in the making…)
Community
GOSH is an international community of artists, makers, hackers, scientists, designers, organizers, educators, and entrepreneurs working to make open source science hardware (OScH) widespread across the globe. There are also several regional and self-organized OScH communities, such as AfricaOSH, Great Lakes GOSH, and reGOSH (which is based in Latin America). Read more about these communities here!
Community Council
The GOSH Community Council oversees or delegates all tasks, questions and issues related to governance of the GOSH community, and coordinates the allocation of community funds to activities like regional events and collaborative hardware development programs.
GOSH Community Council elections are held annually. Those elected to the Community Council are referred to as Community Council Members. Generally, GOSH Community Council membership persists for 2-year terms, with the exception of several 1-year terms seated in the first election, enabling a staggering of terms year over year.
2022-2023 GOSH Community Council Members
Dr Thomas Hervé Mboa Nkoudou
Dr Thomas Hervé Mboa Nkoudou, a Cameroonian scientist, holds a PhD in Public Communication from Laval University, Canada. With a focus on decolonial studies and critical approaches to development, his research interests include digital humanities, the 4th industrial revolution, digital technologies and particularly artificial intelligence for the common good. Dr. Thomas Mboa is currently Researcher in Residence at the International Centre of Expertise In Montreal on Artificial Intelligence (CEIMIA), where his main mission is to put in place mechanisms to ensure a better inclusion and representation of Africa in the international ecosystem of Artificial Intelligence.
In a practical way, Thomas Mboa founded the Mboalab, a collaborative space whose mission is to catalyse local sustainable development through Open Science. The main activities of the Mboalab are therefore oriented towards: biotechnology, smart technologies (IoT, electronics), digital manufacturing (3D printing, prototyping) and artificial intelligence applied to health. You can learn more about Thomas Mboa’s work here.
Pierre Padilla-Huamantinco
Pierre Padilla Huamantinco received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and an M.S. degree in Biomedical Informatics in Global Health. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Biological and Medical Engineering and is a Graduate Researcher at Wenzel Lab from the Institute for Biological and Medical Engineering. He has been participating in open science hardware communities since 2014. His main contributions and collaborations with the global community have been: A DIY-BIO guide for setting up biohacking spaces (available in four languages) and the proposal of reGOSH (the Latin American venue for open-source technologies). His research interest includes microbiome analysis using open hardware and microfluidics.
Harold Tay
I’m a mechanical engineer by training, but I’ve branched into software and electronics and have worked in systems programming, scientific programming, and underwater acoustics and underwater robotics. Now I mostly do passive acoustic monitoring equipment for ecologists. I’m based in Singapore.
I view open science hardware as a tool to advance understanding using the scientific method. Just as reasoning that cannot be challenged leads to incorrect conclusions, science hardware that cannot be examined can have only bad outcomes.
I like that GOSH is a good mix of academics, engineers, and blue sky experimentalists. Probably I would be considered a libertarian-leaning, hacker-sympathetic engineer.
Pen-Yuan Hsing
As a multidisciplinary researcher passionate about the role of science in society and civic engagement, Pen-Yuan Hsing co-founded a growing citizen science project for ecological monitoring and is a frequent advocate for free culture and open science (and edited a guide to open source code for scientists). Being one of the first to receive official certification from the Creative Commons on open licensing, Pen uses his 15+ years of science outreach experience to organise public engagement events from a beginner Arduino workshop to a seminar discussing problems with the current copyright system.
Pen serves the research and open science community not just through GOSH, but also in an advisory capacity to organisations such as NASA
or UNESCO on open science policy.
Going forward, Pen hopes to work with others (you!) to creatively expand the circle of liberty for knowledge and creativity.
Contact the GOSH council here. Read more about the 2022 GOSH Community Council Election here.
You can find out more about the Community Governance Working Group that set up the Community Council structure here.
Community Coordinator
The GOSH Community Coordinator works with the GOSH Community Council and the wider community to support them in organising activities such as Global GOSH Gatherings, writing sprints, collaborative development projects, and regional events. They play a crucial role in supporting the GOSH community to reach new audiences and providing an enriching and dynamic environment for existing projects and community members. The Community Coordinator also serves as the Election Secretary during the annual GOSH Community Council elections. The Community Coordinator is contracted by the Open Science Hardware Foundation (OSHF), a US-based 501c3 nonprofit and is supported by a grant from the Alfred P Sloan Foundation.
The current Community Coordinator is Bri Johns. Click here to contact them.
Organisations supporting GOSH
GOSH community activities and events have been fiscally sponsored and hosted by a number of organisations over the years. There is currently one organisation (OSHF) with a specific focus on supporting the GOSH community built into its mission and more may emerge in the future.
Open Science Hardware Foundation (OSHF): US-based 501c3 Nonprofit
In 2020, OSHF (formerly known as GOSH Inc.) was established to open up new possibilities for the community, like administering funding, fiscally sponsoring open hardware and related community projects, hosting community initiatives that need a legal entity, and more. See this post for more information on the 501c3 nonprofit.
The current 501c3 non-profit board members are:
Shannon Dosemagen
Jenny Molloy
Pen-Yuan Hsing [Community Council Board Seat]
