Joachim Schöpfel, Niels-Oliver Walkowski and I are excited to announce the Open Divide Lecture Series (2025–2026), a year-long exploration of the challenges, contradictions, and evolving landscape of Open Access and scholarly publishing. Building on the critical reflections of the 2018 volume Open Divide: Critical Studies on Open Access, this series brings together leading international experts to discuss key issues shaping the future of open scholarship.
What to Expect?
Throughout the series, speakers will address fundamental questions such as:
- Who truly benefits from Open Access?
- Does Open Access foster inclusion, or does it reinforce inequalities?
- What are the real costs of Open Access?
- How do commercialization, governance, and global power dynamics shape Open Access?
- What role do alternative models like shadow libraries and commons-based publishing play?
Each lecture will offer critical insights, followed by discussions with the audience. The talks will be recorded, and we plan to publish the contributions in an updated edition of Open Divide after the series concludes. The edited volume will be published in Diamond Open Access by Melusina Press at the University of Luxembourg.
Schedule & Speakers
- April 23, 2025 – Rebecca Bryant: Libraries Supporting Open Research: International Perspectives
- May 28, 2025 – Thomas Parisot & Yann Mahé: Open Science and the Information Industry: French Debates and Insights
- June 25, 2025 – Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe: The Sustainability and Stability of Open and Closed Access Publishing
- July 23, 2025 – Mikael Laakso: Long-Term Preservation of Open Access Publications: Facts, Current Practices, and Future Outlook
- August 27, 2025 – Wolfgang Benedikt Schmal: Competition as a Driver of Progress in Academic Publishing
- September 24, 2025 – Arend Küster: Size Matters: Why Scale is the Key Ingredient for OA Publishers
- October 22, 2025 – Wilhelm Peekhaus: Open Access and the Continued Exploitation and Alienation of Academic Labour
- November 26, 2025 – Sam Moore: Publishing Beyond the Market: Open Access, Care, and the Commons
- December 17, 2025 – Zakayo Kjellström: Beyond Institutional Boundaries: Shadow Libraries as Commons and the Future of Knowledge Preservation
- January 28, 2026 – Joachim Schöpfel, Hélène Prost & Behrooz Rasuli: The Global South’s Role in Shaping the Open Science Paradigm
- February 25, 2026 – Kevin Elliot: The Promise and Perils of Transparency and Openness
- March 25, 2026 – TBA
Format: Online lecture series (free participation)
More information & registration: https://opendivide.hypotheses.org/open-divide-2025-2026-speakers-and-topics
We would be grateful if you could share this event within your networks. Feel free to forward this email or spread the word via social media.
We look forward to thought-provoking discussions and hope to see many of you there!