A new $484,455 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation will support the next phase of the UC OSPO Network as we work to turn a grant-funded effort into a permanent part of the UC system. The funding underwrites the long-term governance and the shared services the growing Network relies on to support open source research, teaching, and public service.
The award builds on earlier Sloan Foundation investment in open source at UC. The Foundation funded the launch of the OSPO at UC Santa Cruz in 2022, and in 2024 a $1.85 million grant established the UC OSPO Network, extending the model to partners at Berkeley, Davis, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Santa Barbara. Now in its third year, the Network has stood up regular meetups, office hours, and consultations, delivered instruction, and built partnerships with other units across its campuses. It has hosted two annual UC Open Source Summits and completed a network-wide survey of UC open source contributors, now published in PLOS One. Further, the Network has expanded from the original six campuses to include two additional campuses: UCSF and UC Law SF (formerly known as UC Hastings).
The grant supports work across several fronts:
Funding and governance: building a permanent funding and governance model for the Network, with shared institutional support for core positions and OSPO priorities reflected in campus and systemwide planning
A Sustainability Playbook: documenting the UC model’s practices, resources, and successes for other universities to adapt, including procurement guidance for UCOP
Network services: completing the UC Open Source Repository Browser (UC ORB), extending it across UC and to peer institutions, and advancing systemwide guidance on open source release practices
Education: delivering field-tested curriculum on open source contribution, community engagement, licensing, and security, integrated with the Carpentries
Events: coordinating open source events across the system, including the UC Open 2027 conference and campus community gatherings
Documentation and dissemination: maintaining the Network’s public presence (ucospo.net, its UC GitHub repositories, and this blog) and sharing what it learns through peer-reviewed publications, conference talks, and CURIOSS white papers
This work runs on participation. Come to an all-campus virtual meetup or campus event, or get in touch to join the community! If your campus is weighing whether to start an OSPO, or you are at another university system curious about the model or the UC ORB, we would especially like to hear from you.