The Open Access Advocate is an annual competition from JCU which is organised by JCU Library and which celebrates Open Access in research. Open access in research is a practice that seeks to remove barriers such as paywalls to academic information – so that anyone, regardless of their background, can access and benefit from scholarly knowledge. This encourages collaboration, accelerates discovery, and ensures that valuable research is shared for the greater good.

Open to all JCU HDR candidates, the competition was held as part of Open Access Week 2024 (21 to 27 October) activities. This year's Open Access Week theme continued from last year’s call to put “Community over Commercialisation” and prioritise approaches to open scholarship that serve the best interests of the public and the academic community.  

Participants were tasked with creating the best scholarly poster that answered the question: “How does Open Access help the cause of Community over Commercialisation?” Submissions were evaluated on how effectively they conveyed their message through a combination of compelling visuals and persuasive text.

Lymn Wei’s winning entry aptly expressed five key points about how Open Access benefits community interests.

“As researchers, we put in a lot of effort to ensure that our work is of the highest quality. Naturally, we want as many people as possible to see and benefit from our research. Relevantly, my research addresses the dangers of misinformation and how we can be protected from it. Therefore, by making our work freely accessible, open access helps us reach a broader audience, allowing more individuals to benefit from credible findings instead of falling prey to misinformation,” she highlights.

“Exploring the significance of open access for this competition has shown me that it is bigger than providing free access to research for researchers. It also means that our friends, family, and the community can access credible information, which is increasingly vital in an era filled with misinformation. This highlights the importance of open access now more than ever,” she adds.


The HDR Open Access Advocate Competition, was one of four awards organised by JCU Library to mark International Open Access Week at JCU. The other three were the Early Career Researcher (ECR) Open Access Champion Award 2024, Open Education Champion Award 2024, and Open eBook Excellence and Impact Award 2024. Award presentation events were held at all three JCU campuses. International Open Access Week is a global event that has been running for 17 years. It gives the academic and research community a chance to learn more about the benefits of Open Access, share knowledge with peers, and promote Open Access as a common practice in scholarship and research.

Find out more about International Open Access Week.

Find out more about possible Higher Degree by Research projects.

Discover further information on areas of research, and research strength at James Cook University in Singapore.

Find out more about the Singapore campus of James Cook University.

Contacts

Research: Associate Professor Denise Dillon denise.dillon@jcu.edu.au

Media: Ms Pinky Sibal pinky.sibal@jcu.edu.au / Ms Hoe Shu Rin shurin.hoe@jcu.edu.au