Almasi
HomeThe Diamond OA Policy Forum

Forum for policymakers and funders from Africa, Europe, and Latin America on Diamond Open Access

ALMASI brings together the unique new Diamond OA Policy Forum of international, national, and local policymakers and funders in three regions that the ALMASI project addresses: Africa, Europe and Latin America. This forum is a place for participants to discuss nonprofit scholarly publishing policy and funding needs, progress, and related challenges. The Forum will also include international funders supporting development work. 

Sharing expertise on developing policy recommendations and funding mechanisms internationally is key to supporting more equitable, diverse, and community-led Diamond OA scholarly publishing internationally. 

In a series of events, we aim to share, discuss and develop policy recommendations and funding mechanisms that work in various contexts to support more equitable, diverse, and community-led scholarly publishing internationally. 

The first meeting of the Diamond OA Policy Forum takes place on

Wednesday, 29th October 2025 at
15:00 – 16:30 UTC
16:00 – 17:30 CET
17:00 – 18:30 CAT
(convert to your time zone)

The programme for the first Forum meeting includes: 

  • a helicopter view of the non-profit publishing landscape in the three regions 
  • a panel where national and institutional policymakers will discuss policy and funding successes for non-profit publishing in each of the three regions
  • discussion with participants on how the Forum can serve the regional interests of Africa, Europe, and Latin America.

Agenda

1. Welcome

  • Vanessa Proudman, Director, SPARC Europe 

2. ALMASI and sustaining Diamond OA

  • Vanessa Proudman, Director, SPARC Europe
  • Victoria Tsoukala, Policy Officer, Directorate General for Research & Innovation, European Commission

3. The Diamond OA nonprofit publishing landscape

  • Arianna Becerril García, Executive Director of Redalyc, Chair of AmeliCA, and Professor at the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico
  • Susan Murray, Executive Director, African Journals Online (AJOL)
  • Johan Rooryck, Co-coordinator, the European Diamond Capacity Hub at OPERAS 

4. Diamond OA policy and funding successes in Africa, Europe, and Latin America 

Research funders and national policymakers

  • Bianca Amaro, Data Governance Coordinator, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Brazil
  • Michelle Doran, National Open Research Coordinator, National Open Research Forum, Ireland
  • Steven Sebbale, Head of Science Policy, Uganda National Council for Science and Technology, Uganda

Institutional policymakers

  • Francisco Alarcón, Director of the Academic Area and Deputy Secretary-General, Consejo Superior Universitario Centroamericano (CSUCA), Guatemala
  • Nicolas Fressengeas, Vice President in charge of digital policy, research data and Open Science, Université de Lorraine, France
  • Birgit Schreiber, Strategic Lead: Leadership and Professional Development, Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA), South Africa

5. Discussion  

6. Next steps

  • Arianna Becerril García, Executive Director of Redalyc, Chair of AmeliCA, and Professor at the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico

1st Diamond OA Policy forum
Wednesday, 29th October 2025

>> Slides from the first Diamond OA Policy forum

Diamond OA Policy Forum launch event slidesDownload