To encourage the young generation towards research and to popularize the open access movement, on November 17, 2018, an interactive program titled “Learn Research with Fun” was arranged at Dhaka University Business Faculty Auditorium. The half-day program was organized by Open Access Bangladesh and Dhaka University Researcher Society (DURS) in association with the Dept. of Management Information System (MIS), University of Dhaka.
The program starts at 9 am and continues up to 2 pm. The number of participants was around 300 from different spectrums including students, researchers, scientists, doctors, faculties, publishers, and journalists.
At the beginning of the ceremony, the founder and president of Dhaka University Research Society Mr. Saifullah Sadeq delivered a welcome speech. Then begins the opening session.
The speakers of the opening session were Mr. Abdul Qayyum, associate editor of Daily Prothom Alo, Mr. Golam Mustafa, publisher of Hakkani Publishers and advisor of Open Access Bangladesh, Dr. Fazrin Huda, chairperson of Department of World Religions and Culture, DU, and one of the moderator of Researcher Society and Mr. Kanok Monirul Islam, the founder and convener of Open Access Bangladesh. In their speech, they focused on different aspects of research and open access. They emphasized open data and its impact on scholarly research.
After the opening session, Mr. Moinuddin Chowdhury, Lead Visionary and Chief Executive Officer, Society for Leadership Skills Development (SLSD) came on stage to inspire the youth audience. He presented various aspects of research and researchers with fun games, jokes, and quiz. Audience got awards by answering his questions.
Then the original session the panel discussion began. The speakers of this session were Professor Dr. S. M. Zabed Ahmed, Department of Information Science and Library Management, University of Dhaka, Professor Dr. Abdullah Shams Bin Tariq, Department of Physics, University of Rajshahi, Mamun-Al-Mahtab (Shwapnil), Professor at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Medical University, Md. Mustafizur Rahman, project director of Access to Information (A2I), Muhammad Manjurul Karim, professor of Department of Microbiology, University of Dhaka and moderator of DURS and Md. Nazim Uddin, head and Senior Manager of Library and Information Services Section at icddr,b.
The panelists were discussed on Open Access policy in universities, the problem with Pay-Wall and the role of open access to solve it, how open access could spread throughout the country, and the necessity of open science in Bangladesh.
The program ended with a mime drama by DU students with the slogan ‘Say No to Plagiarism’ and ‘Let the Research Open’