African scientists, politicians, and policy advisors are being asked to make suggestions on the design of a proposed mechanism for funding regional research facilities across the continent.
The request has come from the science and technology office of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), which is drawing up the proposal at the request of African science and technology ministers. At a meeting in September last year the ministers asked NEPAD to explore options for creating an African Science and Innovation Facility (ASIF)....
NEPAD is seeking people’s views on various aspects of the ASIF by the end of August. Questions include what kind of organisation the ASIF should be, how to measure its impact, and how to ensure that African governments and the private sector contribute to it....
"We want to know what would make the stakeholders - including not only African government and donor agencies, but also both the scientific and business communities - buy into it," says [NEPAD advisor Geoff Oldham], who is a former director of the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex, United Kingdom....
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
