BioMedCentral holds forum on access to medical research at BAAS 'Festival of Science'

The British Association for the Advancement of Science’s ‘Festival of Science’ will include a special forum (see http://blogs.openaccesscentral.com/blogs/bmcblog/entry/biomed_central_at_the_festival), organised by BioMedCentral, to discuss how research and open communication can help to advance medical understanding of diseases prevalent in developing countries. It will take place at the University of Liverpool, UK, on Wednesday September 10^th at 16.00 hrs and is free to all

BioMed Central’s Publisher, Matt Cockerill, will chair the forum. Speakers include Hattie Begg, Advocacy and Research Officer of African Medical and Research Foundation; Dr Colin Sutherland, Lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Editorial Board Member of Malaria Journal, Barbara Kirsop from the Electronic Publishing Trust for Development; and David Dickson, Editor of SciDev.net.

OA Workshop in Cuba

International Workshop for Open Access to Scientific Literature and other Digital Scientific Information Resources in Central America and the Caribbean: Focus on Education and Health for Sustainable Development

This workshop is part of the InterAcademy Panel on International issues (IAP) Program on Promoting Access to and Use of Digital Knowledge Resources, focusing on countries with developing and transitional economies, and follows a previous IAP initiative on Access to Scientific Information in Developing Countries.

So within the framework of this Program, the Academy of Sciences of Cuba is organizing the international workshop. It will take place on September 3 to 4, 2008, at the Palco Hotel, Havana, Cuba. It will be organized into nine sessions, each one led by a chair and a designated rapporteur. Sessions will cover international trends in open access and use of digital scientific information and opportunities for sustainable development. Infrastructure, management, technical and copyright issues will be addressed.

The initial announcement can be found on the Academy of Science of Cuba web site, in both English and Spanish, see:

http://www.academiaciencias.cu/English/pages/ntrabajo/Eventos/evento.asp?id=22

http://www.academiaciencias.cu/paginas/ntrabajo/Eventos/evento.asp?id=22

Details of the programme are now available by clicking on the PDF link at the bottom of the announcement.