Emmy Tsang     About     Speaking     Writing

About

I currently work at Invest in Open Infrastructure (IOI). Recognising that research and scholarship need open, community-driven infrastructure to thrive, IOI works to increase the investment in and the adoption of open infrastructure. As the Engagement Lead at IOI, I lead the design and execution of strategies and processes to ensure that IOI’s research, products, strategic guidance, and recommendations are built with stakeholders in the open infrastructure space, particularly those who are most impacted. Examples of my work include designing the participatory grantmaking process of the Open Infrastructure Fund and the community engagement and go-to-market strategy for the first iteration of Infra Finder.

My experience: I completed my PhD in neuroscience at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Rome, Italy in 2018. I then joined eLife as Innovation Community Manager, where I helped build a community of open-source practitioners to advance the development of open-source tools to change the ways we consume, discover, share and evaluate research. Prior to joining IOI, I was the Open Science Community Engagement Manager at the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). There, I led the communication and engagement efforts for the TU Delft Open Science, Programme and managed the Open Science Community Delft. Between 2021 and 2024, I’ve also had the pleasure of serving as a Co-Director of OLS, a not-for-profit initiative dedicated to capacity building and diversifying leadership in research worldwide.

I’m passionate about:

  • Open & meaningful community designs - designing community spaces and activities that bring together diverse backgrounds to safely share and learn from each other, build empathy, and map and pursue shared goals.
  • Strategic communication - through listening and active community involvement, developing narratives and communication plans to deliver the right messages to the right people at the right time.
  • Sustainable and equitable innovation - asking questions, listening to people to understand how we can build technology that’s beneficial to all, together.

I currently live in Utrecht, the Netherlands, most known for the fish doorbell and Miffy museum. I grew up in Hong Kong and have lived in the UK and Italy for long periods. I love travelling (mostly for the food), listen to too much mandopop, occasionally shoot B&W in film, and am trying to keep thrips off my many indoor plants.

Professional short bio

Emmy Tsang is the Engagement Lead at Invest in Open Infrastructure (IOI), a non-profit initiative dedicated to increasing investment in and adoption of open infrastructure to further equitable access to and participation in research and scholarship. At IOI, she leads the design and execution of communication and engagement strategies to engage stakeholders in co-creating research, products, strategic guidance, and recommendations to advance our shared mission. She is passionate about community design and making research more open, equitable, and user-friendly.