Request for services: expanding Crossref engagement with the research funding community in Asia
Come and work with us as an independent Engagement Consultant. It’ll be fun!
Location: Remote and global, some limited availability required from 12-3 pm UTC to facilitate overlap with the team
Budget: This contract for services has a budget of up to $10,000. The contract amount does not include potential travel expenses which will be determined in the course of the contract and covered separately by Crossref.
Project Timeline: up to 6 months
About the contractor role
Crossref is a non-profit membership organization that exists to make scholarly communications better. We make research objects easy to find, cite, link, assess, and reuse. For over 25 years, we’ve been providing open foundational infrastructure for the scholarly communications ecosystem - and we’re continuously evolving our tools and services in response to emerging needs. Since 2019, we’ve created the first opportunity for funders who wish to register metadata for research grants.
The Crossref Grant Linking System
The Crossref Grant Linking System (GLS) is a service for research funders to contribute to open science infrastructure by registering and sharing funding metadata records. As members of Crossref, funders can create persistent identifiers and open metadata records about their support of all kinds, from financial grants, to prizes, to use of facilities. These unique links can be acknowledged in any outputs related to the funding, such as publications, preprints, data and code, through the openly available metadata. Funders’ links with works become discoverable, making their impact transparent and streamlining the reporting process.
As of 2025, close to 50% of Crossref members are based in Asia, but funders are underrepresented in that group. We would like to learn more about this part of the funding community, support funders in Asia in learning more about their opportunities to participate in the research nexus, and benefits it brings for them and the research community at large.
The main goal of this project is to engage with research funding organisations in Asia to build robust relationships based on the mutual understanding of the community needs and benefits of the Crossref Grant Linking System. You will raise awareness and encourage the adoption of the system and funding metadata, enhancing transparency and discoverability of funded research outputs in the region.
The term of this contract is up to 6 months and we welcome a timeline giving an idea for how you plan to fulfill the objectives as part of your proposal.
Objectives
- Map the broader policy and practice landscape in Asia to highlight opportunities for GLS uptake in the near future.
- Identify and engage key funders to promote adoption of Crossref’s GLS and the sharing of open funding metadata, as well as to facilitate opportunities for funder engagement and feedback about the GLS for their needs.
- Recommend actionable opportunities for Crossref to build relationships and influence adoption pathways.
Deliverables
- Stakeholder map:
- Identification of priority research funders in Asia.
- Identification of key staff within those funders responsible for research management, funding policy or digital infrastructure.
- Brief organizational profiles outlining each funder’s mission and potential alignment with Crossref’s vision for the research nexus.
- Initiate relationships on Crossref behalf with at least three organisations resulting in introductory meetings (in person or online).
- Policy landscape summary:
- Analysis of positive policy trends and mandates across Asia that support open research infrastructure to inform engagement plans and activities.
- Concentrate on opportunities for GLS adoption linked to national research assessment frameworks, transparency initiatives, or open science policies and movements.
- Opportunities identification:
- List of relevant upcoming events, conferences, workshops where Crossref could engage with funders in 2026 and beyond.
- Representing Crossref Grant Linking System at selected regional opportunities in agreement with Crossref Community Engagement Manager, in accordance with Crossref travel policy and Code of Conduct.
- Identification of existing partnerships, consortia or networks that could facilitate engagement, introduction or collaboration.
- Recommendations for immediate and strategic engagement actions.
Success indicators
- Delivery of a comprehensive, actionable stakeholder map and opportunities list.
- Identification of at least 2-3 funders and relevant contacts for priority engagement.
- Physical attendance of at least 2 events in the region to represent the GLS and Crossref.
- Policy summary highlighting regional enablers for GLS adoption.
- Practical, context specific recommendations to guide Crossref’s next steps in the region.
About you
You’ll need:
- To be physically located in Asia.
- To be able to travel occasionally across Asia.
- A strong existing network of research funders in Asia (please note that we do not expect a single person to have a network spanning all of Asia, please highlight in your proposal which areas, regions or countries are you are best connected/ familiar with).
- A strong understanding of open science, open metadata, research and science policy.
About Crossref
We’re a nonprofit membership organisation that exists to make scholarly communications better. We rally the community; tag and share metadata; run an open infrastructure; play with technology; and make tools and services—all to help put research in context.
We envision a rich and reusable open network of relationships connecting research organisations, people, things, and actions; a scholarly record that the global community can build on forever, for the benefit of society. We are working towards this vision of a ‘Research Nexus’ by demonstrating the value of richer and connected open metadata, incentivising people to meet best practices, while making it easier to do so. “We” means 22,000+ members from 160 countries, 170+ million records, and nearly 2 billion monthly metadata queries from thousands of tools across the research ecosystem. We want to be a sustainable source of complete, open, and global scholarly metadata and relationships.
How to respond
Responses should be submitted by the 19th of February and should include:
- Resume(s) of the individual(s) to undertake the work, to highlight relevant experience for this work, and including their country location(s).
- A one page note (or up to 5 slides deck) explaining your motivation and approach for this work.
- Project timeline and budget.
Please send your response, statement of interest, and resume to: jobs@crossref.org.
We are reviewing the proposals on a rolling basis and will set up 30 minutes calls with promising candidates to establish further details in the course of the process. Application deadline 19th of February. We aim to make a decision by the 10th of March.
