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On 25 and 26 August, Curtin University Library welcomed Dr Danny Kingsley, one of Australia’s most respected voices in open scholarship, for a two-day visit that brought researchers, library staff, and colleagues from across the WA university sector into conversation about open research and scholarly publishing.
The visit was organised in direct response to the Library Strategy 2026/27 priority to Invest in our people and their development, which commits the Library to fostering a culture of learning and evidence-informed practice. One of the strategy’s key enablers is creating all-staff professional development opportunities through direct engagement with experts locally and nationally.
Danny’s visit opened with a panel discussion for the Curtin research community, “Prestige vs Purpose: Rethinking Scholarly Publishing”. Chaired by Danny, the panel brought together Professor Gretchen Benedix, Dr Jacqueline Boaks and Dr Ellie Sayyad Abdi for a candid conversation about why we publish, cite and evaluate research the way we do. Prestige, citations and journal rankings have long served as a proxy for quality and rigour, shaping careers, funding and reputations, but as AI changes the way research is produced, reviewed and assessed, the panel asked whether these norms still serve the research they were built to support. The discussion was frank and, at times, provocative, and gave our audience plenty to think about as they headed back to their own labs and offices.
That same day, Danny led Library staff through a hands-on professional development session, “Future gazing in four provocations”. Working through four deliberately unsettling propositions: It’s publishing but not as we knew it; AI is a parasite on open; We don’t need no discovery layer; and, just in time not just in case. The session pushed staff to question assumptions about the future of the profession and consider how the Library needs to adapt to stay relevant.
On 26 August, Danny turned her attention to the wider WA library sector, running a two-hour interactive workshop for colleagues from all five WA university libraries as part of the WA University Librarians (WAUL) ongoing collaboration. “Advocacy Starts With You: Progressing Open Science Together” made the case that progressing open science is everyone’s job, and that it takes people at every level who can explain why it matters to the people who need to hear it. Participants practised talking about their work in plain language, identified the stakeholders who matter most to their own open science goals, and developed and pitched a two-minute case for action. The session wrapped up with half an hour of networking and morning tea, giving colleagues from across the sector a chance to connect.
Written by Janice Chan, Deputy Director, Research and Discovery
