To reserve a selected scholarship for OpenCon, please submit the form at the bottom of this page.
Hosted in Toronto on November 2-4, OpenCon 2018 is designed to serve as a powerful catalyst for projects led by the next generation of scholars and researchers to advance Open Access, Open Education and Open Data. However, OpenCon is only possible with the support of established organizations and institutions with a commitment to openness in research and education.
OpenCon seeks to convene the most effective student and early career academic professional advocates—regardless of their ability to pay for travel costs. The majority of students and early career academic professionals who participate receive travel scholarships, enabling over 80 countries to be represented since 2014.
Whether its underwriting the meeting as a Leading Sponsor, hosting a coffee break, or simply sponsoring a student or early career participant to attend, your support and the support of other like-minded organizations are critical in ensuring OpenCon is a success.
Many libraries have found significant value in sponsoring representatives to attend OpenCon—including students and early career librarians and faculty—then leveraging their experience at the meeting to advance the conversation around openness in research and education on campus.
What previous sponsors say
“Sponsoring an early career researcher or a student (or both!) to attend OpenCon is one of many ways we reach out to faculty and students to deepen campus conversations about open access. OpenCon provides an immersive experience that can literally turn understanding into advocacy. Our faculty who attended the first two OpenCons came back more cognizant of the issues, eager to spread the word to their peers, and grateful to the library for providing a profoundly valuable professional experience. The student we sent altered his graduate school plans to focus on a career in public policy development around open access.”
- Lee Van Orsdel, Dean of University Libraries, Grand Valley State University
“The Association of Research Libraries has sponsored five early career librarians to attend OpenCon in 2014 and 2015. We view this sponsorship as an important investment in cultivating the next generation of experts who can help put libraries at the center of the campus conversation about openness in research and education. We're excited to see tangible returns on this investment already and strongly encourage research libraries to consider sponsoring a campus representative to participate.”
- Prue Adler, Associate Executive Director for Federal Relations and Information Policy Association of Research Libraries
“OpenCon has not only sparked our strategies for making open science the norm at Oregon Health & Science University, it also influenced the career trajectories and success of everyone we’ve sent. It is really amazing how influential it’s been.”
- Robin Champieux, Scholarly Communications Librarian, Oregon Health & Science University
Details
Number available: Limited to a maximum of 40 scholarships per continent; subject to discretion of OpenCon Organizing Committee
Level of support: See below for pricing for each region
Benefits
- Option to select one qualified student or early career academic professional per sponsorship to attend the meeting with a full scholarship (travel costs must not exceed sponsorship amount); scholarship includes travel, shared accommodations (2 participants per room), conference registration, and visa processing fees but excludes incidentals.
- Placement of sponsoring organization’s logo on a dedicated portion of the conference website for organizations sponsoring a student.
- Statement of thanks to the group of organizations which sponsor an attendee at the opening of the meeting with each organization’s logo displayed.
Cost of the sponsorship varies by region as outlined below:
- Africa: $2,500 per scholarship
- Asia: $2,750 per scholarship
- Europe: $2,750 per scholarship
- North America: $2,500 USD / $3125 CAD per scholarship
- Oceania: $3,000 per scholarship
- South and Central America: $2,500 per scholarship
SPARC members receive a $250 USD discount on scholarships (or the CAD equivalent).