The four institutions of higher learning based in Tshwane/Pretoria, the University of South Africa (UNISA), University of Pretoria (UP), Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), and Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU) are jointly hosting a hybrid Open Access event in celebration of Open Access Week. Themed "Who Owns Our Knowledge?", the main event will take place on 23 October 2025 at UNISA's Kgorong Functional Hall. While the venue can accommodate up to 160 attendees in person, there is no limit to the number of participants who can join online. In the lead-up to the main event, the partner institutions will present a series of virtual lunchtime sessions, scheduled from 11:30 to 13:00 (South African Standard Time: UTC+02).
20 October 2025 – Aligning Research Data Management with Open Access Mandates (hosted by UP)
21 October 2025 – Exploring how transformative agreements can eliminate article processing charges (APCs) for authors (hosted by SMU)
22 October 2025 – The use of Open Access repositories to increase research visibility (hosted by TUT)
23 October 2025 Hybrid session – Who Owns our Knowledge? (hosted by UNISA)
Please direct enquiries to Mr Tlou Mathiba on tlou.mathiba[at]up.ac.za or Dr Mduduzi Ntetha on ntethma[at]unisa.ac.za
Be sure to join us to hear from a range of experts discussing topics related to Open Science practices, including Open-Access publishing, institutional repositories and research data management.