Introduction to the FREYA Ambassadors’ Programme

May 3rd, 2018 saw the launch of the FREYA Ambassadors’ programme, via an introductory webinar hosted by the British Library. The FREYA Ambassadors programme will continue and expand on the Ambassador programme introduced by the earlier THOR project. Engaging with the community is a core principle of the FREYA Project and the Ambassadors’ programme will ensure a close dialogue with that community.

Simon Lambert (STFC, 0000-0001-9570-8121) opened the webinar with an introduction to the FREYA project from a global perspective, introducing the FREYA project more generally. Representatives from each of the funded partners in FREYA outlined their aims and activities for the next three years of the project. This included summaries from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), PANGAEA, EMBL-EBI, DataCite, DANS, CERN, and the British Library. Rachael Kotarski (British Library, 0000-0001-6843-7960) also gave an overview of how the project will support its ambassadors, and kinds of activities we would like to see them involved in – such as translating training materials or running workshops.

The FREYA Ambassadors’ programme encourages those who work with persistent identifiers to engage with their research community as FREYA Ambassadors. The FREYA Community provides a knowledge hub and a way to create discussion and dialogue around persistent identifiers in research, and is a great way to promote open research. We welcome all who are interested in supporting open research through persistent identifiers, and would be particularly interested in hearing from those who are working with software, such as in the research software engineering community, from the humanities, and from the biosciences. We also want to expend on our geographical reach, so would be interested in hearing from you if you are in Eastern Europe, Africa, South America and Asia.

The FREYA Ambassadors’ webinar was recorded and uploaded to the FREYA Channel on YouTube and can be found here: https://youtu.be/MxqBDMuxc7M. You can subscribe to FREYA’s YouTube channel to get updates on new webinars and videos from the FREYA project.

You can see more details on the Ambassador programme on the FREYA website and then contact info@project-freya.eu to join!

Follow the conversation and tweet about persistent identifiers at #FREYAProjectEU or @FREYA_EU.

Sarah Stewart (British Library, 0000-0002-9465-4042)