Update: The event is now fully booked. We had an overwhelming response from the Canadian open access community, and we would like to thank everyone who expressed interest in participating in the event.
Last update: April 8, 2026
About the event
Advancing Diamond / Vers l’horizon diamant is a 2 day, in-person meeting bringing together researchers, librarians, journals, publishers, funding agencies, infrastructure providers and other stakeholders to establish a shared understanding of diamond OA publishing in Canada.
Recent policy and funding developments have created a uniquely exciting landscape for community-based publishing in Canada. To fully realize this opportunity, sustained national coordination is needed, and we are excited to convene a national conversation to elaborate a shared vision for diamond open access in Canada.
We hope this event will be a milestone marking how far we have come already in collectively advancing diamond open access and an opportunity to identify ways to expand participation in future conversations and events.
This meeting will follow Coalition Publica’s Principles and Practices for Bilingual Meetings. There are no registration fees to participate. However, participants are responsible for their own travel and accommodation.
Date & location
April 15 – 16, 2026
Esplanade tranquille – L’arrière scène room, 2nd floor
1442 Rue Clark
Montreal, QC
Program
Day 1 – Wednesday April 15th
| 8:30 – 9:00 | Registration / coffee |
| 9:00 | Welcome remarks and housekeeping Teresa Lee (PKP),Tanja Niemann (Érudit), Jeanette Hatherill (Coalition Publica) |
| 9:15 | Presentations: The Canadian diamond OA landscape Lucía Céspedes (Érudit), Simon van Bellen (Érudit), Jessica Dallaire-Clark (Érudit), Dina Guth (SSHRC), Alyssa Arbuckle (CRKN-Érudit), Alec Smecher (PKP), Mark Swartz (Queen’s University), Markus Reisenleitner (York University) |
| 10:45 | Break |
| 11:00 | Panel: Canada in an international context Tanja Niemann moderates: Juan Pablo Alperin (PKP), Mylène Deschênes (Fonds de recherche du Québec), Sharla Lair (Lyrasis), Vincent Larivière (Érudit) |
| 11:55 | Morning wrap up |
| 12:00 | Lunch |
| 1:15 | Introduction to afternoon program |
| 1:30 | Active discussion in breakout groups Identifying roles within sectors that support diamond OA: journals and researchers, libraries, funding and policy, infrastructure. Facilitators: Nicolas Alessandroni, Alyssa Arbuckle, Sonya Betz, Robin Desmeules, Marie-Eve Dugas, Jess Herdman, Samantha MacFarlane, Urooj Nizami, Shelby Thaysen |
| 2:45 | Break |
| 3:15 | Active discussion in breakout groups continues |
| 4:30 | Afternoon wrap up |
| 5:00 | Cocktail reception (5 à 7) |
Day 2 –Thursday April 16th
| 8:45-9:00 | Registration / coffee |
| 9:00 | Welcome remarks and housekeeping |
| 9:15 | Presentations: Main themes of discussion from day one breakout groups |
| 10:15 | Break |
| 10:30 | Active discussion in breakout groups Finding common purpose amongst sectors that support diamond OA. Facilitators: Sonya Betz, Amy Buckland, Leigh-Ann Butler, Jessica Dallaire-Clark, Robin Desmeules, Marie-Eve Dugas, Samantha MacFarlane, Urooj Nizami, Stephanie Savage |
| 11:30 | Plenary activity: Common challenges – quick wins and big dreams? |
| 12:00 | Lunch |
| 1:30 | Plenary discussion : Identifying our communities and areas for future action |
| 2:45 | Break |
| 3:00 | Closing panel: How does diamond OA contribute to open science and the transformation of scholarly communication? Teresa Lee moderates: Frédéric Bouchard (Université de Montréal), Amy Buckland (Concordia University), Stefanie Haustein (University of Ottawa), Karine Morin (Federation for the Social Sciences and Humanities) |
| 3:45 | Closing remarks |
| 4:00 | End of Day 2 |
Hotels in the area
Here are a few hotels within a 15 minute walking distance of the venue:
| Best Western Plus Hotel Montreal 161, Sainte-Catherine St. East Montréal, Québec H2X 1K8 7 mins | DoubleTree by Hilton Montreal 1255, Jeanne-Mance St. Montréal, Québec H5B 1E5 7 mins |
| Travelodge by Wyndham Montréal Centre 50, René-Levesque Boul. West Montréal, Québec H2Z 1A2 8 mins | Hôtel 10 10, Sherbrooke St. West Montréal, Québec H2X 4C9 8 mins |
| Hôtel Faubourg Montréal 155, René-Levesque Boul. East Montréal, Québec H2X 3Z8 10 mins | Hilton Garden Inn Montreal Centre-Ville 380, Sherbrooke St. West Montréal, Québec H3A 0B1 12 mins |
About Coalition Publica
Coalition Publica is a partnership created by Érudit and the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) dedicated to the advancement of research dissemination and digital publishing in the humanities and social sciences in Canada, specifically designed to support the HSS community in the transition towards sustainable open access. Coalition Publica is pursuing this goal through the development of a non-commercial, open source national infrastructure dedicated to digital scholarly publishing, dissemination, and research—combining PKP’s Open Journal Systems (OJS) software and Érudit’s digital dissemination platform (erudit.org).
🩷
