Bianca Amaro, PhD

Coordinator of the Brazilian Open Sciences Program at the Brazilian Institute of Information on Science and Technology. Coordinates the following systems and projects: Open Access Scientific Publications Portal (oasisbr); Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (BDTD); of open access digital repositories and open access research data repositories in addition to the projects of Brazilian open access scientific journals. Co-organizer of the Luso-Brazilian Open Access Conferences (ConfOA). Member of the Executive Board of the Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR). President of the Network of Open Access Repositories to Science - LA Reference. Winner of the International Electronic Publishing Trust for Development (EPT 2015).

Coordinadora del Programa Brasileño de Ciencias Abiertas en el Instituto Brasileño de información en Ciencia y Tecnología. Coordina los siguientes sistemas y proyectos: Portal de Publicaciones Científicas en Acceso Abierto (oasisbr); Biblioteca Digital Brasileña de Tesis y Disertaciones (BDTD); de los repositorios digitales de acceso abierto y de los repositorios de datos de investigación de acceso abierto además de los proyectos de revistas científicas de acceso abierto de Brasil. Coorganizadora de las Conferencias Luso-brasileñas de acceso abierto (ConfOA). Miembro de la Junta Ejecutiva de la Confederación de Repositorios de Acceso Abierto (COAR). Presidente de la Red de Repositorios de Acceso Abierto a la Ciencia - LA Referencia. Ganador del International Electronic Publishing Trust for Development (EPT 2015).

Abstract:

"Expanding The Latin American Open Science Network"

Latin American Governments finance most of the scientific research at universities and public research institutions. Representatives of eleven countries along with technologists make up the board of directors at the “Federated Network of Institutional Repositories of Scientific Publications,” also known as “La Referencia.”

La Referencia’s mission is to promote visibility of research outputs and to enable open access with the ultimate purpose of data reutilization. Enabling data reuse is the key objective of all Open Data efforts worldwide. It optimizes return on financial investment in such ways that biodiversity and agricultural practices can be preserved, and extreme weather conditions as well as earthquakes can be predicted.

In this talk, the potential impact of Open Data in Latin America will be described. This talk will also provide an overview of the federated structure in La Referencia which acts as an aggregator and provides interoperability within Latin America and beyond. Interoperability amongst the states has been possible through the unique strategy of embracing differences while aiming towards convergence and hence creating an ecosystem of knowledge.

Moving forward, La Referencia is strategizing the expansion of its cyberinfrastructure to host research outputs beyond scientific literature. In joining RDA The Americas and RDA Global, La Referencia is proactively reaching out to regions and countries worldwide to strengthen research and development efforts in a climate of inclusivity, where differences are embraced while aiming towards convergence.