We are pleased to announce that Eko-Konnect is among the 1st Cohort of the DataCite GAF Award. With support from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the DataCite Global Access Fund (GAF) was established to enable organizations worldwide to make their research outputs discoverable and connect to the global open infrastructure.

This award comes under the demonstrator category where Eko-Konnect intends to build a repository for several national museums in Nigeria, integrating IGSN IDs as PIDs for the artefacts and other physical objects and samples available.

The project will include the promotion of a national policy for the digitalisation of all museum-related items, the assignment of IGSNs to artefacts and other physical objects in Nigerian museums, and the sensitisation of the Nigerian research and education community to inspire PID adoption, while globally, it will promote Nigerian indigenous knowledge and cultural heritage and lead to increased awareness and commitment to the use of IGSN IDs and DOIs by the government, higher education and research institutions to preserve such artefacts.