After an unprecedented volume of excellent submissions from researchers, librarians and policy makers from across the world, all keen to share their insights and experiences on the theme of Democratizing Knowledge: The evolution of open science ecosystems and communities in the Arab World, we have decided to expand our programme to include an additional day of online-only papers.

The 2^nd Annual Forum (2023) will take place from the 22^nd-25^th of October. Highlights include 70+ speakers, 22 sessions, 9 networking opportunities, and 3 keynotes. Full programme details here.

The event will start with a Welcome Drinks Reception and Early Registration (sponsored by IEEE) on the evening of the 22^nd of October at the Sadiyaat Rotana Hotel, Abu Dhabi. The Welcome Ceremony will also be held at the Sadiyaat Rotana Hotel, on the morning of the 23^rd of October, and will include presentations from the UAE’s Minister of Culture and the Minister of Education, followed by a moderated discussion between leading regional policymakers and strategists about how best to support the development of Open Science policies and practises across the Arab States.

The second half of the day will take place at Khalifa University, and will include a second moderated panel discussion between the Presidents of the UAE’s leading universities, exploring the practicalities of implementing Open Science policies and practises in higher education institutions. The second day will take place at the Sadiyaat Rotana Hotel, and include a series of high-impact parallel panels covering a wide range of topics relating to the core conference theme, including physical and human capacity building; the challenges of localisation in the Arab region; how to build Open Science communities and encourage community collaboration; the challenges and benefits of open access and open data; and how to globalise Arab research.

On the 25^th of October, we will have a series of online-only sessions from regional and global experts, covering a wide range of themes and topics, such as strategies to encourage researcher engagement with Open Access, regional barriers to open science, identifying predatory practises and building trust in Open Science.

More details of the Annual Forum and registration, can be found here.