The Arab Public Data Initiative is part of the global movement toward open science and knowledge as a public good and aims to promote the norms and practices of data management and data sharing among social scientists and research institutions in the Arab region. The Initiative, launched in June 2018, is implemented in collaboration with the Odum Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and, as of January 2023, the University of Oxford. An Advisory Committee guides the work of the Initiative.
Ragui Assaad, University of Minnesota (USA) | Ibrahim El Badawi, Economic Research Forum (Egypt) | Hala Ghattas, University of South Carolina (USA) | Sari Hanafi, American University of Beirut (Lebanon) | Amaney Jamal, Princeton University (USA) | Neil Ketchley, University of Oxford (UK) – Co-chair | Charles Kurzman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA) – Co-chair | Seteney Shami, Arab Council for the Social Sciences (Lebanon) – Co-chair
Preserving and facilitating access to social science research data on/in the region
To provide a data sharing infrastructure, the Initiative established ACSS Dataverse, a multidisciplinary social science data archive, available to both individuals and institutions. Those interested in depositing their social science datasets in the ACSS Dataverse, please contact dataverse@theacss.org
Building capacity in managing social science research data
The ACSS organizes training and training-of-trainer workshops for researchers, librarians and archivists from across the region to introduce the principles, best practices and tools of data management and sharing. The workshops also aim to create social science data management networks in the region.
Forging regional institutional partnerships and cross-regional engagement
The ACSS partnered with the Economic Research Forum (ERF) to expand work on social science research data management in the region. The ACSS is an Associate Member of the World Data System (WDS). The ACSS is also a member of the Forum for Open Research in MENA (FORM).
To date, the following workshops have been organized:
November 30 to December 2, 2018 – Beirut
April 9 to 11, 2019 – Beirut
October 1 to 4, 2019 – Amman
November 16 to 19, 2020 – Virtual
May 30 to June 1, 2021 – Virtual
November 28 to 30, 2021 – Virtual
March 27 to 29, 2022 – Virtual (training of trainers)
August 28 to 30, 2022 – Beirut (training of trainers)
September 23, 2022 – Tunis
November 10, 17, 24, 2022 – Virtual
December 14, 2022 – Virtual
January 17 to 19, 2023 – Cairo
March 28 and 29, 2023 – Virtual
July 24 to 26, 2023 – Beirut
August 24, 2023 – Tunis
November 14, 2023 – Virtual
February 27, 29, March 7, 2024 – Virtual
April 16, 2024 – Tunis
May 22, 29, and June 5, 2024 – Virtual
October 3, 2024 – Ifrane
October 5, 2024 – Rabat
December 2, 2024 – Cairo
March 14, 17, 21, 2025 – Virtual
