Welcome to the first of our OA Ambassadors video series!

In this Q&A we speak to Hamdy Elsayed, PhD student at the University of Exeter about his areas of interest, tips for young researchers and the importance of Open Access in his own experience. Watch the full interview below!                  

Tell us about yourself, what are your areas of interest and what stage are you at in your career?

I’m a final year PhD student at the University of Exeter. I successfully passed my Viva in June and have recently submitted my thesis corrections and am waiting for the approval. I’m particularly interested in multidisciplinary approaches to better understand and analyse water resources systems and management. I am particularly focussed on the water-food-energy nexus and water resources management.

Why do you think OA is important?

Well, the outcomes of Open Access are promising, and they have different potentials that will shape the future of the research. One of them seems to be that Open Access allows the stability of the previous work to give multiple advantages here. So as an early career researcher or a beginner it helps us to better understand and implement the previous work which widen our minds and the research. Also, it can further advance the message that previously followed by giving constructive feedback since it is open for everyone. Also, it encourages and supports interdisciplinary approach since it’s open for everyone so different researchers can learn from other disciplines and the water sector can benefit from this in many ways. Also as a researcher it also saves our time and effort instead of finding the material and finding ways to get them we already have them available so we can save our time and effort to focus more on research especially for students or researchers from low and middle income who sometimes don’t have access to the materials. I struggled when I was doing my masters, I couldn’t find them so Open Access will help many researchers around the world.

What are you excited to do as an Open Access Ambassador?

Well it is an exciting opportunity to meet other early career researchers and discuss and share ideas and support Open Access initiatives such as the IWA initiative here. Also, to learn more about Open Access and address of the challenges facing the researchers and widen my network as well.

Do you have a top research or Open Access tip for young researchers?

Yes, recently there are many Open Access websites available that have many published papers such as the Core website- as a researcher you can use them to find out about research. Also, I was following it to get the material from the author for example we can politely ask the author and if they have the right to share with us the materials like a paper then they do it. Also, websites like ResearchGate offer this opportunity so we can request the material from the author and they are happy to share it which is why they put it on, for example, ResearchGate.