The guests for this episode of the Inspiring STEM Podcast, are Kamran Robert Kardan, Founder and CEO at Knowledge E and Knowledge E’s Head of Publishing, Dr Emily Choynowski.
Kamran founded Knowledge E in 2012, with the aim of providing unique, professional and high-quality services to the information professionals in the Middle Eastern region and beyond. Kamran also plays a major active role in the Knowledge E Foundation, a community interest corporation focusing on supporting education and research-based projects across the globe, with a focus on developing nations.
Emily is Head of Research Development and Dissemination at Knowledge E and Director of Operations for the Forum for Open Research in MENA.
Our conversation covers various topics such as the sustainability of open science, open access, and publishing business models, the challenges of developing open science in the MENA region, and the need for a globally accepted lexicon in Arabic for open science.
They also talk about Zendy, a platform that aims to tackle the affordability, discoverability, and accessibility of scholarly literature, and the various AI-powered tools integrated into the platform to make a real difference to the product.
The interview concludes with a discussion about the Knowledge E Foundation and the Forum for Open research in MENA, and how they support the movement towards sustainable open science policies and practices in the region. Emily and Kamran emphasize the need for more support from the community, including policymakers and corporate sponsors, to make the program more unique and beneficial to everyone.