I am an agricultural research service scientist working as a plant physiologist and also convenor of the Open Access India community based at Ranchi. I was introduced to the concept of Open Access at the first national convention on free software in march 2007 at Hyderabad and since then I got involved in its advocacy first among my colleagues in the agricultural research service and then with all other researchers through the Open Access India network. I am convinced and strongly believe that only with free access to data, information and knowledge only we progress and build the future open world. 

I am an undergraduate medical student from Pakistan and the host of OpenCon 2016 Lahore. Since high school I had been interested in research as a need to quench my curiosities. I was interested in OpenCon, because it supports research by promoting Open Access, Open Data and Open Education. 

I’m spatial planner specializing in urban and rural planning and Open Access advocate. The diverse nature of my work requires data to be freely available and accessible. Through collaborations with individuals and institutions championing Open in Kenya, I have hosted two OpenCon satellite events in Nairobi. The 2015 event was held at IHub Nairobi, where students, policy makers and junior researchers came together to discuss the need for incorporating Open Access during the early stages of implementing Sustainable Development Goals. The 2016 event took place at the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development and focused on the concept of ‘Training the Trainer’ - building capacity for OA trainers in the community to reach out to other students, researchers and policy makers with interest in research and open access in our learning institutions as well as research institutes.

I am student at Abdou Moumouni University in Sociology and Anthropology Department of Niamey (Niger) where I am completing my Master's degree. I am also a member of SOHA (Open Science in Haiti and Africa French speaking countries) - a project leading some training activities on open science. I am currently working on a project on creating a science shop at my university. I am interested in open science and the social responsibilities of researchers.

I am a member of Projet SOHA and the EIFL-Open Access Programme Country Coordinator in Cameroon.  I am the Coordinator of Open Access projects in Cameroon. I was selected as Young Leader of Cameroon by the French NGO “Libraries without borders” in partnership with “Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation” for my work and projects to advance Open issues in my country. Each year, i organized conference and workshop during Open Access Week in Cameroon to encourage researchers to publish their work in an Open Access publication.

I am a Community Youth Development Worker and professional journalist with over a decade years of practical experience in community engagement, youth empowerment initiatives, social justice and advocacy. I earned a Bachelor of Arts (Magna Cum Laude) in Mass Communication with specialization in Broadcasting, from the United Methodist University. For most of my life, I have paid keen attention to communication and seen the field as a conduit to develop my community and empower the marginalized around me. Currently, I am leading an initiative to generate funding to support senior secondary students (mainly girls) in rural Liberia to pay their fees for the 2016/2017 West African Examination Council. I am the Convener and Organizer of OpenCon 2016 Lofa, organized with assistance from a team of other young people including, Nimeley M. Pawoo, William Dorbor, T. Nyanti Toe, Dominic J. Sumo, Ms. Krubo D. Sumoiwuo, Ms. Garmai Mulbah, Samuel Woyea, and David Mulbah.

I am a senior registrar in the Department of Family Medicine, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria, and the Vice President of the Association of Resident Doctors in the same institution. As a coordinator of the research group Acta Scriptor, I came to realize how difficult it is to getting research materials. Even the work we helped our senior colleagues produce become inaccessible as soon as they were sent to publishers. I welcome wholeheartedly Open ideas and I hope to follow it through until the necessary stakeholders see the need to make educational and research materials available to students, young researchers and other professionals without any forms of restriction.

Yusuf is a lawyer in Nigeria and is currently a Partner with the law-firm of Adingwu, Maude & Sulayman LP. Previously, a volunteer Legal Consultant for One Community Inc., (USA). While working with Consultant for One Community Inc.; a fully open source organization, Yusuf developed a huge passion for Open data. So when OpenCon came along, aiming to create an atmosphere where research is made easy through advocacy for openness in access to data for research, it was very easy to key in. Asma’u Suleiman and Safiya Abdullahi helped in organizing OpenCon 2016, Ilorin and it was a wonderful experience.

I am a Masters student at Mbarara University of Science and Technology majoring in Health information Technology. I am the founder of the OOO Uganda Research Network, with an aim to support local students, researchers, and librarians to advance open access, open education, and open data in their institutions. I first learned about Open Access when he participated in an online course with Athabasca University in Canada and UNESCO “2015 UNESCO Media and information literacy Course”. I believe that Open Access allows us to use new technologies of the internet which gets everyone access to data from publicly funded research and not keeping this knowledge behind expensive paywalls.

I am a digital curation officer at the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Digital Library Services (DLS) department. After graduating from my BSc degree in 2003 I was dismayed at the fact that with immediate effect I could no longer access current publications and research without paying massive subscription fees directly to journals at great personal cost or paying a substantial annual academic library fee. This remained the case until I rejoined the university environment in 2015. My colleagues in the library presented on their Open Con 2015 experience and I was immediately interested in participating in this movement. Along with colleagues at the University of Pretoria and North West University, we organised the first collaborative "Open Data” in day in 2016 across three institutions with many attendees participating virtually as well. This collaboration was an encouraging success and I look forward to many more “Open” events in the future.

Adisa Bolutife is a undergraduate student of Electrical/Electronics Engineering in University of Lagos, Nigeria. He has been an ‘freedom of information’ advocate until 2015 when he learnt about open access through OpenCon. He has since been an open access advocate, spreading awareness and leading grassroots organizing on various discussions on the Open culture in Nigeria. He believes open accessing education and research is the way forward, just as the world tends towards an internet-driven society. He collaborated with the University of Lagos engineering society to host OpenCon2016 Lagos at Julius Berger Hall, Lagos. The event brought together a population of 220 students, researchers and early career professionals.