The Forum for Open Research in MENA (FORM) is organising a special regional symposium addressing the topic of open science in challenging circumstances, including conflict, famine, disease, and profound economic instability. Despite (or sometimes because of) the issues facing countries undergoing one or more of these challenges, the value of open science policies and practises remains extremely important, especially within scholarly and scientific communities.
In recognition of this, FORM is replacing the 5th Annual Forum (2026) with a special online symposium, Resilience in Research: The Role of Open Science in the Arab World.
This symposium will look at the importance of open science policies and practises for countries facing challenging circumstances, with a particular emphasis on human-made crises. We would like to invite delegates to join us to discuss what resilience and autonomy mean in the open science movement during human made crises, the challenges of maintaining open policies and practices during times of crisis and the challenges associated with recovery and reconstruction. It will also address the value of open science activities and outputs during these periods of upheaval and aftermath, the benefits provided by transparency, visibility, credibility, and accessibility.
This year’s event will take place online, to ensure everyone everywhere can join us. And there will be no charge to participate.
The purpose of this event is to bring together insights and experiences from a range of research communities, policymakers, and scholarly solutions providers to discuss and explore what resilience and autonomy mean in the open science movement during human-made crises, the challenges of maintaining open policies and practices during these periods and the challenges associated with subsequent recovery and reconstruction. It will also address the value of open science activities and outputs during these periods of upheaval and aftermath, the benefits provided by transparency, visibility, credibility, and accessibility.
This is a bilingual conference, and we welcome presentations in Arabic and English.
We therefore invite proposals for 20-minute online presentations. Topics can include but are not restricted to:
We particularly invite researchers, librarians and policymakers from across the Arab world with lived experience of these issues to share their insights.
Proposals will be submitted via an online form (link below). When submitting, you will be asked to provide the following information:
Key Dates:
If you have any questions please do get in touch with our organisers at (contact@forumforopenresearch.com)
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