By Esosa Omorogbe
Ekpoma, Edo State – In a major step towards strengthening research visibility and promoting open science practices, Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, has inaugurated its LIBSENSE Open Science Departmental and Faculty Champions, a network of academic representatives drawn from every department across the institution.
Code-named “LIBSENSE Champions,” the initiative brings together one nominated academic staff member from each department to serve as the institution’s frontline advocates for research visibility, open science, and repository development.
The inauguration underscores the university’s commitment to ensuring that research outputs produced by its scholars are more accessible, discoverable, and impactful at both national and international levels.
Addressing the newly inaugurated champions, Dr. Chidozie Godian Ike, the LIBSENSE Representative in Ambrose Alli University, Prof. Osagie Ekhator, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), and the University Librarian, Dr. Ayodeji Johnson Akerele, each took turns to speak on the importance of the initiative. They urged the champions to take full advantage of the opportunities provided by LIBSENSE to enhance the visibility, accessibility, and impact of their research works and those of their colleagues, stressing that increased research discoverability would boost both individual scholarly profiles and the university’s global standing.
The newly appointed champions will act as links between their respective departments and the central LIBSENSE coordination team, promoting participation in open science programmes, repository activities, workshops, and other initiatives aimed at enhancing the global visibility of AAU’s research.
Among their responsibilities, the champions are expected to create awareness about the objectives of LIBSENSE, encourage researchers to deposit scholarly works in the university repository, promote the adoption of persistent researcher identifiers such as ORCID, support good research data management practices, and guide colleagues on issues relating to metadata and open access publishing.
They will also identify challenges affecting research visibility within their departments, mobilise participation during Open Access Week and training programmes, mentor early-career researchers and postgraduate students, and provide regular feedback to the university’s LIBSENSE coordination team to improve implementation and support.
The initiative is designed to foster a strong community of practice across faculties and departments, ensuring that open science principles become embedded in the university’s research culture rather than remaining isolated projects.
According to the implementation framework developed for the programme, the LIBSENSE Champions are not merely ceremonial representatives but strategic ambassadors charged with driving awareness, encouraging collaboration, and helping position Ambrose Alli University as a leading institution in research dissemination and scholarly impact.
With the inauguration of the departmental and faculty champions, AAU has reinforced its determination to leverage the LIBSENSE initiative to improve research accessibility, preserve institutional knowledge, and enhance the university’s standing in global academic visibility and rankings.
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