Advancing Open Science and Community Service Learning

Report on NMIMS’s Engagement in EU Open Asia Project at VU University -Amsterdam, Netherlands

Project No. 101128493

Capacity Building Workshop 2

Dr. Mayank Joshipura (Associate Dean-Research, SBM, SVKM’s NMIMS) and Dr. Jayakumar Singh Bondili (Dean, SDSoS, SVKM’s NMIMS) participated in a Capacity Building Workshop hosted by Vrije University (VU), Amsterdam, Netherlands, from June 17th to 21st, 2024. The workshop was coordinated by Dr. Marjolein Zweekhorst (Professor, Faculty of Science, Athena Institute, VU) and Dr. Sarju Sing Rai (Assistant Professor, Faculty of Science, Athena Institute, VU).

The workshop, titled “Public Engagement via Science Shops and Community Service Learning,” was part of the Erasmus+ OPEN-ASIA project, co-funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ program. Participating institutions included SVKM’s NMIMS (India), the University of Malaya (Malaysia), University Malaysia Sabah (Malaysia), University Malaysia Sarawak (Malaysia), the International School for Social and Business Studies (Slovenia), and institutions from Botswana and Zambia involved in the OSCAR 2.0 project.

The five-day workshop centered around enhancing public engagement in science through initiatives such as science shops, community service learning, citizen science, and knowledge equity. The presence of African institutions participating in OSCAR 2.0 added depth to the discussions, allowing for an exchange of perspectives on open science initiatives across different regions.

Day 1: The workshop began with a welcome address by Dr. Jacqueline Broerse (Director, Athena Institute, VU) and Dr. Marjolein Zweekhorst, followed by brief presentations from participating institutions. Dr. Joshipura presented an overview of NMIMS University, highlighting its contributions to open science through initiatives like WeCare (Community Service Learning), the Shirpur Groundwater Recharge Project (Shirpur Pattern), and NMIMS’s open-access resources, including downloadable books and journals. The second half of the day featured a session on Science Shops, led by VU, where participants worked on developing a vision and implementation plan for Science Shops at their institutions.

Day 2: The day began with an in-depth presentation by VU on Science Shops, followed by presentations from participating institutions sharing best practices. In the afternoon, European universities shared their experiences with public engagement through community service learning. Notable presentations included those by Karsten Altenschmidt (UNIKTIV, Germany), Geertje Tijsma (VU, Netherlands), Nataša Matulayová (UPOL, Czech Republic), and Avril Lombardi Bolaño & Janaina de Oliveira (URV, Spain).

Day 3: The focus was on the role of libraries in open science. VU Library presented, followed by a visit to a public library where participants engaged in the “Science with Society Festival,” which facilitated conversations between citizens, students, scientists, community partners, and policymakers. Dr. Joshipura participated in discussions on “Energy Transition,” while Dr. Bondili contributed to conversations on “Mental Health.”

Day 4: The Knowledge Equity Symposium featured expert presentations and panel discussions on Knowledge Equity in Education and Research. Dr. Cees Hamelink (Professor Emeritus, VU) delivered the keynote address on knowledge equity, followed by contributions from Dr. Pius Mosima (Cameroon), Sandra Hasanefendic (VU), Natasa Matulayova (Czechia), and Dr. Clement Niyerenda (South Africa). Dr. Bondili also served as a panelist, participating alongside OSCAR 2.0 and Open Asia project representatives. The day concluded with a discussion on the role of libraries in knowledge equity, featuring insights from Hilde van Wijngaarden (VU), Masud Kokhar (Leeds), and Shirlene Neerputh (UWC).

Day 5: The final day focused on developing institutional science shop plans. Dr. Joshipura and Dr. Bondili presented NMIMS’s plan to enhance the WeCare program by adopting a transdisciplinary approach, aiming to establish research clusters focused on addressing pressing issues in business, society, and the environment. The workshop concluded with student poster presentations on Science Shop projects.

In addition to the workshop activities, VU organized a forest walk (June 17th), a boat tour of the city (June 19th), and an interactive play at the public library (June 20th), offering opportunities for networking and informal interactions.

The five-day workshop underscored the importance of public engagement through initiatives such as Science Shops, community service learning, knowledge equity, and the pivotal role of libraries. Valuable connections were established with institutions from the Open Asia and OSCAR 2.0 projects, as well as European experts. These partnerships are expected to support NMIMS in areas like data management, community service learning, open science, interdisciplinary course development, and international Ph.D. recruitment.

Dr. Mayank Joshipura and Dr. Jayakumar Bondili have joined the Knowledge Equity Network individually. They have initiated steps to incorporate data management plans in university policies, including in the University Ethics Code and Ph.D. coursework on “Research and Publication Ethics.”

Original Writeup Dr. Mayank Joshipura (Associate Dean-Research, SBM, SVKM’s NMIMS,) and Dr. Jayakumar Singh Bondili (Dean, SDSoS, SVKM’s NMIMS) participated in the capacity building workshop conducted by Virje University (VU), Amsterdam, Netherlands from 17th to 21st June, 2024. The workshop was coordinated by Dr. Marjolein Zweekhorst (Professor, Faculty of Science, Athena Institute, VU) and Dr. Sarju Sing Rai (Assistant Professor, Faculty of Science, Athena Institute, VU).

The capacity building workshop 1 (CBW2) focused on “Public Engagement via Science Shop and Community Service Learning” was organized as a part of the OPEN-ASIA project co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. The participating organizations included SVKM’s NMIMS (India), University of Malaya (Malaysia), University Malaysia Sabah (Malaysia), University Malaysia Sarawak (Malaysia), International School for Social and Business Studies (Slovenia) and institutions from Botswana and Zambia from OSCAR 2.0 project.

The five-day workshop focused on major theme of enhancing public engagement in science including science shops, community service learning, citizen science and knowledge equity. The quality of discussions was enhanced by participation of African institutions under OSCAR 2.0 institutions as it helped understand the open science initiatives and progress in Africa.

1^st day kick-started by welcome address by Dr. Jacqueline Broerse (Drector, Athena Institute, VU) and Dr. Marjolein Zweekhorst followed by brief presentations from participating institutions. Dr. Joshipura made presentation on NMIMS University and highlighted the University’s contributions toward open science focusing on WeCare (Community Service Learning), Ground water recharge project in Shirpur (Shirpur Pattern), open science knowledge shared by NMIMS in form of downloadable books and open access journal. The 2^nd half focused on the Science Shop presentation by VU and workshop on science shop to build institutional vision and implementation of science shop at participating institutions.

2nd day started with presentation on Science Shop by VU followed by presentations from participating institutions and to learn from best practices from other institutions. The 2nd half included presentations from European Universities on International learning lab, sharing their experiences on public engagement through community service learning including. Karsten Altenschmidt,(UNIKTIV, Germany), Geertje Tijsma (VU, Netherlands), Nataša Matulayová (UPOL, Czech Republic), Avril Lombardi Bolaño & Janaina de Oliveir (URV, Spain).

3^rd day focused on role of libraries in open science with presentation by VU library and the 2^nd half the participants visited public library to participate in “Science with Society Festival” fousing on conversations between citizens, students, scientists, community partners and policy makers. Dr. Joshipura participated in “energy transition’ whereas Dr. Bondili participated in “mental health” conversations.

4th day was dedicated to Knowledge Equity Symposium with presentations by experts and series of panel discussion on Knowledge Equity in Education and research. It started with informal welcome by Marjolein Zweekhorst and Sander Bosch followed by formal welcome speech by Miranda van Holland (VU). Dr. Cees Hamelink, Professor Emirates (VU) delivered keynote address on Knowledge equity. Dr Pius Mosima (Cameroon) , Sandra Hasanefendic (VU), Natasa Matulayova (Czechia), Dr Clement Dr Niyerenda (South Africa) shared their experiences on knowledge equity and research followed by short presentations by Victor de Boer (VU), Amrita Das (VU), Michele Meijer (VU), Prof Maurice Crul (VU). Dr. Masood (Leeds) presented Knowledge Equity network followed by panel discussion on Role of Libraries in Koowledge Equity including Hilde van Wijngaarden (VU), Masud Kokhar (Leeds), Shirlene Neerputh (UWC) as panellists. Dr. Bondili participated as a panelist one of the panel discussions on Knowledge Equity along with participants from three other participants from OSCAR 2.0 and Open Asia project institutions.

5^th day started with institutional science shop plans. Dr. Joshipura and Dr. Bondili presented plan to build upon Wecare (community service engagement) and make it interdisciplinary, focusing on transdisciplinary approach to research focusing on transdisciplinary research units/clusters focusing on issues facing business, society and environment. The 2^nd half was about students’ poster presentations on science shop projects.

Beside the workshop, VU arranged for a forest walk (17^th evening), boat city tour (19^th evening) and interactive play at public library (20^th afternoon) which offered networking opportunity and informal interactions.

Overall the five-day workshop focused on open engagement of social actors through initiatives such as science shops, community service learning, knowledge equity and role of libraries. We established connections with participating institutions from Open Asia, OSCAR 2.0 and speakers from European region. These connections will help us setting up data management plan and data repository, exchanging best practices in community service learning and open science, offering interdisciplinary course linked to community service learning with the help of VU in select schools such as School of Science, attracting international Ph.D. students and fostering research collaborations. Dr. Mayank Joshipura and Dr. Jayakumar have already joined Knowledge Equity Network in their individual capacity and identifying research units for cluster based research and incorporating data management plan for faculty and doctoral scholars is iniatiated and it is included in University Ethics code as well as Ph.D. programme course work in subject titled “Research and Publication Ethics”.