OpenCon works to make research & education more open and equitable.

OpenCon is a community of emerging leaders that has advanced open policies, launched projects and organizations, built new tools, fostered the adoption of open practices, and hosted events in 44 countries & 24 languages—reaching over 9,500 participants. The community’s focus is not only on making research and education open but also on ensuring that we create a fundamentally equitable future.

Discover & Advance

Over its first five years, many important discussions have happened at global OpenCon meetings. View the highlights from past years and get inspired to take action yourself.

Host events

Hosting an OpenCon Community Call is a great way to advance the discussion around open research and open education in your community. Learn more about hosting and the resources we have for support.

Inclusive Planning

The OpenCon community has learned important lessons in how to be more equitable and inclusive in event planning. In our report, we’ve compiled these lessons into a guide and checklist for planning inclusive meetings.

Upcoming Events

Tuesday, August 12, 2025 at 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US & Canada)

August 2025 Librarian Community Call

The Payan v. LACCD (2021) case demanded library database accessibility barriers be removed. In 2024, the revised Title II regulations of the Americans with Disabilities Act drew more urgency to the issue of web accessibility in libraries.

The Library Accessibility Alliance (LAA) is a multi-consortial organization contributing funding and expertise to improving library e-resource accessibility. LAA offers support to library employees in negotiation and evaluation of vendors’ products through collective action and collaborative community.

At the next OpenCon Librarian Community Call on August 12th at 12pm ET / 9am PT, Erika Boardman, Katie Zimmerman, and Jordan Colbert will provide a cohesive session exploring the Library Accessibility Alliance’s accessibility evaluations, impact and analysis, and vendor relations activities.

OpenCon Librarian Community Calls are limited to those working in libraries, and registration is now required. You can register for the August call here.

Agenda and Notes

You can find all the proposed agendas and notes from the Librarian community calls in one place, right here.

Recordings

Community Calls are not recorded to support a safer environment for open and honest discussion. However, notes are taken.

What to expect

Community calls are always friendly, and we love new faces. The more you participate, the more you'll get out of it! No doubt there will be a lot of this too.

We’re working to make online research & educational materials free to read, share, and modify for all.

Research Papers

We believe in Open Access—the free, immediate, online availability of research articles—to ensure that anyone with an Internet connection can read, use, and build upon research findings.

Research Data

We advocate for Open Research Data so that anyone can freely download, copy, analyze and re-process data. We believe Open Data encourages transparency and collaboration among researchers, accelerates discovery, and allows the public to engage with publicly funded data.

Education

We believe in Open Education to maximize the power of the Internet to make educational materials more affordable, more accessible and more effective for learners. We advocate for Open Education so that teachers can share, adapt, and build off existing materials.

Blog and News

Dec 08, 2020
Launched earlier this fall, the Knowledge Equity Lab (KEL) is calling for pluralistic approaches to knowledge production. With next generation leaders at its core, the lab works to cultivate and support an intentionally diverse community of initiatives  with a common aim to reduce the vast inequities that exist in science, scholarship,...
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Nov 30, 2020
When COVID-19 hit Edinburgh, Karin Purshouse didn’t hesitate to put her doctoral studies on hold and join fellow physicians on the front lines.
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Nov 16, 2020
As a postdoctoral fellow at University of Toronto, Rachel Harding spends her days in the lab researching Huntington’s disease. Specifically, the early career scientist is trying to understand the mutated protein structure in individuals with Huntington’s in hopes of discovering new avenues for treatment.
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Join the next generation of advocates & scholars to shape the future of Open Research and Education.

Organized by the Right to Research Coalition & SPARC


OpenCon is organized by SPARC, the Right to Research Coalition, and a Organizing Committee of students and early career academic professionals from around the world.