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African Open Science Platform: Research Data Towards a Sustainable World/Ina Smith
1. The Landscape of Open
Science in Africa
African Open Science Platform
Research Data Towards a Sustainable World
1
Ina Smith
Project Manager African Open Science Platform
Academy of Science of South Africa
Big Data Analytics: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice
14 November 2018
Cairo, Egypt
2. Agenda 2063 – The Africa we want
• Strategic framework for transformation of
Africa – accelerate implementation of
continental initiatives for growth &
sustainable development
• Guided by AU Vision: “An integrated,
prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by
its own citizens and representing a
dynamic force in international arena.”
2
3. UN 2030 SDGs & Agenda 2063
• Use data to benefit communities
• Advance democracy
• Assist governments with evidence-based
policymaking
• Stimulate trade, increase technology-led
innovation
• Growing demand for data to inform &
implement national development
agendas (StatCom-Africa VI, ‘Enhancing the Capacity
of National Statistical Systems to support policies for Africa’s
economic diversification and industrialization.’)
3
4. • Timely, accessible, reliable data needed to
support Africa’s policies for economic
diversification and industrialization
• In-depth knowledge of links among
people, economic activities and
geographic locations could promote a
deeper understanding of key social,
economic and environmental issues than is
possible through an assessment of
socioeconomic data alone
4
5. UN Key Message
Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development, Dakar, May 2018
UN: Economic Commission for Africa
“79. The creation of an African platform for research and
innovation exchange will enable the dissemination of
goal-relevant African research and innovation to
governments and citizens. It could form the basis for
linking researchers and innovators with the funding
required to scale up their work. The proposed platform
would showcase and share Africa’s efforts to develop
goal-relevant research and innovation and could be
coordinated with the Global Innovation Exchange.”
5
6. African Open Science Platform
“Several open science
activities are underway
across Africa, but a great
deal will be gained if, in
the context of
developing inter-regional
links, these activities were
to be coordinated and
developed through such
a coordinating initiative.”
- CODATA
7. African Open Science Platform
7
http://africanopenscience.org.za/
african-open-science-
platform@googlegroups.com
https://www.facebook.com/
AfricanOpenSciencePlatform/
@aosp_africa
“The Platform will play
a critical role to assist
African countries in
developing the
necessary capacities
to manage and
exploit scientific data
for the benefit of
society.” (Naledi Pandor 2016)
8. Draft SA White Paper on STI, 2018
8
“As part of its commitment to African
STI cooperation, South Africa will also
work to advance the open science
agenda elsewhere on the continent
and within regional frameworks. The
strategic role of the African Open
Science Platform, hosted by the
Academy of Science of South Africa,
which promotes African-wide
development and coordination of
data policies, data training and data
infrastructure, will be leveraged with
the support of the DST and the
National Research Foundation (NRF).”
11. Open Science Defined
“Open Science is the practice of science in
such a way that others can collaborate and
contribute, where research data, lab notes
and other research processes are freely
available, under terms that enable reuse,
redistribution and reproduction of the
research and its underlying data and
methods.” - FOSTER Project, funded by the European
Commission
12. But Open Science is more than just process - it is
also about collaboration, and strong
engagement with and participation of wider
society, of which citizen science is also a
component. It is a vital enabler in maintaining
the rigour and reliability of science; in creatively
integrating diverse data resources to address
complex modern challenges; in open
innovation and in engaging with other societal
actors as knowledge partners in tackling shared
problems. It is fundamental to realisation of the
Sustainable Development Goals.
14. Original Research Data Lifecycle image from University of California, Santa Cruz
http://guides.library.ucsc.edu/datamanagement/
Repositories
Repositories
Tools
Gold/Green OA
Plan
Policy&Infrastructure
15. AOSP Pilot Phase (2016 – 2019)
• Landscape Study
• Database
• Creating Awareness,
Advocate
• Frameworks – 4 focus
areas:
• Policy
• Infrastructure Services
• Incentives
• Capacity Building/Skills
• And: Research Data
Management
15
Policy
Infrastruc
ture
Capacity
Building
Incentives
16. Governance & Funding
• Funded by SA Dept of Science &
Technology through the National Research
Foundation
• Managed by ASSAf, with direction from
CODATA (ISC)
• Advisory Council
• Technical Advisory Board
• Research Community
17. • Global Network of Science
Academies (IAP)
• International Science
Council(ISC)
• Regional Office for Africa
(ROA)
• Committee on Data for
Science and Technology
(CODATA)
• World Data System (WDS)
• The World Academy of Sciences
(TWAS)
• Research Data Alliance (RDA)
• National Academy of Sciences
(NAS)
• InterAcademy Partnership (IAP)
• African Union/Pan-African
Parliament (PAP)
• World Intellectual Property
Organisation (WIPO)
17
Partnerships & Stakeholders
• African Union/NEPAD
• Association of African
Universities (AAU)
• Network of African
Science Academies
(NASAC)
• African Academy of
Sciences (AAS)
• African Research Councils
(incl. DIRISA, funders)
• African Universities
• African Governments
• NRENs (Internet Service
Providers for Education)
• Other
20. Only one data repository in Africa has CoreTrustSeal
Location of repositories having acquired CoreTrustSeal (accessed September 2018)
Trusted Data Repositories
20
27. Data Democratising Agriculture
27
“ … while the big players
are operating using data,
the small holder farmers
are operating blindly
because they have no
access to key information
on how to farm.”
31. "Kevin Wheeler (Environmental
Change Institute, University of Oxford,
UK) says that transparency over
information, and the development of
effective data-sharing and
communication platforms, are also
crucial."
31
32. Fake Data, Fake Research
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39357819
33. 33
“Replications of 21 high-profile social science findings
demonstrate challenges for reproducibility and suggest
solutions to improve research credibility. Eight of the 21
studies failed to find significant evidence for the original
finding, and the replication effect sizes were about 50%
smaller than the original studies.”
https://cos.io/about/news/do-social-science-
research-findings-published-nature-and-science-
replicate/
34. Data bring Power, but also Responsibility
34
Endangered species
Classifying data to keep
poachers, enthusiasts who
might use information to
track & disturb creatures.
BUT
Declassifying data led to
discovery of at least three
new populations.
Pezoporus occidentalis
35. Intellectual Property Rights Policy
“In many African countries,
intellectual property protection
is undeveloped, ineffective,
expensive and unenforced and
in some African countries there
exists uncertainty on protection
of IP and the threat of
innovation being stolen away
from inventors.”
https://ipstrategy.com/2016/12/05/a-new-look-at-intellectual-property-
and-innovation-in-africa/
36. Benefits of Open Data
• Improve efficiency in science
• Reduce duplication and the costs of creating,
transferring and re-using data
• Enable more research on the same data
• Multiply opportunities for domestic and global
participation in the research process
37. • Increase transparency and quality in the
research validation process
• Allow greater replication and validation of
scientific results
38. • Speed the transfer of knowledge
• Reduce delays in the re-use of the results of
scientific research, including articles and data
sets
• Promote swifter development from research to
innovation
39. • Increase knowledge spill-overs to the
economy
• Increased access to the results of publicly
funded research can foster spill-overs and
boost innovation across the economy
• Increase awareness and conscious choices
among consumers
40. • Promote citizens’ engagement in science
and research
• Open Science and Open Data initiatives may
promote awareness and trust in science
among citizens
• In some cases, greater citizen engagement
may lead to active participation in scientific
experiments and data collection
41. • Address global challenges more
effectively
• Global challenges require coordinated
international actions
• Open Science and Open Data can promote
collaborative efforts and faster knowledge
transfer for a better understanding of
challenges such as climate change, and could
help identify solutions
42. Early years: Awarded to individual researchers
Recently: Researchers working together/ who
collaborate
45. Square Kilometre Array (SKA)
Ghana, Zambia, Madagascar, Botswana,
Namibia, Kenya, Mauritius and
Mozambique
46. Testing Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity; imaging neutral
hydrogen—the building blocks for stars – in the distant universe; and
examining galaxies that were formed billions of years ago
“Construction of the SKA is due to begin in 2018 and finish sometime
in the middle of the next decade.
Data acquisition will begin in 2020, requiring a level of processing
power and data management know-how that outstretches current
capabilities.
Astronomers estimate that the project will generate 35,000-DVDs-
worth of data every second. This is equivalent to “the whole world
wide web every day,” said Fanaroff.”
47.
48. SKA Benefitting the Community
48
“R3 million has been spent
on catering and a further
R4 million on transport in
the area since
construction began in
2012.
One hundred and seven
locals have been
employed by the South
African Astronomical
Observatory between
2015 and 2017.”
49. SKA Benefitting South Africans
SKA SA Managing Director Rob Adam
said, “We have electricians being trained,
boilermakers, fitters and turners and people
splashing the fibre that carries the signal
from the satellites through the computers,
that fibre is being splashed by people from
the local community.”
51. SKA Benefitting Africa
The SKA project will also transfer skills and
knowledge to African countries, which will
build, maintain, operate and use radio
telescopes.
It’s hoped the program will bring new
science opportunities to Africa in a relatively
short timescale and develop radio
astronomy science communities in SKA
partner countries.
52. What is the African Open
Science Platform doing?
The Future
of Science
and Science
of the
Future
52
53. S1: Cloud Computing & Networked Services
37 countries connected
Level 4 NRENs: HPC, data
repositories, data ecosystem
(identifiers, metadata),
collaborative environments
and analysis tools, platform
approaches and provision of
software/tools/etc
53
ASREN
WACREN
UbuntuNet
AfricaConnect2 coordinated regions (accessed Sept. 2018)
54. S1: Cloud Computing & Networked Services
54
High Performance Computing in Tanzania, Kenya,
Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa,
Zambia, Zimbabwe
59. S4: Priority Interdisciplinary Programmes
59
United Nations Programme on Reducing
Emissions from Deforestation and Forest
Degradation
Climate & Water
E.g. Climate Change, Agriculture, Hydrology,
Resilient Cities, Disaster Risk Reduction
