UMS Hosts EU-Funded OPEN ASIA Consortium Meeting, 4th Open Science Forum

28 September 2025

KOTA KINABALU: Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) hosted the European Union (EU)-funded OPEN ASIA Consortium Meeting in conjunction with the 4th Open Science Forum, themed Advancing Open Science Culture in Asia, on Sept 24 and 25.

The two-day programme, supported through a Meeting Grant from the EU, was held at Galeri Azman Hashim and brought together researchers, institutional leaders and policy advocates from Malaysia, India, Finland, Slovenia and the Netherlands.

UMS Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) Prof Ir Dr Rosalam Hj Sarbatly chaired the meeting, which focused on strengthening regional collaboration in Open Science based on the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) and CARE (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics) principles.

Among the highlights on the first day were keynote addresses by Prof Ir Dr Shaliza Ibrahim on global trends and Asia’s leadership in Open Science, and UMS Chief Librarian Zawawi Tiyunin, who introduced the university’s “U-Science” citizen science platform.

The forum also featured sessions on citizen science and local knowledge integration, European perspectives on community science, recognition and incentives for Open Science, and Open Access implementation in Asian universities.

UMS Vice-Chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Kasim Hj Mansor officiated a symbolic partnership signing ceremony held in conjunction with the event.

On the second day, the focus shifted to institutional capacity building, with presentations by Prof Dr Maninder Singh on policy frameworks supporting Open Science and Prof Dr Valerij Dermol on developing localised training modules for higher education.

The final technical session explored the design of FAIR-compliant repositories, addressing interoperability, ethics and sustainable infrastructure.

Visiting researchers and consortium partners also toured several UMS facilities, including the university’s hatchery, aquarium, Pantai UMS and the Azman Hashim Gallery, which showcase UMS’s strengths in marine science, biodiversity and public engagement.

The meeting concluded with a joint commitment to advance ethical, inclusive and impactful research systems across Asia through the adoption of Open Science practices.