Open Science as Integral Part of the EO Africa R&D Facility An interview with Serkan Girgin and Marloes Penning de Vries

The European Commission has proposed an exciting partnership between Africa and Europe to digitally transform Africa. As part of this partnership, the European Space Agency (ESA) has launched the African Framework for Research Innovation, Communities and Application in Earth Observation (EO AFRICA) initiative. This initiative aims to build a long-term, sustainable research partnership between African and European communities. At the heart of this effort is the EO AFRICA R&D Facility, led by the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), which seeks to create a thriving research community based on Open Science principles and foster innovation in EO capabilities in Africa.

Together with Serkan Girgin, Head of the Center of Expertise in Big Geodata Science (CRIB) and Associate Professor at the Geo-Information Processing Department of the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), and Marloes Penning de Vries, Assistant Professor Water, Climate and Health Interactions at the Water Resources Department, we explored how the facility promotes Open Science practices and how the expertise and services of the Digital Competence Centre are of value in this.