ECLAC: Update on Mini Workshops and upcoming activities from the LEARN Project

(This post is also available in Spanish / Este post también está disponible en castellano: Mini Talleres y próximas actividades de la CEPAL en el proyecto LEARN  )

Sketch map of South America by Joel Bradshaw (Flickr). CCBYSA

Sketch map of South America by Joel Bradshaw (Flickr). CCBYSA

As we shared in one of our previous blog posts, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), has been working on a series of Mini Workshops during 2016 that will help us to create a LEARN community in Latin America and the Caribbean and foster synergies and collaboration amongst people and organisations. In this post we would like to share some news about these events.

The first Mini Workshop organised by ECLAC took place on 20th April and was planned jointly with another LEARN partner institution, UNIVIE. The speaker of the web event was Dr. Paolo Budroni, Head of Project Phaidra and Managing Director of e-Infrastructures Austria, who covered basic Research Data Management (RDM) concepts and issues. In all 11 institutions from 7 countries participated, representing a variety of stakeholders involved in the management of research data. Among these institutions were the Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva (MINCYT, Argentina), the Instituto Brasileiro de Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia (IBICT, Brazil), the Departamento Administrativo de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (COLCIENCIAS, Colombia), the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM, Mexico), the Universidad de Costa Rica and the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Tecnológica (CONCYTEC, Peru), to name just a few.  You can watch the video of the online event right here on the LEARN website.

This first Mini Workshop was of a general nature in order that this would provide ECLAC and participants a common base upon which more complex topics could be discussed. Having completed this first introductory online event, we followed up by organising the second Mini Workshop on 20th June, which had a Latin American organisation as the main contributor: the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Tecnológica (CONCYTEC), from Peru. Peru has been one of the countries taking the lead with RDM initiatives within Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2013, the country saw the enactment of a law setting new requirements for the availability of information (including data) derived from science, technology and innovation activities.

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The webinar featured Dr. Walter Curioso, Director of Evaluation and Knowledge Management at CONCYTEC. Dr. Curioso presented the Digital National Repository created for the implementation of the 2013 law, ALICIA, addressing its development process and current features. The speaker highlighted how the collaboration with other organisations helped in building and enhancing ALICIA, transforming it into an information hub for Science, Technology and Innovation.  A total of 13 institutions from 6 Latin American countries participated in this second mini workshop, among which were the Universidad Austral, Universidad de Antofagasta and Red Universitaria Nacional (REUNA) (Chile), Universidad de los Andes (Colombia) and the international organization LA Referencia.  We invite you to take a look at the Second Mini Workshop presentation here (in Spanish only).

ECLAC is also planning new events for the upcoming months. On 3rd August, Wouter Schallier, Director of the Hernán Santa Cruz Library at ECLAC, will offer a presentation on LEARN and the role of Libraries in RDM. This activity is organised by the Colegio de Bibliotecarios de Chile and will be held at the National Library of Chile.

As you may have learned already from this website, we are also working on the planning of the 4th LEARN Workshop. Unlike the mini workshops, this event will be an actual meeting of  RDM stakeholders from the region and will take place in Santiago, Chile on 27th October at ECLAC. We will soon share news about registration arrangements for this event and also publish the workshop programme.

At ECLAC we believe that these efforts are of great value, as they contribute to build and strengthen the LEARN community in Latin America and the Caribbean. They each help us to know, understand and share the needs and experience of people and organisations throughout the region and to promote collaboration. Moreover, they will allow us to fulfil two key goals of LEARN: to raise awareness and to promote policy development on RDM among stakeholders.

Author: Gabriela Andaur

Gabriela Andaur is Consultant for the LEARN Project at the UN Economic Conmission for Latin America and the Caribbean

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