Call for topic and speaker suggestions for Open Divide Lecture Series 2026/2027

As organizers of the Open Divide Lecture Series (https://opendivide.hypotheses.org/) — Joachim Schöpfel, Niels-Oliver Walkowski, and I — we would like to warmly invite you to send us suggestions for topics as well as the names of possible speakers for a follow-up series.

The current lecture series concluded in March 2026, and we are planning to launch the next series at the end of 2026.

Our discussions are situated within the broader context of Open Divide: Critical Studies on Open Access and are  shaped by an ongoing interest in the critical dimensions of openness in Open Access and Open Science.

We welcome proposals from a wide range of fields, as long as they are connected  to an original or creative engagement with Open Access and Open Science. Possible topics might include, for example, the role of artificial intelligence, the relevance of geopolitical tensions, and the interdependencies of both phenomena with Open Access and Open Science. However, suggestions are by no means limited to these areas.

We would be very pleased to receive both topic proposals and recommendations for speakers who could contribute to the series; self-nominations are also welcome.

We warmly invite you to share your suggestions for the next Open Divide Lecture Series in the online survey below (GDPR-compliant):

https://survey.lamapoll.de/Open-Divide-2026-2027/en or directly as a reply to this message.

Thank you very much in advance for your ideas and suggestions.

Best regards,

Ulrich

Dr. Ulrich Herb

Saarländische Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek

u.herb@sulb.uni-saarland.de