi-sectorial Regional Office for East Asia (online)

    11:35-11:45

     Nokuthula Mchunu, Director, International, Collaborative Grants and Partnerships, National Research Foundation, South Africa

    11:45-11:55

     Matti Heikkurinen, project portfolio manager at CODATA, the Committee on Data of the International Science Council (ISC)

    11:55-12:25

     Panel Discussion

    Facilitator:

     Man Xiao, NSL-CAS

    Panelists:

     1.Nokuthula Mchunu, Director, International, Collaborative Grants and Partnerships, National Research Foundation, South Africa

     2.Kathleen Shearer, Executive Director, COAR

     3.Eloy Rodrigues, OpenAIRE

     4.Jingyu Liu, Pubscholar, NSL-CAS

    12:25-12:30 

     Wrap-up
     

     Xiwen Liu, Director, NSL-CAS