Biography: Conducts research in the areas of open data, science communication and higher education studies. He has an MEd from the University of the Western Cape, an MPhil in Publishing Studies from the University of Stirling, and a BA(Hons) in English Literature from the University of Cape Town. He is currently reading for his PhD in Science and Technology Studies at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. His research is on the use and impact of open research data. Francois is also the research lead on the Higher Education Research and Advocacy Network in Africa (HERANA) project on university-community engagement at eight African universities; as well as on the Carnegie Corporation of New York-funded project on African universities presses. Completed research projects include the IDRC-funded Scholarly Communication in Africa Project (SCAP), in which he investigated the relationship between collaboration and improved online visibility of academics, as well as three projects as part of the Emerging Impacts of Open Data in Developing Countries project: (1) on the use of open data in university governance, (2) on the institutionalisation of open data practice in government, and (3) on open data intermediaries. He is currently doing research on the impact of open data in developing economies. Francois is also the research manager for Africa for the World Wide Web Foundation; the regional coordinator of the Tanzania Open Data Lab; a trustee of the not-for-profit, open access academic publisher African Minds; and managing director of the publishing services company, Compress.dsl.