The FOSDEM 2025 Experience

Let me start by saying that this trip almost didn’t happen. A visa application I started in early November was still unresolved a day before FOSDEM. Without my passport, I had to cancel my flight. But with just a few hours to go, something changed.

On January 30th, I received a notification that my passport had reached Abuja, and DHL would take at least 24 hours to get it to Port Harcourt. Long story short? I wrote a letter authorising a friend in Abuja to pick up the passport and check the visa approval status. The outcome was positive! The next morning (January 31st), I was on the first flight to Abuja. After a first flight, a long layover and a second flight, I finally reached Brussels on Saturday morning — just in time to rush straight to FOSDEM.

Amidst all this chaos, I missed the first conference I had planned to attend before FOSDEM — CHAOSScon25.

First-Time FOSDEM Experience

This was my first time attending FOSDEM in person. Last year, I had only given a talk online — my first international talk. Being there in person this year was an awesome experience, and I can’t thank OLS enough for making it happen.

Organiser

Meeting long-time organisers of the Open Research Devroom was a learning experience. I was exposed to the challenges of scheduling online talks across different time zones and learned how to use Pretalx for reviewing abstracts and proposals.

A small classroom, with attendees sitting in rows of chairs, forming an "n" shape. In front of the room is a group of ten (10) people from varying nationalities and gender groups. They are the members of the organising committee of the conference. Behind them is a blank projector screen, and in front, a beige table.

One of my small but exciting contributions was adding the schedule to the website and enhancing it with a little CSS for better aesthetics and UX.

I also got to experience the subtle power of keeping speakers on schedule — holding up signs to let them know they had “x minutes left.” So much power!

Speaker

I gave a lightning talk on Pre-seeds, sharing early insights from our ongoing survey on underrepresented groups in research. We have a small team working on this, with a roadmap in place and a survey aimed at understanding what people want in a course like Pre-seeds. This was a great opportunity to showcase our progress and gather feedback.

A conference room, with a speaker, Debs, delivering a talk. Debs is an African woman of average height and dark hair. She is wearing a blue "FOSDEM Organisers" t-shirt over her black long-sleeved sweater, and is pointing at the projected slide. The current slide is a blue page with a title in white text, which reads - "JOIN OUR TEAM" - with 5 members of an all-female team in display.

Attendee

Day 1: Open Research Devroom

Some of the standout talks were:

“Applying the ‘Do No Harm’ Principle to Open Source Practices and Technology” —

This talk drew inspiration from the Hippocratic Oath, where doctors swear to do no harm. It made me reflect on how, while we can’t prevent all harm in open source, we should strive to minimise intentional and avoidable harm. Dr. Malvika Sharan discussed how openness — our invitation for people to use, remix, and build on our work — can sometimes perpetuate harm. This thought-provoking session initiated deeper discussions about the ethical aspects of open science and responsible research practices.

A conference room photographed from the left side of the room, showing a speaker, and some members of the audience. The speaker, Malvika, is an Indian woman of small stature and silky dark hair, wearing a white long-sleeved shirt under a sleeveless maroon dress. She is presenting from a slide that reads "The Do No Harm Project."

JOSSCast: Experimenting with Storytelling in Open Research —

Abigail Cabunoc Mayes and Arfon Smith spoke about their experiment with JOSSCast, a podcast designed to connect researchers, developers, and contributors through storytelling. They shared insights into what worked, what didn’t, and how podcasts can strengthen open research by engaging both technical and non-technical audiences. This session reinforced the power of storytelling in science communication and community-building.

Day 2: Funders Devroom

The highlights of my day were:

“Storytelling, Networking, and Strategy: Three Keys to Successful Fundraising” by Amy Parker. This was easily my favorite session of the day. She broke down fundraising success into three key components: “the right ask (Storytelling) to the right person (Networking) at the right time (Strategy).” It was a brilliant talk on how to align these elements to secure funding.

Image shows a speaker, Amy Parker, in front of a well-lit classroom, presenting on "Three Keys to Successful Fundraising." Amy is a white woman with dark hair, wearing an OpenSSL sweater and a bright smile. The slide projected behind her is titled "Networking" and shares on the importance of building connections and relationships.

Funders Devroom organisers AMA Session I was looking forward to Emmy Tsang’s talk on “Funding the FOSS Ecosystem”, but unfortunately, it was canceled due to her Eurostar delay. That was heartbreaking. However, the Devroom organisers salvaged the situation with an impromptu Ask Me Anything (AMA) session.
“Small Seeds — Why Funding New Ideas Matters”

This talk by by Marie Kreil and Marie-Lena Wiese (of Prototype Fund) struck a personal chord. They emphasised the importance of supporting young and novel ideas, which resonated with me as I work on Pre-seeds.

“When is it Right to Say No to Funding?” by Karen Sandler.

It was a surprising but essential session. In a room with people trying to secure funding, this talk took a different approach — outlining cases where declining funding is the better choice, such as misaligned values, unreasonable workloads, or funders attempting to rewrite the purpose of a project.

The FOSDEM Maze

The sheer size of FOSDEM was overwhelming — multiple buildings, endless rooms, and long queues outside popular Devrooms. Trying to navigate was a bit daunting for a first timer, and I imagine this might be the case even for people who are already familiar with how FOSDEM works.

However, one of the best things about FOSDEM is that all talks are recorded. So, when the chaos becomes too much, you can take a break, grab some waffles, and catch up later.

Also, I can’t not mention ‘sticker heaven’ — There was an entire section dedicated to stickers, and I wanted one (or six) of everything. I need more laptops to put these on!

The Friendships

One of the best parts of FOSDEM was reconnecting with friends and meeting new people:

My friend and SSI brother, David Luiz, gave me the most amazing hug — thank you!
Sara Petti and I snuck into the Funders Devroom, sat through talks, and chatted about life.
Malvika Sharan treated me to lunch on both days, unaware of how much that “small” gesture meant to me. Thank you for the book!

A woman wearing jeans and a black winter jacket sits on a metal chair, with her right leg crossed over the left. An open book is placed on her leg, and she is writing a note on the second preliminary page of the book, with a black pen.

Meeting the Open Research Devroom team in person was great too, as they were all welcoming and kind.
I finally got to chat with Ruth Ikegah, someone I’ve admired from afar for her efforts to represent Africa in tech.
The GitHub Maintainers Afterparty was another highlight — I hung out with Duncan Hall and met Ruth Cheesley, whose calm demeanor was exactly what I needed after two intense days of FOSDEM-ing.

Finally…

I regret not being able to attend CHAOSSCon25, but will try extra hard to be there come 2026 — even though that outcome is not mine to decide.

I also can’t attend the German RSE Conference (25–27th) to present my poster because my visa is only valid until the 21st.

Despite the challenges of getting to FOSDEM’25, it was worth every moment. From speaking and organising to attending brilliant sessions and making meaningful connections, this experience will stay with me for a long time.

Until next time, Brussels! 🧇🇧🇪