Canadian-Australian Partnership for Open Scholarship (CAPOS)

The Canadian-Australian Partnership for Open Scholarship (CAPOS) is a collaboration between Canadian and Australian researchers, policy makers, libraries, computing organizations, research groups, and postsecondary institutions to advance the understanding of and resolve crucial issues in the production, distribution, and engagement of open digital scholarship. CAPOS is comprised of the INKE Partnership and Australian-based partners, including:

• Brigid van Wanrooy, Analysis and Policy Observatory (APO)
• Rachel Hendery, Australasian Association for Digital Humanities (aaDH)
• Ginny Barbour, Open Access Australasia
• Jenny Fewster Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC; constituent organizations: Australian National Data Service, National Collaboration Tools and Resources, Research Data Services)
• Hugh Craig, U Newcastle 
• Jill Benn, Council of Australian U Librarians
• Jane Ryan, Deans of Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (DASSH)
• Rachel Hendery, DH Downunder
• Paul Arthur, Edith Cowan U
• Lucy Montgomery, Collaborative Open Access Research and Development (prev. Knowledge Unlatched Research)
• Francesco Borghesi, DH Research Group, U Sydney
• Simon Burrows, DH Research Group, Western Sydney U
• with representatives at Curtin U, Edith Cowan U, Monash U, Swinburne U of Technology, U Melbourne, U Newcastle, U Sydney, U Western Australia, and Western Sydney U.

This partnership capitalizes on both countries’ positive track records of participating in, engaging with, and influencing international consideration of open digital scholarship issues. CAPOS works toward implementing elements of open scholarship policy and practice from the international sphere in national, regional, and local contexts—with a complementarity of governmental and academic institutional structures, legal frameworks, and a cultural predisposition toward collaboration.

The partnership aims to make open digital scholarship more efficient and more impactful for Canada and Australia. Initial meetings took place at gatherings aligned with annual training events like the Canadian Digital Humanities Summer Institute and Australian DH Downunder, where this initiative was born and where members of our communities are trained to create, use, and mobilize knowledge effectively.

We facilitate innovative open scholarship among humanities and social sciences researchers, organizations, and the public, including through shared and open research infrastructure. CAPOS  also builds awareness and increases interaction across stakeholder groups about creative, accessible, and interactive knowledge communication strategies, in part by developing and supporting country-specific policy observatories. Together, CAPOS partners work in consultation toward creating an environment for open engagement with digital scholarship, thereby increasing broad access to research materials and diminishing perceived gaps between the public and academia.

We are grateful to SSHRC’s Partnership Development Grant program for funding this initiative.