I am honoured to speak as the patron of the Africa University Network on FAIR Open Data. The Network was established by Grand Bassa University in Liberia, the Great Zimbabwe University in Masvingo, the Equator University of Science and Technology in Masaka, Uganda, Mekelle University in Tigray, Ethiopia, Tangaza University in Kenya and the University of Nairobi in Kenya. This week, the network offered trainers to the PhDs assembled by the UNA Europa University Network to teach them how to share data while maintaining complete ownership and control over the data. In Africa, we are proud of the achievements of our young people, who create new solutions to problems pertinent to our situation and which guide the solutions that others around the world may crave.
War weakens all institutions that help prevent calamities, and we learned this in Liberia. The first Ebola patient was diagnosed in our Redemption Hospital, a health facility in a busy area for the common Liberians, but it would affect everyone of us, and no money or degree would protect us. That we need collective care for our planet, on a worldwide scale, we were confronted with in the COVID pandemic. But for this, there needs to be trust in how the world is running, confidence in the leadership and inclusion of citizens.
This conference is organised in parallel to the NATO Summit held today and tomorrow, just twenty minutes away from here, in The Hague. This 2025 NATO Summit represents a critical juncture to understand what core values drive our societies and to adapt to emerging security landscapes and understand how citizens are part of and feel part of a world that strives for peace. The digital architecture is a critical component of our security context, and the increasingly overt dependencies are showing as the Achilles’ heel of economies that have not been adequately built on autonomy.
Data autonomy and data sovereignty are the keywords in a world that has woken up to the complexities of peace. Peace always has a soft human side, based on values, aspirations and human connection. But peace is also always hard-wired, requiring understanding of undesirable dependencies, requiring us to understand how we release ourselves from strings that come in the way of peace and creating alliances and allies that we know to be on our side. Europe and Africa are at a time where the natural connections between our two continents must be reassessed to strengthen our mutual positions to maximise the scope for peace.
Autonomy not only assures economic choice but also assures independence of thought. Whether such independence of thought concerns ideas on diversity, inclusion, equality, gender or climate change, narrowing what society and academia can discuss will stifle conversations needed for building understanding, understanding our world of today and what drives young people.
African academia is here to play its role and the Africa University Network on FAIR Open Data has dedicated itself to ensure autonomy of academia, ensure knowledge is generated and shared with the world and ensures that researchers can play their contribution to understanding of problems, proposing and testing solutions and helping aspirations of bringing people together and promoting peace.
I congratulate the PhD students and trainers of the UNA-Europa Network and the Africa University Network on FAIR Open Science and commend their collaboration. I thank Leiden University for once again picking up the banner of Freedom of Expression of thought as a core academic value and a critical contribution to society and to building peace.
I welcome all experts and scientists present at the Third SoSy Conference, at this pivotal moment, wishing you fruitful sessions.
I declare this conference open.