OSU Libraries and Press is offering a scholarship to an OSU graduate student to attend OpenCon in Brussels, Belgium on November 14-16. OpenCon is an international conference designed for graduate students and early career researchers to support education and collaboration in three areas: open access, open education, and open data. The scholarship covers conference registration and the cost of travel and accommodations to attend the conference. 

OpenCon brings together faculty, graduate students, librarians and others from around the world to examine how the cost of education can be lowered while improving its quality through open models that promote the free flow of information among institutions. 

Austin Fox, an OSU doctoral student in materials science and engineering, attended the 2014 conference on a scholarship from OSU Libraries and Press and described it as “life-changing.” 

OpenCon 2015’s three-day program will begin with two days of conference-style keynotes, panels and interactive workshops, and will draw both on the expertise of leaders in the open access, open education and open data movements and the experience of participants who’ve already led successful projects. 

The third day will take advantage of the location in Brussels by providing a half-day of advocacy training followed by the opportunity for in-person meetings with relevant policy- makers, ranging from the European Parliament, European Commission, embassies and key nongovernmental organizations. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of the conference’s three issue areas, stronger skills in organizing local and national projects, and connections with policymakers and prominent leaders across the three issue areas. 

The deadline for OSU graduate students to apply for the scholarship is August 31.

Apply here. The successful applicant will be informed by September 11.

For more information about the OpenCon scholarship, contact Michael Boock of OSU Libraries and Press at michael.boock@oregonstate.edu or 541-737-9155. 

For more information about OpenCon, go to www.opencon2015.org.

Posted - August 12, 2015