Published on 25 September 2025

Reading time: 27 min.

This exhibition is organised by the Library Open Science Office for International Open Access Week 2025, and marks the 15th EUI edition of a global event first held in 2007.

This is the extended online version of the “Voices of Change” exhibition. It contains 9 external Open Access “Voices of Change”, 4 EUI PhD Theses authors and 4 EUI Open Access “Voices of Change”.

Knowledge is power. Who creates it, who controls it, and who can access it are questions that shape not only research but also society. The International Open Access Week 2025 theme “Who owns our knowledge?” discusses, among other issues, the integration of AI into academic processes, which threatens to undermine our knowledge systems. Discover more about the International Open Access Week 2025 event!

Open Access enables free, immediate online access to scholarly outputs and permits reuse under open licences, helping to democratise science and education. Showcasing activists who dared to challenge traditional publishing, the exhibition ‘Voices of Change’ seeks to highlight that research should not be a privilege, but a shared resource for everyone.

By highlighting these Voices of Change, we underline that Open Access is not only a library initiative but a shared academic responsibility. A movement that everyone across academia should actively embrace and advance, just as at its inception.

Amplifying the voices of those who challenge barriers, we celebrate a global movement that redefines knowledge as a common good. The future of research depends on the choices we make today. Together, we can build a culture where openness strengthens discovery, inclusion, and justice.

This exhibition invites you to reflect on these transformations. Through narratives of resistance, innovation, and commitment to open research, it celebrates people who show how opening knowledge accelerates progress and broadens participation.

As you engage with these narratives, we invite you to ask yourself: