Support Team
Dr. Sven Fund
Senior Director
Sven is growing the awareness and adoption of OA with partners worldwide
In 2015, Sven founded fullstopp, a consulting and investment agency specialising in scholarly publishing as well as institutions in the educational space. Sven invests in and/or manages companies such as Sample of Science and Inkitt.com. Sven is a lecturer at Humboldt University and publishes on Open Access as well as the digital transformation of the publishing industry.
1) Describe your job in three words. Important to me
2) What’s the coolest thing you’re working on right now?A new functionality on KU to be launched in the fall – stay tuned.
3) Best thing about being part of the KU Team? I love the fact that librarians and publishers from around the world challenge us – and that we are a small and dynamic team.
4) Worst thing about beingpart of the KU Team?All these new ideas all the time!
5) Who would you most like to swap places with for the day? With a lighthouse keeper
6) What did you want to grow up to be when you were a kid? A kid :)
7) Last book you read? Short stories by a North Korean dissident – unfortunately not made OA by KU.
8) Website you visit the most? Google.com – knows the answer to 99% of my questions
9) What’s in your coffee? Milk – and a bit of sugar on Sundays.
10) Tell us something we don’t know?I love to go to farmers’ markets in cities around the world
Max Mosterd
Head of Operations & Analytics
Max is analysing the impact of new and existing OA projects
Max is passionate about making science and education more accessible to the wider public. Towards this end, he has founded a startup, published on bibliometrics and written his Master thesis on the pricing of scholarly content. He graduated from Erasmus University Rotterdam, having studied Economics before at the Harvard University Summer School and Utrecht University.
1) Describe your job in three words. International – Entrepreneurial - Digital
2) What’s the most interesting thing you’re working on right now? Developing the analytics tool to support the development and sales of OA products on the KU marketplace
3) Best thing about being part of the KU-Team? To be able to work on a big vision with a team full of passionate and hardworking people
4) Worst thing about being part of the KU_Team? There are always enough ideas, but only so many hands
5) Who would you most like to swap places with for the day? With a top surfer like Kelly Slater, it must be an amazing feeling to be able to ride a wave like he can (working on it.. )
6) What did you want to grow up to be when you were a kid?Cliché, professional football player
7) Last book you read? Skin in the game, Nassim Taleb
8) Website you visit the most? Soundcloud
9) What’s in your coffee? Nothing, all black please :)
10) Tell us something we don’t know?Outside of work, I like to spent time in the boxing ring and listen to electronic music
Dr. Pablo B. Markin
Director of Community Engagement
Pablo is growing the discussions around OA among stakeholders and experts around the world
Having volunteered for similar initiatives, e.g., Kiron Open Higher Education, Pablo acts as an online instructor for the University of the People that widely uses open educational resources. He has extensive experience as a journal and book editor in the Open Access sector, such as for De Gruyter. In addition, he has been actively blogging for multiple platforms, which includes The Culture Trip, Café Babel, and OpenEdition Hypotheses, and covering developments in the Open Access industry, e.g., for the Open Science blog. On the background of this academic blogging experience, he is excited to advance the global conversation about and involvement with Open Access as part of the KU team.
1) Describe your job in three words. Imaginative, web-oriented, reflective.
2) What’s the coolest thing you’re working on right now? My next post for the Open Research Community.
3) Best thing about being part of the KU-Team? An opportunity to learn from my colleagues about how Open Access operates for internal and external stakeholders on a daily basis.
4) Worst thing about being part of the KU-Team? The intensity of the teamwork, which makes it exciting too.
5) Who would you most like to swap places with for the day? A culture blogger in Singapore.
6) What did you want to grow up to be when you were a kid? I do not remember. A librarian would be a good guess.
7) Last book you read? David Foster Wallace – The Pale King.
8) Website you visit the most? openresearch.community.
9) What’s in your coffee? Soy milk. A slice of lemon in a rare while.
10) Tell us something we don’t know? I am an e-resident of Estonia.
Laurens Peek
Finance and Discovery Manager
Laurens is handling the finance, discovery and usage side of Knowledge Unlatched
Laurens has received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of Utrecht and finished his Master of Arts program in International Relations at the University of Leiden in 2018. With an interest in the Global South, the topic of Open Access has struck a chord with Laurens. When he started working at Knowledge Unlatched, he discovered an interest in analyzing and improving workflows and processes within his own work environment.
1) Describe your job in three words. Engaging, valuable, broad.
2) What’s the most interesting thing, you’re working on right now? Sorting out workflows and thinking about future-proofing the processes.
3) Best thing about being part of the KU-Team? Having daily contact with people all over the world and working close together with a fun and talented team.
4) Worst thing about being part of the KU-Team? The sheer amount of tasks that need to be kept track of at all times.
5) Who would you most like to swap places with for one day? Either a Sherpa in Himalayas or a Bush Pilot in a rain-forest.
6) What did you want to grow up to be, when you were a kid? The usual, but fiction writer stuck the most. Even today it’s still some sort of an aspiration of mine!
7) Last book you read? Battle: The Story of the Bulge by John Toland.
8) What's the website you visit the most? Either Wikipedia or YouTube.
9) What’s in your coffee? Depends. I like all varieties.
10) Tell us something we don’t know about you: I used to work at a sourdough bakery where I baked bread and cakes. Baking sourdough bread at home is still a hobby of mine.
Piotr Godek
Head of Technology
Piotr is creating the infrastructure necessary to unlatch and deliver Open Access books
Piotr is a software architect with over 15 years of experience in managing software development projects, leading software teams and building software for clients representing a range of domains. He became interested in Open Access and joined Knowledge Unlatched, so now Piotr is the person behind the Knowledge Unlatched software platforms. Piotr graduated from Poznań University of Technology, where he majored in Computer Science and then in Software Engineering. He also used to be a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).