Strengthening Open Scholarship and Open Science Collaboration and Capacity in Arqus Member Libraries seminar series hosted in Maynooth

The seminar series brought together in Maynooth more than 50 colleagues from the Universities of Maynooth, Lyon, Graz, Granada, Padua, Minho, Wrocławski and Durham to explore how universities and libraries can advance their role in supporting Open Science/Scholarships.

The event started with a welcome reception address from Professor Rachel Msetfi (Vice President for Research and Innovation at Maynooth), followed by a programme that featured a series of insightful presentations from leading professionals in the Library fields, including Dr Lisa Griffith, Fiona Morley, Ciaran Quinn, Fran Callaghan, Dr Gail Sheppard and Dr Enrivelton Nepomuceno, all from Maynooth University, Lisa Schilhan from Graz University, Stuart Hunt from Durham University and Iñaki Aréa de la Villa from Granada University. 

Their contributions highlighted the opportunities and challenges facing libraries and institutions in developing the infrastructure, services and the expertise required to support researchers in an evolving open science/scholarship environment.

The programme also included some interactive workshop sessions to examine the key challenges universities and libraries face in developing open science and open scholarship infrastructure and services within their institutions. These discussions provided space for collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and practical problem-solving across the Arqus network and beyond. 

Chaired by Cathal McCauley, University Librarian at Maynooth,  this seminar was a valuable step in strengthening collaboration, building capacity, and advancing the Arqus Alliance’s commitment to openness and transparency in research. 

Future seminars in the series will take place in Graz in November and Durham in January 2026. More details about these events will be available shortly.