Open Access Week Activities 2026

At James Cook University, we annually recognise International Open Access Week to promote the value of making research freely accessible, and to celebrate the open access work carried out by our researchers. This year’s theme was “The Cost of Knowledge” with the week running from 19-25 October. The Library hosted a number of open access activities to mark the occasion. 
 
Open Access Week Awards 
Since their inception in 2020, the Open Access Week awards have grown into an event which acknowledges the hard work of Open Access advocates in the JCU community. We are pleased to announce this year’s winners. 

The ECR Open Access Champion Awards are awarded to Early Career Researchers who have made the greatest contribution to Open Access at JCU through their research publications within the last three years. The 2026 winners are: 

  • ECR Green Open Access Champion: Dr Mohamadreza Chalak Qazani, College of Science and Engineering (CSE) 
  • ECR Open Access Champion: Dr Gemma Galbraith, AIMS@JCU Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Reef Connectivity, CSE 
  • Highly Commended for their Open Access publications: 
    • Dr Benjamin Cresswell, Research Fellow, (CSE) 
    • Rachel Quigley, Principal Research Fellow, College of Medicine and Dentistry (CMD)  
 
Deputy Vice Chancellor Research, Professor Jenny Seddon presenting the Award to Dr Qazani


Professor Jenny Seddon presenting the Award to Dr Galbraith

ECR Award Winners 2026 (missing Rachel Quigley) with Professor Seddon and Jayshree Mamtora, JCU Library


The HDR Open Access Advocate Award is jointly organised with the Graduate Research School (GRS) and awarded to the Higher Degree Research candidate who has created a poster that best responds to the 2026 theme of “The Cost of Knowledge”.  
  • Winner:  Crystle Wee, CSE 
  • Highly Commended: Fahmida Begum Mina, CMD
From L to R: Crystle Wee, Liz Tynan (GRS), and Bronwyn Mathiesen, University Librarian


From L to R: Jayshree Mamtora, Fahmida Begum Mina, Crystle Wee, Professor Mohan Jacob, Bronwyn Mathiesen

The Open Education Champion Award is presented to the staff member who, in the opinion of an expert judging panel, has made the greatest contribution to open education at JCU during 2025–2026.  

  • Winner: Frances Cochrane, College of Healthcare Sciences (CHS)

The JCU Open eBook Excellence and Impact Award honours an outstanding open educational resource published in 2024 or 2025 and whose work significantly enhances the JCU student experience. 

Our congratulations to all the winners! You can read more about the awards and the judging panels here. 

Open Access Week Webinar: The Cost of Knowledge: Can We Aim for Net Zero? 

 

The Webinar was presented by Dr Romain Vaucher who is Senior Lecturer in the JCU College of Science and Engineering. Dr Vaucher discussed the Diamond Open Access (DOA) model, with a particular focus on scholar-led geoscience journals. He is co-founder, member of the steering committee, and production editor at Sedimentologika. The recording of the webinar is available here:

 

 

 

Bring Out Your Dead! Green Open Access Competition 2026 
Based on the success of previous years, we are very pleased to bring back the Bring Out Your Dead! Green Open Access competition for the third year running. The competition invites the JCU research community to submit their Author Accepted Manuscripts into the ResearchOnline Repository in an attempt to increase the visibility and accessibility of the university’s research outputs. A Green Open Access Champion will be announced for each of the five colleges and for JCU Singapore before the end of the year. Enquiries and submisisons can be made to researchonline@jcu.edu.au.

 


Want to know more about open access? Check out our Open Access Publishing guide here.

Comments

Post a Comment